Tennessee improves science academic standards, study says
The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, which in 2000 gave Tennessee a grade of “F” for its science academic standards, awarded the state a “B” in The State of State Science Standards 2005 report released Wednesday. Tennessee was one of eight states that showed significant improvements over the past five years.
“While it’s certainly possible to get a good education in a state with bad standards and possible to get a bad education in a state with good standards, standards still make a difference,” Fordham Foundation President Chester E. Finn Jr. said during a Wednesday teleconference.
A panel of scientists ranked each state’s science standards based on a set of criteria, including clarity and fairness of expectations for students at each grade level, organization of subject matters and difficulty of expectations.
The report says that while Tennessee’s science standards are well-developed, some “unnecessary small errors” keep the state from scoring higher.
One example of an error in the state’s standards cited in the report is a requirement which reads “construct open, closed, series and parallel circuits.”
“This doesn’t make much sense,” the report says in response. “One doesn’t construct an open circuit or a closed circuit; one just builds a circuit that is either ‘open’ or ‘closed,’ depending on the position of the switch.”
Tennessee covers a broad range of scientific topics in its curricula, which the panel said was key to developing strong standards.
Lead report author Paul R. Gross said too many states are concerned with covering a small number of topics with depth, rather than adequately cover many topics.
“They say less is more,” said the former head of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hold and former University of Virginia provost. “Though they are concerned with depth rather than breadth, they have neither.”
The report also praises Tennessee for the turnaround in the state’s standards for evolutionary science. The report says Tennessee’s approach in 1998 was to ignore evolutionary science, but now the subject is properly covered.
The panel of scientists analyzed whether states incorporated “pseudoscientific fads of politics” in its standards and rated states in their criteria for the teaching of evolution. Tennessee received a “sound” rating in its treatment of evolution.
“The good news is that, despite the well-funded and politically motivated attack on the teaching of evolution, most states have held firm and continue to instruct students in the fundamentals of evolutionary biology,” Gross said in a news release.
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On the Net:
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation: http://www.edexcellence.net