New study shows U.S. students miss boat on geography

Tara Malone

Tribune reporter

10:32 a.m. CDT, July 19, 2011

Ask a group of twelfth-graders how the Great Lakes formed, and about half can pinpoint the primary cause: glaciations.

Quiz eighth-grade students about the geography of the Southwest, and a third will identify from a multiple-choice listing that arid conditions make water a scarce public resource.

Such responses to a national exam released today reveal the tenuous command that many U.S. schoolchildren have on basic geography, including knowledge of the natural environment, how it shapes society and other cultures and countries.

Fewer than a quarter of high school seniors scored proficiently on the geography test, down from 25 percent in 2001 and 29 percent in 1994, when the national geography exam first was administered. The decline seen in the twelfth-grade scores was the most dramatic of any grade tested.

That means only 21 percent of 12^th-graders had at least a solid grasp of geography and could, for instance, explain why Mali is considered overpopulated or explain why the economies of developing countries often are limited to a few agricultural products or raw materials.

Students in grades four and eight fared better.

An estimated 23 percent of fourth-grade students scored at the proficient and advanced level, virtually flat with the 22 percent in 2001, while the performance of eighth-graders was mixed.

More eighth-grade students scored at the proficient level – 27 percent as compared with 29 percent in 2001 – but slightly fewer students placed in the top advanced tier, with 3 percent of test-takers as compared to 4 percent in 2001 earning the highest designation, results show. To score in the top level, students had to show an extensive knowledge of geography that included everything from explaining urban population changes based on a graph or pinpointing a similarity between Los Angeles and San Antonio.

The geography test marks the third social studies exam released this year. Civics and history results previously were released. Across all three disciplines, high school seniors fared the worst.

“The pattern of disappointing results for our twelfth graders’ performance across all three social science subjects should be one of great concern to everyone,” said National Assessment Governing Board Chairman David Driscoll in a statement.

The test results, on a scale from 0-500, also showed:

• Boys outscored girls across all grades tested. They scored four points higher in grades four and eight and five points higher among high school senior.
• The achievement gap narrowed as African-American students improved their performance in grades four and eight. In fourth grade, for instance, black students earned an average score of 192, up from 180 in 2001. Such gains closed the test-score gap between black and white students to 31 points, the narrowest margin since 1994.
• The academic divide between Hispanic and white students also closed slightly. This was most pronounced in fourth grade, where Hispanic students scored an average 197 points on the exam, 27 points lower than the score earned by white students. But the margin was narrower than that recorded in 2001 and 1994, results show.
• Across the board, students in fourth-grade earned an average 213 points, up from 208 in 2001.
• The average score of eighth-graders remained virtually flat while 12^th-graders earned an average 282 points, down from 284 in 2001.