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TM 019 306

Meeting Goal 3: How Well Are We Doing? Education

Research Report.

Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED),

Washington, DC. Office of Research.

OR-923071

Oct 92

5p.

Research Reports, Outrep:h Office, U.S. Department of

Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Room 610e,

Washington, DC 20208-5648.

Reports Evaluative/Feasibility (142)

MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.

*Academic Achievement; *Competence; Educational

Improvement; *Educational Objectives; Educational

Trends; Elementary Secondary Education; English;

Geography; Grade 4; Grade 8; Grade 12; History;

Mathematics Achievement; National Competency Tests;

*National Surveys; *Parent Participation; Reading

Achievement; Teacher Expectations of Students;

Television Viewing

America 2000; National Assessment of Educational

Progress; *National Education Goals 1990; *Progress

Reporting; Science Achievement

In 1990, President Bush and the nation's governors

adopted the six National Education Goals as part of a campaign to

increase educational performance at all levels. Goal 3 states that,

by the year 2000, American students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12

having demonstrated competence in cl-r-llenging subject matter,

including English, mathematics, science, history, and geography, and

that every school in America will ensure that all students are

prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and

productive employment in the modern economy. This report examines the

achievement of 17-year-olds and 9-year-olds in mathematics, reading,

and science, and recommends some steps parents and schools can take

to improve performance. Data are from the National Assessment of

Educational Progress report from 1991 ("Trends in Academic

Progress"). The results are not encouraging. Not only are many of the

17-year-olds failing to acquire the skills they need, but the

9-year-olds are not performing better than their counterparts in the

past. A decline in reading and an increase in television watching

accompany these trends. Parents can help by encouraging children to

read, helping them use their free time mo.e constructively than

watching television, and working with the schools. Schools can

improve performance by assigning regular homework, by holding all

students to the same high standards, and by having high expectations

for all stwients. Three graphs are included. (SLD) ***********************************************************************

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document. ***********************************************************************
E d u

U.S. DEPARTMENT OP EDUCATION Of d Educational Rematch and Improvement ED T1ONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION

CENTER (ERIC)

this document has been (*produced as

received from the person of ofganization

originating it

O Minor change* have been made to improve

reorOduCtiOrt quality

Pool Is ot vow Ot oogniocol Stated thladocu.

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Research Report

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Meeting Goal 3: How Well Are We Doing?

In 1990, the President and the nation's Governors adopted six National Education Goals as part of a decade-long

campaign to increase educational performance at all levels. Goal 3the Student Achievement and Citizenship

goalstates that:

"By the year 2000, American students will leave

grades four, eight, and twelve having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter

including English, mathematics, science, history,

and geography; and every school in America will

ensure that all students learn to use their minds

well, so they may be prepared for responsible

citizenship, further learning, and productive

employment in our modern economy."

How far do we need to go to meet this goal? Are today's

17-year-olds prepared for responsible citizenship. further

education, and the workplace? And, if they are not well

enough prepared, what can be done to ensure that tomorrow's students are better prepared'?

This research report examines the achievement of today's

17-year-olds and 9-year-olds in math, reading. and

science and recommends some steps that parents and

schools can take to improve that performance.

The data in this report are from the National

Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) report

Trends in Academic Progress (November, 1991). It

provides information on student achievement patterns

across time at ages 9, 13. and 17 in math, reading, and

science, and the results are not encouraging. Not only

4

are many of the nation's l7- year -olds failing to

acquire the skills they need, but today's 9-year-olds.

who will leave high school at the turn of the century.

are not performing better than 9-year-olds in the

past.

Today's 17-Year-Olds

As measured by the NAEP data, the nation's 17-year-olds

do not appear to be well prepared for today's workforce

or further education:

Mathematics: Only half (56 percent) of 17-year-olds

can compute with decimals, fractions. and percents:

recognize geometric tigures: solve simple equations:

and use moderately complex mathematical reasoning.

Reading: Less than half (41 percent) can find. understand, summarize, and explain relatively complicated

information in a text.

Science: Less than half (43 percent) have some

detailed scientific knowledge and are able to evaluate

the appropriateness of scientific procedures.

Only a few students can do higher level work in these

subjects:

Mathematics: Only 7 percent can solve problems

that involve fractions and percents, solve two-step

problems involving variables. identify equivalent

algebraic expressions. and solve linear equations and

inequalities.

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Reading: Only 7 percent can synthesize and learn

from a variety of specialized reading materials.

Science: Only 9 percent can infer relationships and

draw conclusions using detailed scientific knowledge.

Tomorrow's 17-Year-Olds

It is clear from these results that students are not leaving

high school with the skills they need. But what about

younger children? If they are doing better now than in

the past. we might have reason to believe that they will

leave high school knowing more than today's 17-yearolds. Unfortunately. today's 9-year-olds appear to be

doing only somewhat better in math and science than 9-

year -olds in the past. and no better in reading:

Mathematics: 28 percent of the 9-year-olds in 1990

could add, subtract. multiply, and divide using whole

numbers, and could solve one-step problems, compared to 20 percent in 1978.

Reading: 18 percent could search for specific information. interrelate ideas, and make generalizations, about

the same percentage as in 1971.

Science: 31 percent could understand and apply general information from the life and physical sciences.

compared to 26 percent in 1977.

The improvement in math and science is certainly encouraging, but the achievement is far from reaching world

class standards. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of

9-year-olds were functioning at a very low level:

Mathematics: Nearly one out of every five (18 percent) 9-year-olds in 1990 could not add and subtract

two-digit numbers or recognize relationships among

coins.

Reading: One out of every ten (10 percent) could not

carry out simple. discrete reading tasks.

Science: One out of every four (24 percent) were

unable to understand simple scientific principles.

One must be careful about diagnosing causes of students'

poor performance from survey data. Most surveys

collect limited information on school programs and outof-school activities, and observed relationships are not

necessarily causal. The information we do have.

however, is not encouraging.

Figure 1. Amount of homework completed

each day by 9-year-olds

Less than one hour

46 percent

None received

31 percent

Did not do

assignment

5 percent

One hour or more

18 percent

NAEP 1990 Today's 9-year-olds are not engaging more in activities

which might lead to higher achievement. Three activities

are particularly representative.

Homework. Research has shown that student achievement rises significantly when teachers regularly assign

homework and students conscientiously do it. If students

were doing more homework than in the past. we might

expect to see improved achievement in the future.

However:

In 1990. 31 percent of 9-year-olds reported that they

did not receive daily homework assignments. about the

same percentage (36 percent) as in 1984.

5 percent of students reported that they did not do the

homework assigned to them.

Reading. Students who read a lot tend to he better readers than those who do not. While there is obviously a

certain amount of self-selection herestudents who find

reading easy arc more likely to read more than those who

find reading difficultit is also true that in reading, as in

most things, practice tends to improve performance.

Unfortunately, children do not appear to be reading more

than in the past:

3
Only 34 percent of 9-year-old students reported reading hooks, magazines, or newspapers at least weekly, a

drop from 42 percent in 1984.

Only half (54 pexent) of all 9-year-olds reported that

they "read for fun" on their own time every day, about

the same percentage as in 1984.

Some families, of course, do not have the money to purchase reading materials for their children. But the availability of reading material in the home is significantly

limited both in families with the means to purchase

materials and in those who could rely on their public

library:

Only 29 percent of 9-year-olds reported that they had

four or more types of reading materials (newspapers.

magazines. books. and encyclopedias) at home. compared to 39 percent in 1971.

36 percent of the students reported that they had only

fewer than three of these kinds of materials.

Figure 2. Mathematics scores, by amount of time

spent watching TV each day

Score

500

320

310

300

290

280

270

260

250

240

230

220

0-2 hours 3-5 hours 6 or more nours Age 9 D Age 13 NI Age 17NAEP 1990

Figure 3. A typical day for a child who

watches TV for 6 hours a day

All other activities

1/2 hour

Sleep

10 hours

TV viewing

6 hours

To and

from school

1 hour

School

6 5 hours

Television. Excessive television view mg is associated

with low academic achievement. In the NAEP math

assessment. for example. students who watched a great

deal of television had lower achievement scores than

those who did not.

And. many children appear to he watching a great deal of

TV:

In 1990. 62 percent of 9-vear-olds reported watching

TV for 3 or more hours a day. up from 55 percent in

1982.

23 percent were watching TV for 6 or more hours

every day.

If a child is in school for 6-1/2 hours a day, spends I

hour per day getting to and from school. sleeps for It)

hours a night, and watches TV for 6 hours, there is only

1/2 hour left for everything else: breakfast and dinner

with the family, sports play, homework, reading. No

wonder many children aren't spending much time on

homework and reading.
Recommendations

f the Nation is to meet its education goals for the year

2000. parents. children, and schools will need to work

together to improve student performance. As the analyses show, there is no single solution to improving student

achievement. Many different experiences contribute to a

student's success or failure, but both parents and schools

can help improve the chances for success.

Parents can demand tougher standards and ensure that

school is their children's top priority. At the same time,

schools can expect more of their students, and provide

opportunities for greater student achievement. Without

commitment and hard work on the part of parents, students, and teachers, the goals will not be met.

References:

U.S. Department of Education. What Works. Reward,

About Teaching and Learnins;. Second Edition.

Washington, D.C.: 1987.

U.S. Department of Education. Trend., in Academic

Progress, Report No. 21-1-01. Washington. D.C.:

November 1991.

Note: The data in this report arc from the National

Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) trend report

titled Trends in Academic ProgresA. It is based on six

science assessments between 1969-70 and 1990. live

mathematics assessments from 1973 to 1990. and six reading asse .sments from 1971 to 1990. Survey methodology

and Limple sizes are available in Trends in ,4cademic

Pic ess cited anove.

Parents can help their children by:

Encouraging them to read by providing a variety of

reading materials, and by setting a good example by

reading themselves or by enrolling in adult literacy

classes.

Helping them use their free time in more constructive

ways, including monitoring their television viewing.

Working with the schools to ensure that all children are

receiving a challenging education.

Schools can improve performance by:

Assigning meaningful homework on a regular basis

and holding children accountable for completing it.

Holding all students to the same high standards.

Having high expectations for all students.

This Research Report is the first in a new series published

by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement

for teachers and parents. If you would like to suggest topics for future Research Reports. please write to: Office of

Research. U.S. Department of Education. 555 New Jersey

Avenue NW. Room 6 i Oe Washington. DC. 20208-5648.

To be added to the Research Report mailing list, send your

name and address to Research Reports, Outreach Office, at

the address listed above. This report is a public document

and may he reproduced in part or in its entirety without

permission. Please credit OERI.

OR 92-3071

October 1992

This Research Report is produced by the Office of Research,

Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) of the U. S. Department of Education.

rATES mom Lamar Alexander, Secretary of Education

Diane Ravitch, Assistant Secretary, OERI

Francie Alexander, Deputy Assistant Secretary, OERI