Few US students excel in science, according to national test

Science : US students don’t know much about science, according to the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress released yesterday , writes Jeffrey Mervis for Science. The NAEP measures student achievement in reading, math, and science at the fourth, eighth, and twelfth grades. The 2009 assessment, which focused on science, found that 40% of high-school seniors perform below the basic level in science, and that younger students did only marginally better. Francis Eberle, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington, Virginia, says that a big reason for their poor performance is a 2002 federal lawNo Child Left Behindthat has pushed the subject out of classrooms by emphasizing reading and mathematics.