Problems!

Math skills are down again

A fourth of the nation's 17-year-old students cannot multiply 671 by 402 and get the right answer: 269,742. And the same multiplication problem baffles one-third of all 13-year-olds. Of course, young Americans may prosper without ever solving that particular problem, provided they never have to print up enough tickets to admit 671 people to exactly 402 rock concerts. But the problem makes a point for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a nonprofit organization, which included it, along with hundreds of others, in the latest N.A.E.P. survey of the nation's math skills, released last week. The point: as measured by tests given to a sampling of 71,000 U.S. students, math competence has declined in the past five years. The decline is notable among older pupils: scores of 17-year-olds dropped by 4%, 13-year-olds by 2%, and nine-year-olds by about 1%.

The test measured knowledge of math concepts, computing skills and the ability to think through problems. The assessment showed that the students have most difficulty with the reading and reasoning involved in word problems. About 60% of the teen-agers knew that the area of a rectangle equals its length times its width, and that the sides of a square are equal. But less than half of them could reckon the area of a square when the length of only one side was labeled. Two-thirds of the 13-year-olds could calculate the "distance around" a pictured rectangle with two dimensions given; only a third could determine how much fencing was needed to go around a rectangular garden not pictured, but with the same two dimensions given. An N.A.E.P. advisory panel of educators tentatively blamed textbooks and oversimplified "back to basics" programs for the poor results in the "higher order of cognitive skills." though most problems seemed basic indeed.

There was some good news. Since 1973 there has been a narrowing of the performance gap between younger black children and the national average--from 15 to only ten percentage points behind for nine-year-olds, and from 21% to 18% for 13-year-olds. Gains were reported for students in economically depressed areas. But 17-year-olds--both black and poor--remain as far behind as they were five years ago. Among questions that helped detect such differences: "The floor of a rectangular room has an area of 96 sq. ft. Its width is 8 ft. How long is the room?"

The correct answer (12 ft.) was given by 82% of the 17-year-olds from solidly middle-class urban areas but only 29% of the poor teen-agers got it right. .

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