Science Education Report From Fordham Institute Shows Best, Worst States

"Don't know much about science" may be a good description of many students in U.S. public schools, at least if you're swayed by a new report issued by The Fordham Institute.

The report, The State of State Science Standards 2012, indicates that K-12 science standards of most U.S. states are mediocre at best - with only 13 states getting an A or B and 38 receiving a grade of C or lower.

Which states fared the worst? You may be surprised. Keep clicking to to see the 27 states that received a D or F, including one state that got a perfect score...of zero.

Comments

[Dave D2]

05:59 PM on 07/31/2012

As others have noted, this is solely based on the way the state describes its science standards. California gets an 'A' because it is very descriptive; most other states get Fs because they are general. Interestingly, the NAEP actually tests 122,000 8th graders in science, and the average scores don't correlate with the state described standards. At all. So, having the government describe the standards in great detail may be lauded by some, but I am not sure how it would help us bridge the science gap we are all concerned about.

[SidTheScienceKid]

01:53 AM on 03/02/2012

Just about every reader is upset... topic of education... this is the right place to ask for signatures... http://www.change.org/petitions/apple-inc-classify-creation-science-ibooks-ebooks-under-religion-not-life-science
thanks

[jeeimu]

10:55 AM on 04/12/2012

signed :)

[SidTheScienceKid]

11:20 AM on 04/12/2012

thank you :) If you could pass the link to others or post elsewhere, that would be great. Thanks again.

[wanderthewest]

10:39 PM on 02/17/2012

This report would have been real work, if it would have involved comprehensively evaluating how effective science education is in each state. Rather, it looked at what was on the books for state standards and made judgement based on those, which isn't very impressive. We need more good science teachers...but a good science teacher renders poor state-level standards completely irrelevant.

[wanderthewest]

10:35 PM on 02/17/2012

The report judged state standards--not the competency of students or efficacy of teachers. Having poor science standards is a bad thing, but the headline is inaccurate.

[cuoi]

07:17 PM on 02/15/2012

What the F? Assuming this survey has validity, Y so many? I hope this becomes hot subject of debate and we can get back on D track...

[simian sez]

02:45 PM on 02/15/2012

Doesn't the verification that there are so many "worst" states in science scare anyone enough, in and of itself?

[TheyAllSuck]

03:54 AM on 02/13/2012

I hate to be a pragmatist, but one really shouldn't be too concerned about Alaska or Montana getting a D or F in science education. Reason: its almost empty of population.

On the other hand, states like New Jersey and Illinois failing is a huge problem.

[wanderthewest]

10:37 PM on 02/17/2012

this is state education standards, not classroom teaching or student performance

[LMPE]

12:25 AM on 02/13/2012

I would have expected Texas to be on the list.

[cuoi]

07:15 PM on 02/15/2012

I expect folks in Austin bring up the average...

[wolfpeace]

03:52 PM on 02/12/2012

This is a symptom of why the U S is falling behind in technological advancements.

[jeeimu]

10:56 AM on 04/12/2012

probably more of a cause

[taxman100]

03:17 PM on 02/12/2012

So how scientific is this study. Was the hypothisis clearly defined and then tested and measured accounting for the appropriate variables and corrolations. I'm not convinced the studies results are relevent or accurate. And yes I'm from an F state.

[hubertandsusan]

12:03 PM on 02/17/2012

Scientific study of Science standards.... the study was ranked a D. Surprised? Nobody smart enough to conduct it.

[JefCartier]

09:41 PM on 02/09/2012

As a teacher in Wisconsin (failing) I am charged by the state to provide resources and extra support to my failing students. If I were to treat my students like schools in the U.S are treated by our D.P.I and the Feds the results would be just as dismal. When will this country wake up from it's fantastic delusion that we can educate children in the 21st century with 20th century thinking and 18th century funding?

Jeff Cartier
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

[SouthStJo]

06:14 PM on 02/09/2012

It's like saying you are ranking the best and worst football teams.......based completely on how their General Manager makes their training schedule. Regardless of the players, the coaches, whether the GM's training plan is mandated to the coaches or just a suggestion, whether the GM even writes training plans or does he delegate the defenses training to the defensive head coach (if he does the team gets a zero in tackling, as only GM training plans count), ect.

If your state delegates school curriculum to the local school districts (as many top performing states do), it's automatically a low grade, regardless of what the curriculum in these schools even are... The report is operating under the philosophy that the worst state standard, is automatically somehow better than the best local standards (because local standards are ignored). If its not the state that creates your school's chemistry curriculum...well no matter how good it is or how well your students perform....its a zero.

Fact is many of the 'D' states have a better science curriculum and better student performance in their schools than some of the 'B' states and even one 'A' state I wont mention.
Which is why that despite North Dakota, New Jersey, and Connecticut being top states in academic performance and having 3 of the top 4 highest scores in national testing they are 'D' states....and Louisiana and California get As and Bs.

[mlaiuppa]

09:23 PM on 02/12/2012

Just has horses can't be forced to drink, students can't be forced to learn. That is incumbent upon the parent to instill respect for education and to the authority of the teacher. Instead they are teaching their children that teachers are incompetent, lazy and greedy, don't deserve their salaries, pensions and healthcare and if their kid is disruptive, defends their little precious saying all of the other children are lying and the teacher is prejudiced against their kid.

You cannot force a student to learn if he doesn't want to learn. You can not punish them into learning and you cannot bribe or reward them into learning.

You also can't expect a sleep-deprived or hungry child to learn.

Personally, I think all this harping on standards and accountability serves no purpose. We've had standards for a decade and there's been no dramatic rise in test scores. Punishing teachers with "accountability" won't change that either.

Maybe eliminating poverty will do it. Anyone have a plan to solve unemployment and single parent households?

[hubertandsusan]

12:10 PM on 02/17/2012

Interesting assumption. However it has already been determined that several poorer countries are still able to crank out superior numbers of wonderfully educated students. Think Cuba, India, and even small islands where students school resources are limited to a tree stump for a chair, an abacus instead of computers, a slate board instead of books. It is the effectiveness of teaching which is in question. Not the fancy buildings or physical resources. I had a young man building me a glass shower enclosure recently. His English wasnt too bad, but his handwriting was very elegant and unlike anything i had seen in my students growing up in top notch private schools. I asked where he was from, 20 years old...he had recently come from Cuba in the past year. His penmanship was impeccable. Contrast that with our lazy teens in the USA. Most of their penmanship looks like it was committed under a half blind person with a mental handicap.

[Iluvflyfishing]

05:46 PM on 02/09/2012

Most are red states so no surprise.

[LMPE]

12:26 AM on 02/13/2012

The surprise was that Texas didn't make the list.

[hubertandsusan]

12:13 PM on 02/17/2012

I agree, under W. Bush Texas as a whole ranked among the lowest scores in the nation. However SOME Schools in Texas, especially around Plano, are top in the nation. There is Texas A & M University nearby. The Asian population in these school areas are approx. 9-16%.
Contrast that with the national average of 1-4%. Question is are they bringing up the standard or just flocking to the good schools.

[Sayitlikeitis]

05:13 PM on 02/05/2013

There probably has to be a special category for Texas. The list only includes a range of A to F and not beyond. Had it gone as far as, perhaps let's say, S, T or U, they might have registered

[SouthStJo]

03:12 PM on 02/09/2012

This "report card" is horribly flawed.
For starters many of the "D" states get low grades despite having top performance in Math and Science.
For example, how does New Jersey get a D and Louisiana get a B when every performance standard shows New Jersey public schools as performing far better in Math and Science than most other states in the country and Louisiana towards the bottom?
It turns out it's because New Jersey gets straight zeros in the report for physics and chemistry because they "have no state standards for high school physics or chemistry"­­. That is ridiculous given that New Jersey has a very high percentage of students who complete advanced placement chemistry and physics.

It's a grade determined by how a state bureaucracies creates standards on, so they are rating any state that delegates school curriculum to the local levels as automatically an "F". without regard to what actually tends to get taught in the local schools operating in that state with city-mandated curricula instead of state-mandated ones. That's ridiculous, The makers of the map are operating on the philosophy that even the absolute worst state standard, no matter how bad, is automatically better than the best local standard
What you wind up with is many of those "F" states on the map actually have better science standards in their schools than some of the "C" and "B" states.

Simply put, the way this report was done is what's stupid.

[SouthStJo]

03:24 PM on 02/09/2012

To put it simply, if the state mandated the teaching of nonsense, it would still score higher than a state that allowed greater local control over curriculum, regardless of how good that local curriculum is and how good student performance is.

[brw1970]

03:11 PM on 02/09/2012

What do you expect when many students enter high school and cannot read at grade level and do basic math skills.

[Sayitlikeitis]

05:20 PM on 02/05/2013

Recently one poll conducted stated that some students in the US, specific states not mentioned, were asked the definition of several basic words. We have Mensa. We should also have Densa. Example:

Union
vegetagle, put on hamburgers and hot dogs

Not Union labour, A more perfect union, holy union or Soviet Union.