Fourth-, Eighth-Graders Fall Short on Science Scores

More than half of New York City fourth- and eighth-graders failed national science tests last year, scoring far below the nationwide average, according to results released yesterday.

In New York City, 54% of fourth-graders failed the test, compared with 34% nationwide, and 64% of eighth-graders failed, compared with 43% nationwide. Compared with the other nine urban districts that participated in the report, New York was in the middle, with fourth-graders performing below Austin, Charlotte, Houston, and San Diego but above Boston, Atlanta, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

This was the first time the National Assessment of Educational Progress for science compared the 10 participating urban districts including New York. Yesterday, the city schools chancellor, Joel Klein, announced for the first time that city third- through eighth-graders would be taking standardized science tests starting next school year. The following year, social studies standardized tests will also be introduced for all the middle grades. Before, only fourth- and eighth-graders took the science and social studies tests.

"Until now, our curriculum reforms have focused largely on English Language Arts and math and we are getting results, as our NAEP and state scores show," Mr. Klein said. "We need now to extend our focus to science and social studies."

Low-income eighth-graders in New York City did better than those in other cities included in the report, with 31% passing, and low-income fourth-graders did better than those in every city except for Austin, with 41% passing. When the results were broken down by race, the average number of black fourth-graders who failed in New York City was on par with the national average and better than in other cities with populations of more than 250,000.

The performance of white students was partially responsible for pulling New York City's scores below national averages. The average number of white fourth- and eighth-graders who failed was nearly 10 percentage points higher than the national average. Although wide, the gap between whites and blacks was smaller in New York than in other urban districts, with 27% of white fourth-graders failing compared with 64% of black students. Achievement for Hispanic fourth-graders was worse in New York than the rest of the nation.