Scores mixed on math, science

WASHINGTON – U.S. eighth-graders are gaining on their peers across the globe in science and math, but fourth-graders are being passed as their test scores remain stagnant, according to an international review of school performance.

The 2003 test results released Tuesday offer some hope and relief to the United States, coming just a week after its 15-year-olds did poorly in math in another prominent comparison.

The achievement gap between black and white children is shrinking, the new scores show, a central goal of the government’s education policies under President Bush.

Yet several countries, particularly in Asia, continue to outperform the United States in science and math, fields at the heart of research, innovation and economic competitiveness.

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, is a test of curriculum taught in all participating countries, from chemistry and physics to geometry and algebra. It is a respected benchmark of a country’s performance in primary and middle grades.

In the new study, the United States is compared with other industrialized countries and many poorer ones. Given that range, the United States was above average across the board.

Among major findings for the U.S. students:

* Eighth-graders improved their scores in science and math since 1995, when the test first was given. While the science progress has come largely since the last test, in 1999, the math rise came mainly between 1995 and 1999 and not in recent years. The rising scores of eighth-graders also gave the United States a higher ranking relative to other countries.

* Fourth-graders did not improve or decline in science or math since 1995, and as a result, they slipped in the international rankings as other countries made gains.

* In both grades and both subjects, black students closed their test-score gap with whites. Hispanic students also closed the learning gap with whites in eighth-grade science.