The good news is that students did not do all that poorly: Fifty-six percent of high school seniors knew, for instance, that glaciation formed the Great Lakes. The bad news is that students have not shown much improvement from previous exams and that only about one in four fourth graders was able to identify all seven continents correctly.
Arnold Goldstein, program director for the assessment division of the National Center for Education Statistics, and David P. Driscoll, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which administers the test, discuss.
(In the meantime, here is a question 90 percent of 12th graders got wrong on the 1994 test: Which of the following countries has the largest volume and value of trade with the United States? A. Japan, B. Great Britain, C. Canada, D. Germany; answer is below.)
Q. Can you describe the test?
DR. GOLDSTEIN: The Nation’s Report Card is a series of assessments done on a sample basis on a series of selected subjects. In addition to geography, we test reading and math, science, writing, economics and the arts. It is Congressionally mandated. The National Assessment Governing Board decides which subjects will be tested and what students should know.
Q. The previous national geography tests were given in 1994 and 2001. Have there been any notable differences in the results?
DR. GOLDSTEIN: We keep the assessments more or less the same so we can measure change. In general, we’ve found fourth graders have improved some, eighth graders have remained the same, and 12th graders have declined a bit from 1994 and 2001. In 2010, 79 percent of fourth graders, 74 percent of eighth graders and 70 percent of 12th graders performed at basic level or above, which means they had at least a basic understanding of geography. Those who were proficient, which means they had a mastery of the subject, were 21 percent of fourth graders, 27 percent of eighth graders and 20 percent of 12th graders.
Q. Why is the material on this geography exam considered important?
DR. DRISCOLL: Well, it’s kind of a philosophical question about what kids should know. We often talk about math and reading with No Child Left Behind, and people complain that other areas are not being focused on. We test on many areas, including the arts and economics. I think it is an American tradition for kids to have a broad educational background.
Q. Do the results say anything about the American education system?
DR. DRISCOLL: They tell us a couple of things. We’re seeing a bit of a trend of the floor being raised. Poor kids are showing a modest improvement. But it also shows that kids just aren’t curious. They aren’t reading about these things and therefore they don’t have the knowledge. They don’t work hard enough. Kids know the lyrics to their favorite song but can’t for some reason remember who the vice president is. Schools didn’t cause the problem, but I think America should be raising standards, and the education system is not doing what it should to counteract it.
Q. A lot of teachers say too much class time is devoted to preparing students for standardized reading and math tests instead of being spent on more broad-based learning. What do you think?
DR. DRISCOLL: I don’t agree with that, but there is too much time being spent on tests. The assessments are telling us what we need to know. When Shanghai leaped to the top in PISA [Note: He is referring to the results last year of the Program for International Student Assessment, in which Chinese students topped students in the United States and the rest of the world in science, reading and math.] and even the president said this was a “Sputnik moment,” and it lasted one day. Too often we blame the test. The test is just the mirror.
Answer: C — Canada, which remained first as of 2010, narrowly ahead of China. More questions are available at nationsreportcard.gov/testyourself.asp.
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