The state's education commissioner says Rhode Island has been slow to invest in its science curriculum.

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, May 25, 2006

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Rhode Island's science scores have not improved in the past five years, even as lawmakers and educators begin to place more emphasis on this critical subject.

The state continues to trail the five other New England states and is stuck in the middle of the pack nationally, according to the latest results of standardized science tests.

Just 63 percent of Rhode Island's fourth graders scored at or above proficient in science last year, a drop of 2 points since 2000, the last time the national test was administered. The national average for 2005 was 66 percent.

Students in neighboring states fared far better: 72 percent proficient in Connecticut; 81 percent in Maine; 79 percent in Massachusetts; 83 percent in New Hampshire; and 78 percent in Vermont.

The tests, commonly called the Nation's Report Card, are administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress and are the only continuing national assessments that measure what students know in a variety of subjects.

Eighth-grade scores showed a similar gap. Scores were stagnant in Rhode Island, with 58 percent of students performing at or above proficient -- the same as 2000. The national average for 2005 was 57 percent. The other New England states scored five to eight points higher than Rhode Island, from 63 percent in Connecticut to 72 percent in both Maine and Massachusetts, and 76 percent in both New Hampshire and Vermont.

Socio-economic factors, such as Rhode Island's high concentrations of low-income residents and recent immigrants in its urban centers, are not wholly to blame for Rhode Island's sluggish performance in science, said Peter McWalters, Rhode Island's commissioner of elementary and secondary education.

Rhode Island's education system has been slower than some other states to focus on the critical area of science, as the test scores indicate, McWalters said.

"The reason the scores haven't changed is that even though the discussion has been more focused on improving science education lately, we only now have an investment strategy for how to do it," McWalters said. "The other states started earlier, creating a science curriculum and doing more testing and providing professional development for teachers."

Rhode Island is moving in a similar direction, spurred by a national trend to strengthen math, science, technology and engineering education, so that U.S. students can compete in the global marketplace.

Governor Carcieri is pushing lawmakers to approve several initiatives this year, including earmarking $200,000 to develop a statewide science curriculum, allowing scientists and engineers to teach in public schools, and requiring high school students to take three years of science, instead of two. He also wants to move physics to the ninth grade, to kick off a science sequence that would follow with chemistry and biology. Students will be tested each year in science, as they are in English and math, starting in 2008 under the New England Common Assessment, the state's new standardized test.

"These results clearly demonstrate that Rhode Island has much work to do in order to make our students more competitive in the critical subjects of science," Carcieri said in a statement. "We can't afford to delay these important initiatives any longer. Every year we wait, our students pay the price."

A REPRESENTATIVE sampling of more than 300,000 4th, 8th and 12th graders nationwide participated in the science tests last year.

In Rhode Island, 2,700 fourth graders and 2,800 eighth graders from urban, suburban and rural districts took portions of the test. No high school seniors in Rhode Island participated, according to the state Department of Education.

Nationally, the 2005 science tests showed that elementary students are doing better in science, while middle school students are flat and high school students have declined.

No individual state results were gathered for 12th grade, but nationwide, the performance of high school seniors was unchanged between 2000 and 2005, with 54 percent scoring at or above proficient.

The tests also showed that while black and Hispanic fourth graders improved since 2000 and narrowed the achievement gap for elementary students, the gap between black and white 12th graders widened. An education organization dedicated to reducing the achievement gap praised gains among fourth graders, but called the results for secondary schools "troubling."

"These science results confirm a pattern that we have also seen in reading and math: we're getting real traction in the elementary grades, but are not yet seeing similar improvements in the secondary level," said Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust.

For more information, visit www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde

jjordan@projo.com / (401) 277-7254