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Some have interpreted the results of the TIMSS studies to mean that students in U.S. schools are getting dumber as they advance through their education. There are factors, however, that indicate the results are not as dismal as the doomsayers suggest.
In December 5, 2000, the U. S. Department of Education released the results of TIMSS-R (Third International Mathematics and Science Study-Repeat). On December 8, 2000, IBM CEO Louis V. Gerstner and Wisconsin Governor Tommy G. Thompson published their take on the results in an op-ed in the New York Times. In a statement that should be of interest to all principals, they wrote, "The message here is extraordinary and irrefutable: Every day our public schools are open, the gulf between our children and the world's top performers grows wider."
This is not the first time Gerstner has assailed math and science "declines" in this country. At a 1999 education "summit" he referred to TIMSS results as showing the good fourth grade), the bad (eighth grade), and the ugly (twelfth grade) about U.S. schools (Gerstner 1999).
Former secretary of education William J. Bennett seems to agree. At a meeting honoring the 25th anniversary of the Heritage Foundation he chimed in, "In America today, the longer kids stay in school the dumber they get relative to students in other industrialized countries" (Bennett 2000).
The Facts About the Study This is quite an indictment. Does it hold up under scrutiny? Only in part. The basic facts are these: In TIMSS-O (for "Original"), U.S. students were near the top as fourth graders, in the middle as eighth graders, and apparently near the bottom as seniors. Apparently is the operative word. The decline from grade 4 to grade 8 probably is real; the decline from grade 8 to grade 12 probably is not.
In TIMSS-R, which tested only eighth graders, U.S. students were more above-average than in TIMSS-O, but some said this was because many of the countries added to the study were not developed nations. These countries did boost U.S. rankings. However, 13 countries of the 41 in TIMSS-O did not take part in TIMSS-R. Of these, 5 had scored significantly higher than the United States, 6 had scored significantly lower, and 2 had scores similar...