Boston students outperform peers on national science exam

BOSTON - Students in grades 4 and 8 in the Boston Public Schools outperformed many of their peers on the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science exams, results released today showed.

Boston Public Schools was one of 10 urban school districts to participate in the NAEP Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) exams in math, reading and science in 2005. NAEP is often referred to as "The Nation's Report Card" and is administered every two years. By breaking out the scores of urban districts TUDA provides each participating district with the ability to measure how it is performing when compared to districts of similar size and population. Results for reading and math were released last year.

In science, on the grade 4 exam, Boston students had scores higher than or equal to their fellow students in seven of the districts. Only two districts (Austin and Charlotte) posted a higher performance. On the grade 8 exam, Boston students had scores higher than or equal to six of the other participating districts, with three (Austin, Charlotte and San Diego) posting a higher performance.

When comparing results for students eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch, Boston students scored higher than three other districts and equal to the other six in grade 4 and higher than four districts and equal to the other five on grade 8.

"We are pleased to see that BPS students' performance on the science exam compares so favorably with that of their peers in other urban districts," said Superintendent Michael Contompasis. "Now, we need to take the time to further review the results from TUDA and look at our curriculum to determine the areas for improvement in terms of strengthening our alignment and instruction."

Performance in science is increasingly important in Massachusetts. Students will have to pass the grade 10 science exam as a graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2010. Recent results show room for improvement.

"Given our performance in all grades on the MCAS exams in science, we know we have to closely study the performance of every student and school and develop an action plan to help students develop a deeper understanding of all of the dimensions of science," Contompasis added.

BPS has worked and will continue to update the science curriculum to better align with the new state standards. Work to date has included the introduction of new instructional materials, an increase in training for teachers and the allocation of additional resources to assist schools in adopting the new standards.

This is the first year science results are being released. Boston compared favorably on the math and reading exams in results released last year. Overall, only one district had a higher score than Boston on the grade 8 reading test and just two districts scored higher on grade 8 math. Also, only three districts had a higher score on the grade 4 reading test than Boston with four districts scoring higher on grade 4 math.

The districts that participated in the 2005 science urban assessment are Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Diego.

TUDA is unique in that it is the only nation-wide examination that breaks out the performance of urban students. The Council of Great City Schools, which represents the large urban districts in country, worked with the National Assessment Governing Board, National Center for Education Statistics and the United States Department of Education on this partnership.

For more information on NAEP and TUDA, please visit www.nationsreportcard.gov.

The Boston Public Schools serves approximately 57,000 pre-kindergarten through grade 12 students in 14