Students in schools in the largest U.S. cities, many from low-income households, trail their peers elsewhere in the country in a test of science proficiency, according to a report released on Thursday.
Fourth- and eighth-graders in most of the 17 participating urban districts typically scored lower than the national average, the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress Science report showed.
“The results are shouting at us: Whatever we are doing in science education in these big city public schools, it isn’t working for the vast majority of our students,” said Alan Friedman, a member of the National Assessment Governing Board.
Questions measured students’ understanding of physical science, life science and earth and space sciences.
The report card showed that 44 percent of fourth-graders at schools in cities with a population of at least 250,000 fall below the standard for basic proficiency in science, compared to 29 percent nationally.