Mixed Review

First the good news: American students have improved their basic reading, writing, math and science skills over the past 20 years. Now the bad news: few can apply that knowledge in ways that would help them excel in college, get a job or even perform the necessary tasks of daily life. "We have a solid foundation of basic skills," says Archie Lapointe, executive director of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (N.A.E.P.), which last week issued a far-ranging study on the subject. "But there is stagnation as far as high- order thinking skills are concerned."

The report, titled Crossroads in American Education, evaluated 1.4 million students ages nine, 13 and 17 over the past two decades. On the positive side, it found that students have improved in "their ability to do simple computation, comprehend simple text and exhibit knowledge of everyday science facts." The performance gap between whites and racial minorities seems to be closing, although it remains "unacceptably large." By the end of high school, blacks and Hispanics still lag three to four years behind white students in achievement.

These gains in rote learning are offset by a worrisome inability to reason effectively. More than 60% of all high school students cannot understand the material they read, including newspaper stories or topics they study in class. Fully a fourth of all 13-year-olds fail to grasp the principles of basic math. That problem is apparently not remedied in high school, where almost half of all students are unable to solve problems using decimals, percentages, basic geometry or algebra.

The study recommends few solutions that are not already part of the education-reform movement: more homework, higher performance standards, more parental involvement and more work in core subjects. But the report also suggests that tests and curriculum be recast to make students analyze what they know rather than just repeat facts and rules. Without such changes, it says, U.S. graduates may soon be unable to compete with those from other countries for the world economy's increasingly complex jobs. "Recent improvements represent a significant national accomplishment," says Gregory Anrig, president of the Educational Testing Service, which administered the study for N.A.E.P. "But progress falls short of what the times require. Much more progress is needed for the economic development of our nation and the intellectual well-being of the next generation."