Editorial: Spotlight On Education
Year after year, we hear the same thing about math and science education in the United States: It’s sorely lacking and students here lag way behind their counterparts in Asia.
Rankings released in 2008 showed little change in those results, but did offer a glimmer of hope, especially for Massachusetts. According to a survey called the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, students in two states — Massachusetts and Minnesota — made the greatest gains in 2007 even as some Asian countries continued their nearly 20-year acceleration away from the U.S. as a whole.
Young Minds
In science, Massachusetts eighth-graders managed to outrank all other states and countries except for Singapore and Taiwan. In math, Minnesota saw the portion of fourth-grade students performing at the advanced level jump from 9 percent in 1995 to 18 percent, one of the largest gains in the world.
TIMSS is directed by the International Study Center at Boston College. And while the center told the New York Times in December that “it was good to see that the United States has made some progress in math,” it said it was “surprised by the magnitude of the gap between us and the highest performing Asian countries, and that should cause us some concern.”
But it should not be cause for panic in Massachusetts, especially Central Massachusetts.
Recently, several of the region’s school districts have begun discussions about lengthening the school day in order to boost students’ MCAS scores. We think this is an unnecessary, kneejerk reaction to a problem that requires a comprehensive, long-range strategy.
That strategy begins with improving the way sciences, but especially math, are taught. According to the most recent state Department of Education Mathematics and Science Advisory Council annual report, effective professional development for teachers “is as crucial as effective education for students.”
However, the advisory council found that while the best professional development programs result in “deep subject content and sustained, coherent programs,” others “appear to be superficial and short.”
Professional Development
The advisory council wisely suggests a more rigorous certification process for local districts. In addition, it recommends higher education professional development programs and the establishment of a comprehensive state database of professional development opportunities.
With those things in place, students will get the most out of efforts like that of the nonprofit National Math and Science Initiative. The organization made a $13.2 million grant to the Mass Insight Education and Research Institute in 2007. The grant was used primarily to establish a math and science development center at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partnership with the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Framingham State College and local school districts.
Massachusetts’ fourth- and eighth-graders are to be commended for competing with the world’s best in math and science, but top performance is about more than competing with Asia. Competent math and science students are more attractive to high-tech industries, as Massachusetts has demonstrated.
Perhaps more importantly, people with a firm grasp on math are also better suited to govern efficiently and effectively in a state that has come to rely more heavily on those high-tech industries for its success and better able to ensure that future generations also have the opportunity to receive a high-quality math and science education at even the earliest levels.
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