Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Tests show U.S. students struggle to explain answers

A second type of test, Interactive Computer Tasks, went beyond what had previously been measured, testing how students ran their own experiments in simulated environments.

American children do much better identifying the correct answers to simple scientific tasks than using evidence from their experiments to explain those answers.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the Nation’s Report Card, asked students in grades four, eight and 12 to perform actual experiments to apply principles they learn in the classroom on a practical level. The results of the 2009 tests were released June 19.

“That tells us that our science teaching isn’t getting us as far as we need to go,” said Chris Dede, professor from Harvard Graduate School of Education.…Read More

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Study: Eighth-grade students still lag in science

Just 31 percent of students were considered proficient or better on the test.

Eighth-graders in the U.S. are doing slightly better in science than they were two years ago, but seven out of 10 still are not considered proficient, the federal government said May 10. What’s more, just 2 percent have the advanced skills that could lead to careers in the field.

The information comes from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, released by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). The average score was 152, up from 150 in 2009.

Gerry Wheeler, interim head of the National Science Teachers Association, said the results showed “minuscule gains” in student achievement in science.…Read More

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Report: U.S. students don’t know much about history

"If you don't know your past, you will not have a future," says Steven Paine, former state schools superintendent for West Virginia.

Just 13 percent of high school seniors who took the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card, showed a solid grasp of American history, a new report shows.

The results, released June 14, showed the two other grade levels tested didn’t perform much better, with just 22 percent of fourth-grade students and 18 percent of eighth-graders demonstrating proficiency.

The test quizzed students on topics including colonization, the American Revolution and the Civil War, and the contemporary United States. For example, one question asked fourth-graders to name an important result of the U.S. building canals in the 1800s. Only 44 percent knew that it was increased trade among states.…Read More

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U.S. students fare poorly in civics understanding

Only 27 percent of fourth-graders, 22 percent of eighth-graders, and 24 percent of twelfth-graders scored proficient or higher in civics.
Roughly three-quarters of U.S. students failed to reach proficiency in a national exam testing their awareness of civics last year—a result that severely undermines the nation’s democracy, some observers warn.

The National Assessment Governing Board released the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) “Civics Report Card” at a press conference May 4 at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

The “Nation’s Report Card,” as the NAEP exam often is called, is the only nationally representative, continuing evaluation of the condition of education in the United States and has served as a national yardstick of student achievement since 1969. The data released May 4 provide a snapshot of what students nationwide know—and don’t know—about civics.…Read More

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Reading scores hold steady on nationwide test

Fourth grade NAEP reading scores remained unchanged.
Fourth-grade NAEP reading scores remained unchanged.

The reading scores for fourth- and eighth-grade students on a national test held mostly steady last year, continuing a stubborn trend of minimal improvement across most racial, economic, and geographic groups.

Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a series of federally funded achievement tests commonly referred to as the “Nation’s Report Card,” rose in two states and the District of Columbia in grade four and in nine states for grade eight in 2009. Overall, the fourth-grade average remained unchanged, while eighth-graders rose one point.

Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Utah showed higher eighth-grade scores. In fourth grade, average scores rose in Kentucky, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia, while the average scores fell in Alaska, Iowa, New Mexico, and Wyoming.…Read More

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