U.S. 4TH-GRADERS AMONG WORLD'S BEST IN SCIENCE.Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer U.S. fourth-graders scored above the international average in math and science in the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday. And in science, only one country - South Korea - scored better than American students, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the study of fourth-graders around the world. In Washington, politicians and educators hailed the performance by the fourth-graders as evidence that more than a decade of attention to improving American schools was starting to pay off. ``This report proves that we don't have to settle for second-class expectations or second-class goals,'' President Clinton said Tuesday in a Rose Garden ceremony to announce the results. ``There are a lot of people who never believed the United States' children would score in the top two in the world on any of these international tests,'' Clinton said. ``Now they know that they were wrong, and they underestimated our children.'' Calling Tuesday's findings ``a road map to higher performance,'' the president urged states to embrace his plan for voluntary testing against national standards in reading for fourth-graders and in math for eighth-graders. ``I'm thrilled thrill v. thrilled, thrill·ing, thrills v.tr. 1. To cause to feel a sudden intense sensation; excite greatly. 2. To give great pleasure to; delight. See Synonyms at enrapture. with the results. It's really great,'' said Amelia McKenna, assistant superintendent Assistant Superintendent, or Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), was a rank used by police forces in the British Empire. It was usually the lowest rank that could be held by a European officer, most of whom joined the police at this rank. in charge of instruction for the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . Overall, U.S. fourth-graders scored above the international average of students in 26 countries. In science, American fourth-graders outperformed students in 19 countries, including England and Canada. In math, U.S. students scored better than students in 12 countries but lagged behind seven countries, including South Korea and Japan. And despite popular belief, the study found that less television, more homework and small classroom size doesn't necessarily mean higher test scores. ``These easy answers won't do it,'' said Pat Forgione, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), as part of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States; conducts studies , which released Tuesday's report analyzing the performance of fourth-graders who took part in the international study. ``Reducing class size in and of itself will not move you to higher performance,'' he said. The results are part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, a survey of more than a half-million students in fourth, eighth and 12th grades from 41 countries. Tuesday's report examined test results for fourth-graders only. Those of eighth-graders were released in November. Test results for high school seniors are scheduled for release early next year. The study also showed that U.S. fourth-graders performed better than U.S. eighth-graders in math and science. While fourth-graders scored above the international average, eighth-graders scored below average. And while fourth-graders were outperformed by only one country, eighth-graders lagged behind nine other nations. Forgione attributed the gap to different curricula - the fourth-grade curriculum more closely parallels international standards than the eighth-grade curriculum. He also said American eighth-graders are less focused than students in some countries. For example, U.S. eighth-graders study 35 math topics while their Japanese counterparts study only 18 topics, Forgione said. And while American students continue studying basic arithmetic concepts beyond eighth grade, their counterparts outside the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. go on to study geometry, algebra algebra, branch of mathematics concerned with operations on sets of numbers or other elements that are often represented by symbols. Algebra is a generalization of arithmetic and gains much of its power from dealing symbolically with elements and operations (such as and other advanced math concepts. In the Los Angeles school The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. district, officials attributed the high test scores to hands-on learning, an emphasis on student understanding of complex subject matter and intensive teacher training. ``It's the experiences we're providing them in the classroom'' that is boosting American students' scores, said Marilyn Erickson, principal of Haskell Elementary where third- and fourth-graders dissect dissect /dis·sect/ (di-sekt´) (di-sekt´) 1. to cut apart, or separate. 2. to expose structures of a cadaver for anatomical study. dis·sect v. cows' eyes and sheep's hearts. That lesson was not lost on Monique Shparaga, a fourth-grader at the Granada Hills campus. ``When we get to high school, we'll know about physics,'' said the 10-year-old who spent Tuesday afternoon documenting the changes in pitch of a slide whistle A slide whistle (variously known as a swanee whistle, piston flute or less commonly jazz flute) is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. as part of a lesson on sound. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (color) Carlos Figueroa Carlos Figueroa (born 19 April 1980) is a Guatemalan football midfielder who plays for local club CSD Municipal in the Guatemala's top division. He is also a member of the Guatemalan national team. He represented Guatemalan national team in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup. , 10, takes notes in his third- and fourth-grade science class at Haskell Elementary School elementary school: see school. . John McCoy/Daily News |
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