In 1957, when the former Soviet Union launched Sputnik—the world's first man-made, earth-orbiting satellite—President Eisenhower declared it a national crisis. Stunned by being outperformed by our communist arch-rival, the U.S. government rallied its resources, establishing NASA and initiating a space race that would culminate in the 1969 US. moon landing. At the same time, the Eisenhower administration established national education initiatives to improve math and science instruction and train more engineers.
In his January, 2011, State of the Union address, President Obama referred to recent statistics showing the U.S. dropping behind other nations in math, science, engineering and technology (STEM) as "our Sputnik moment." But what are the gloomy statistics that are being viewed by the president and many others as a national crisis?
NAEP, TIMSS and PISA
The recently-released Nation's Report Card, based on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), does not compare the U.S. to other nations but does provide a snapshot of math and science progress nationally. Seen as sobering by many analysts is the small number of students found to be "Proficient" or "Advanced" in math and science. Only about one third (34%) of the fourth graders tested at or above the Proficient level for science and numbers dropped from there in later years—with only 30 percent of eighth graders and 21 percent of twelfth-graders performing at or above the Proficient level in science. The math assessment, which was administered to high school seniors in 2009, showed only 26 percent of twelfth-graders performing at or above the Proficient level.
In comparing our students to those in other nations, people often look to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), based on tests conducted with fourth and eighth grade students in countries all over the world. There are no brand new results to report since TIMMS research is conducted every four years and the 2011 results are only just now being collected. But a quick look at the 2007 results reveals the following:
In mathematics, at the fourth grade level, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Japan had the highest scores, followed by Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, England, Latvia, and the Netherlands. At the eighth grade, Chinese Taipei, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR and Japan had the highest average mathematics achievement. There was a substantial gap in average mathematics achievement between these five Asian countries and the next group of four similarly performing countries, which included the United States along with Hungary, England, and the Russian Federation. Among the benchmarking participants, the two U.S. states, Massachusetts and Minnesota, and the province of Quebec were outperformed by the five Asian countries but had higher average achievement than the U.S. as a whole or the other three countries grouped with it.
Results were similar for science, with Singapore and Chinese Taipei leading the way in both grades four and eight and the U.S. falling to the middle of the pack—although its fourth grade results were more impressive than its eighth grade ones and the states of Massachusetts and Minnesota performed quite well. For more results, check out: http://timss.bc.edu/
A more recent comparison with other countries comes from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which measures 15-year-old students' literacy in reading, mathematics, and science every three years. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which conducts the PISA study, issued its latest results (based on assessments administered in 2009) in December, 2010.
Of the 34 "highly industrialized" OECD countries, the United States performance is close to the average for reading and science and somewhat below average in mathematics. In addition, the PISA researchers reported on results from sixty other countries and 5 other education systems (in non-national entities, such as Shanghai, China) that participated as partners. As summarized in the report:
The U.S. average score in mathematics literacy (487) was lower than the OECD average score (496) in 2009, as it was in 2003 and 2006. In 2009, among the 33 other OECD countries, 17 countries had higher average scores than the United States, 5 had lower average scores, and 11 had average scores not measurably different from the U.S. average. The OECD countries with average scores higher than the U.S. average were led by Korea (546) and Finland (541). The OECD countries with lower average scores than the United States were Greece, Israel, Turkey, Chile, and Mexico. Among all 64 other countries and education systems, 23 had higher average scores than the United States, 29 had lower average scores, and 12 had average scores not measurably different from the U.S. average score. Shanghai-China and Singapore performed significantly higher, on average, than all other countries and education systems.
On the science literacy scale, the average score of U.S. students (502) was not measurably different from the OECD average (501). Among the 33 other OECD countries, 12 had higher average scores than the United States, 9 had lower average scores, and 12 had average scores that were not measurably different from the U.S. average score. The OECD countries with higher average scores than the United States were led by Finland (554). The OECD countries with lower average scores than the United States were: the Slovak Republic, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Chile, and Mexico. Among all 64 other countries and education systems, 18 had higher average scores, 33 had lower average scores, and 13 had average scores that were not measurably different from the U.S. average score.
Learning from those at the Top
While none of the these studies shows the United States at the bottom of the list of industrialized nations, for Americans used to seeing ourselves as world leaders in math, science and innovation, finding ourselves in the middle of the pack can be a shock—and a call to action.
The PISA report offers a number of recommendations of lessons that can be learned from emulating the world leaders in math and science. Several of these, the researchers say, have already been built into the Obama administration's Race to the Top initiative, which emphasizes:
- Internationally benchmarked, state-developed standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace;
- Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals;
- Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices; and
- Turning around the country's lowest-performing schools.
"Virtually every country featured in this volume," they write, "mirrors Race to the Top's effort to support the recruitment, development, rewarding and retaining of effective teachers and principals. Indeed, such unwavering support for excellence in teaching and school leadership is perhaps the key element of the policies and practices that drive high-performing education systems, such as those in Canada, Finland, Japan, Shanghai-China and Singapore."
Additional characteristics of high-performing educational systems, according to the PISA researchers, include:
- A national commitment to education and a conviction that all students can achieve at high levels;
- Institutionalising improved instructional practice;
- Aligning incentive structures and engaging stakeholders;
- Complementing accountability to agents outside schools with accountability to professional colleagues and parents;
- Determined efforts to improve the overall school system and narrow the gap between "weaker" and "stronger" schools;
- Investing resources where they can make the most difference;
- Balancing local responsibility with a capable centre with authority and legitimacy to act;
- Workplace training to facilitate school-to-work transitions;
- Aligning policies across all aspects of the system, establishing coherence of policies over sustained periods of time, and securing consistency of implementation;
- Ensuring an outwards orientation of the system to keep it evolving and to recognize challenges and potential future threats to current success.
To learn more, download Highlights From PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context.
