US students improve in math

At Foster, the teachers do have collaborative planning time, but not to the same degree as their Japanese colleagues. "[In Japan], they also spend time looking at concepts in depth, analyzing one or two as opposed to trying to cover lots of content," Ms. Doyle says. A number of reports on math education in the US have criticized curricula for being a mile wide and an inch deep.

Minnesota is perhaps the best example of what can happen when a state narrows the number of topics taught at a given grade level to allow teachers to concentrate on fundamental concepts. Since 1995, its fourth-graders made gains three times the size of the overall US gains in math. The state's eighth-graders outperformed their US peers as well. Minnesota is now "on the edge of world-class performance," says William Schmidt, a professor at Michigan State University who has studied international math curriculum. "Everybody always wants to know, is it possible we could ever perform like those top-achieving countries? And I think the answer is, yes we can," Professor Schmidt says.

Achievement shortcomings among lower-income students are one concern that international comparisons also bear out. US schools where the majority qualify for free or reduced-price lunches score below international averages in fourth- and eighth-grade math, says Jim Rubillo, executive director of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. "In my view, this should set a national priority: We should make sure schools with the least ability to provide resources are staffed with teachers [who can] give them an equal opportunity to succeed in our global economy," he says. Generally, high-poverty schools have higher turnover and fewer experienced teachers.

While the overall news in math is good, science results in the most recent TIMSS are less encouraging. Since 1995, the scores for both fourth- and eighth-graders have remained statistically unchanged. The lowest performers among US eighth-graders have made small improvements, while the top performers have declined.

The US still performs better in science than the average among TIMSS countries, but the lack of progress underscores what some educators and others say is a pressing need to give more attention to science education in this country, in addition to the emphasis on reading and math.

In spite of numerous reports, "many districts simply do not value science education," reads a statement released Tuesday by the National Science Teachers Association in Virginia. "Science is being eliminated from many K-6 classrooms," it says. "We should not accept these TIMSS scores as the status quo, but instead focus on how we can forge a stronger public commitment from parents, the business community, policymakers, and other stakeholders on the importance of quality science education."

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