The Detroit News.
Test scores show state students are in the middle of the pack worldwide.
That's one finding of the latest international comparison of student scores on a math and science test. Moreover, changes are in store for MEAP tests in the next two years that will make them even tougher, said Chuck Allan, consultant for the Michigan Department of Education. Global results issued last week come from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study test, which measured eighth-graders' knowledge in 38 countries in 1999. Since the first round of results were released in 1996, American educators and politicians have gone through a lot of hand-wringing over the nation's mediocre results. Blame fell on American teachers, but Allan feels that's unfair.