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Oregon Students' Science Scores Measure Up

Posted on: Friday, 2 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Steven Carter, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

May 25--Oregon fourth-graders were smack in the middle, but the state's eighth-graders beat the average on a national science test called the Nation's Report Card, considered the best measurement of how students compare academically from state to state.

Oregon fourth-graders averaged 151 on the 300-point science test, which was given to a representative sample of 2,700 students last year. That was not a statistically significant difference from the national average of 149.

Washington fourth-graders scored 153, just enough to be statistically higher than the U.S. average.

In the eighth grade, Oregon students scored 153 and Washington students 154 -- both statistically above the U.S. average of 147.

Results were released Wednesday in Washington, D.C. It was the first time in five years that state-level scores were available in science.

State School Superintendent Susan Castillo said she was satisfied with the overall results, but wants to check whether Oregon's third- and fourth-grade science curriculum is well-matched to the questions on the national science test. Oregon students don't take the state science test until fifth grade.

Student results on the Oregon science test are better. State officials said that's partly due to differences in what constitutes a satisfactory score on the tests. In addition, Oregon science teachers are teaching the state's science curriculum, not the national curriculum, which is slightly different.

Overall, Oregon students have shown no improvement on the national science test since state-by-state scores were first released in 1996.

Castillo noted that an achievement gap still persists between white and minority students, but there is some good news: Fourth- and eighth-grade African American students in Oregon scored significantly higher than African American students nationally. And Oregon Latino students made strong gains between 2000 and 2005. Oregon students with disabilities also outperformed disabled students nationally in both fourth and eighth grade.

Nationally, fourth-grade science scores have improved in the past decade, but eighth-grade scores have been flat. And 12th-grade scores, for which no state data were available, have actually fallen in the past 10 years, as they have in math and reading.

"Policymakers and industry representatives are concerned about national competitiveness in an increasingly technical world," said Darvin M. Winick, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, an independent group that oversees the testing. "The lackluster achievement of our older students in science, as in math and reading, appears to confirm those concerns."

Pat Burk, chief policy officer for the Oregon Department of Education, said that in Oregon, urban students did slightly better than rural students, which could be due to differences in science instruction in those areas. Burk said rural schools always have difficulty hiring and retaining science teachers and are not likely to have teaching expertise in all aspects of science, from physics to biology to astronomy.

Burk said Oregon science standards are under review in Oregon, and may become more rigorous. That would be fine with Rachel Lee, an eighth-grade science teacher at Jackson Middle School in Southwest Portland. She thinks the science curriculum in Portland Public Schools is strong, but the state curriculum should be beefed up.

Lee's students do hands-on science. On Wednesday, they were running blue dye through a series of tubes and vials simulating the human circulatory system to measure how long it takes to flush a drug (the dye) out of the body. It was part of a health unit that teaches students about the effects of drugs and alcohol.

"It's super fun" Lee said. "And it's a great way for kids to make the connection between health and science.

"Science teaches student to observe, to think critically and to make observations on their own," Lee said. "That's important in their own life."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

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Source: The Oregonian

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