The Need for A National Focus Amidst Local Diversity
The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)-- the largest, most comprehensive and most reliable international comparison of education ever undertaken -- measured the math and science knowledge of half a million eighth-grade students from 41 nations. How did we do?
In a nutshell, not as badly as some people might expect, but not as well as we can and should achieve. U.S. eighth graders are below the international average in mathematics and above the average in science achievement. But we are not near the top of the rankings in either subject.
On the positive side, the study found that the United States is one of the few nations in the world in which there is no significant gender gap in eighth-grade math and science achievement. The study also demolished some commonly-held myths:
* U.S. teachers of math and science have more college education than their colleagues almost anywhere in the world.
* U.S. teachers assign more homework and spend more class time discussing it than teachers in Japan and Germany.
* U.S. students are required to spend more time in mathematics and science classes than either German or Japanese students.
* U.S. students report about the same amount of out-of-school math and science study as their Japanese and German counterparts.
* Heavy watching of television is as common among Japanese eighth graders, who do better than our students, as it is among American eighth graders.
* Student diversity and poor discipline are obstacles not only for U.S. teachers, but for their German colleagues as well.
However, there are significant differences that may account for the differences in achievement. They include:
* Algebra and geometry are studied by most eighth graders around the world, including Japan and Germany, but in the United States these subjects are reserved for students in higher-level classes in which, at most, 13% of our students are enrolled.
* U.S. mathematics teachers+ typical goal is to teach students how to do something, while the goal of Japanese teachers is to help their students understand mathematical concepts.
* Japanese teachers widely practice what U.S. mathematics reformers recommend. Most U.S. teachers report that they are familiar with reform recommendations, but only a few have begun to apply these reforms in a meaningful way in their classrooms.
The Need for a National Focus
The disappointing achievements of our students are not because they donít care about school, mathematics or science. They do. Itís not because our teachers do not work hard. They do. Rather, the cause, in part, is that we as a nation do not have focused vision or standards of what mathematics and science education should be for our children.
Our nation is atypical among the countries surveyed in its lack of a nationally-defined curriculum. TIMSSí study of curricula found that current U.S. standards are unfocused and aimed at the lowest common denominator. In other words, they are a mile wide and an inch deep. On the other hand, the achievements of students in other nations reflect the benefits of coherent goals and similarly focused teaching practices.
This lack of a clear focus is seen in what we teach, how we teach, and the number of topics covered. Our curricula and textbooks divide their attention among too many topics and deliver too little attention to most of them. Our teachers skip among many topics. Their instructional practices are as splintered and fragmented as the curricula that shape them and the textbooks that support them. They do not show the cohesion evident in many other countries whose student achievements are higher than ours.
Unless our vision of mathematics and science changes, our classrooms will not change. We have about 15,000 curricula in this country, most of which are similarly unfocused. We need to focus as a country on what we want to accomplish and how we are going to get there as an essential first step towards change.
The initial TIMSS findings seem to suggest a number of working hypotheses that can be useful when considering a national focus for our present educational policies. They are:
* An insufficient quantity of study time is probably not a cause of our less than excellent scores in math and science.
* The quality of U.S. instruction may hinder our studentsí achievements. Increasing the quality of instruction in U.S. classrooms may be more important than improving the quantity.
* Low expectations may insufficiently challenge our students. They may be capable of learning more than what we currently offer them.
* Our teachers may not receive the training and support they need to teach effectively.
* Improvements advocated by reformers have not yet been meaningfully implemented in our nationís classrooms.
The search for this national focus must be shared by all those diverse partners who traditionally bear their share of responsibility for our educational goals and achievements. Local diversity must become Americaís laboratory for success.
This laboratory should also focus on fewer math and science topics at each grade to give each topic the attention it needs. Curricula, textbooks and teaching should be part of an integrated solution united around common goals, approaches and measurements. Together, we must consider what is basic in science and math at every level and have all our children receive such instruction.
In science and mathematics, we are not where we want to be. To go forward, we need to work together to develop a national focus, or coherent vision, of math and science education. Our diversity must become part of our solution. Our children, our teachers, and our schools are working hard. We must think clearly together so that we may help them to work smart as well.
