Two recent articles make for an interesting juxtaposition.
First, we are all apparently alarmed at the lack of math teachers these days:
The lack of certified science and math teachers is a growing quandary for schools around the nation, particularly those in poor neighborhoods. Lawmakers in Washington are proposing to spend billions over the next several years to encourage more teachers to enter those subject fields. Politicians and business leaders say this isn't just about education — it's about global competition. Competent and engaged teachers are needed to inspire American children to pursue a career in math or science. If it doesn't happen, the United States' role as leader in technology development and scientific research will wither, they say.
On the other hand, the NYTimes reports that public school and private school math scores seem to be about the same, once demographic variables are factored out:
large-scale government-financed study has concluded that when it comes to math, students in regular public schools do as well as or significantly better than comparable students in private schools.The study, by Christopher Lubienski and Sarah Theule Lubienski, of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, compared fourth- and eighth-grade math scores of more than 340,000 students in 13,000 regular public, charter and private schools on the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress. The 2003 test was given to 10 times more students than any previous test, giving researchers a trove of new data...
"Over all," it said, "demographic differences between students in public and private schools more than account for the relatively high raw scores of private schools. Indeed, after controlling for these differences, the presumably advantageous private school effect disappears, and even reverses in most cases."
This could mean that everyone, and not just poor public schools, are suffering from a lack of math instructors, and not even our kids in private schools are getting enough instruction to compete with international students.
Posted by kswygert at January 30, 2006 12:36 PM