Math and Science Education Assessment

Posted on November 11, 2007  Comments (1)

Science Friday podcast (NPR radio programming) on the urban institute study mentioned a few weeks ago in: The Importance of Science Education.

Conventional wisdom says that U.S. students don’t measure up well against students in many foreign countries when it comes to math and science skills. But is that really true? A team of researchers have re-assessed the results of several common measures of science education success, and they say the true picture may not be as gloomy as some analysts have said.

“When it comes to math and science, American students are no worse, and often score better, than students from many leading countries,” said Harold Salzman, one of the authors of the new Urban Institute report “Into the Eye of the Storm: Assessing the Evidence on Science and Engineering Education, Quality, and Workforce Demand.” The researchers argue that some of the rankings produced by measures such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are due to statistically insignificant differences in scoring.

Read the actual report – Into the Eye of the Storm, Assessing the Evidence on Science and Engineering Education, Quality, and Workforce Demand by B. Lindsay Lowell, Harold Salzman.

One Response to “Math and Science Education Assessment”

  1. CuriousCat: Engineering Education Study Debate
    November 25th, 2007 @ 11:26 am

    As I have said many times the economic future will be greatly influenced by science and engineering. Those countries that succeed in creating a positive economic climate for science and engineering development will find economic rewards those that fail to do so will suffer…

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