ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 21, 1996 TAG: 9611210045
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
American eighth-graders ranked 28th in math tests given to students in 41 nations, far behind Asian countries at the top of the list. The U.S. students made it into the top half in science, ranking 17th.
The reason the United States lags in math scores isn't too little homework or too much TV in this country, but the way math is taught here, experts suggested.
Teachers in Japan, where students ranked third in both subjects, actually assign less math and science homework than U.S. instructors, according to the Third International Mathematics and Science Study released Wednesday.
Japanese students say they watch just as much television as their peers in America. And they spend about the same amount of time studying math and science.
``The issue is not simply class time, or the amount of homework, or too much television, as important as these things are,'' Education Secretary Richard Riley said.
He said America must re-examine the way it teaches math and raise academic standards to help prepare students for tomorrow's jobs and to provide a foundation for future economic success.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has been working since the late 1980s to develop new math teaching standards.
The study, which included videotapes of math classes in the United States, Germany and Japan, indicated that Japanese teachers already were doing a better job implementing the kind of changes the council advocates.
In the United States and Germany, students are taught procedures for solving practice math problems, said Jim Stigler, who directed the classroom videotape study. In Japan, the goal is conceptual understanding, he said.
Merna Porter, an eighth-grade math teacher at Louis Armstrong Middle School in Elmhurst, N.Y., said teachers need to be shown examples of effective instruction.
``It's not just writing curriculum on a piece of paper,'' she said. ``If you can see a teacher being successful, the excitement can be contagious.''
More than 500,000 students ages 9, 13 and 18 were tested between 1991 and 1995 for the study, touted as the most extensive review of math and science curricula, instruction and learning ever undertaken. The fourth-and 12th-grade results will be published later.
Singapore, Korea and Japan took the top three spots in the math rankings. Singapore, the Czech Republic and Japan were at the top in science.
The U.S. students scored an average 500 in math, below the international average of 513. In science, the American students averaged 534, above the international average of 516.
The potential margin of error was 10 points for each country.
The study also found:
* Eighty-six percent of U.S. math teachers and 75 percent of German math teachers assigned homework three times to five times a week, compared with 21 percent of Japanese teachers.
* Thirty-eight percent of U.S. eighth-graders spend three or more hours watching television or videos after school, compared with 39 percent of Japanese students and 22 percent of Germans.
The study was conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, an independent cooperative of research centers from 53 educational systems.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by AP.by CNB