Kenneth J. Cooper. "Educators: Tests Show School Reform Takes Time;Back-to-Basics Movement Produces Results, but Students Lag in Critical Thinking Skills :[FINAL Edition]. " The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext)  [Washington, D.C.] 8  Apr. 1990, a04. Washington Post.

Copyright The Washington Post Company Apr 8, 1990

A series of test results announced this year that have shown U.S. students performing dismally in history, civics, geography, reading and writing also show, educators say, that it takes a long time to change the nation's education system.

The results of the 1988 National Assessment of Educational Progress, announced this year, provide evidence that the back-to-basics movement begun in the 1970s succeeded, a decade or more later, in giving students a better command of factual information and improving their performance on simple academic tasks, the educators say.

But students did not demonstrate advances in thinking critically or communicating ideas, the kind of sophisticated skills that are in demand in today's job market.

"We have successfully gotten back to the basics as a country, and that was worth doing. But we haven't gotten beyond the basics in any of the core subjects," said Chester E. Finn Jr., an education professor at Vanderbilt University and chairman of the National Assessment's board.

"It took us a decade to see the impact of the emphasis on going back to the basics," said Ina Mullis, who analyzes the test data for the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J. Under contract with the Education Department, the private service administers the National Assessment to large samples of students in grades four, eight, 11 and 12.

Minorities nationwide and students in the Southeast made larger gains in basic skills, results that Christopher T. Cross, assistant secretary of education in charge of research, attributed to remedial education programs funded by states and the federal government.

"In the basic-skill areas, the Southeast has made substantial gains," Cross said. The test's sponsors repeatedly have cited gains by black and Hispanic students, particularly in reading, as the bright spots in the results. But both minorities and southeastern students still lag behind the rest of the country.

The educators find much less evidence in the test results of any impact from school improvement efforts attempted since 1983, when a landmark education report declared the United States "A Nation At Risk." The changes, such as more rigorous graduation requirements and higher teacher salaries, were intended to help implant in students the skills needed to compete successfully in the world economy.

"I would have to say the five-year impact of these reforms is pretty puny," said Finn, who added that he was "not ready to declare failure" because "five years is a short time in the life of an education system."

No more than 6 percent of the students rated at the top level of proficiency in any subject, an indication that students are not mastering the most sophisticated skills.

Another indication is the performance of average students. In geography, for instance, they did fairly well at locating major countries on the world map but had difficulty interpreting graphs and charts. They knew about the major events in U.S. history but had difficulty explaining what they meant. They could compose sentences with correct grammar but had trouble writing persuasively or expressing ideas.

Mullis said the 1983 report appeared to have had an impact in one area-homework. In a question asked along with the reading test, fewer students in 1988 than in 1984 answered "none" when asked how much time they spent on daily homework assignments. But "less than one hour" remained the most common response of students in grades four, eight and 12.

The "A Nation At Risk" report, commissioned by then-Education Secretary T.H. Bell, recommended "far more" homework than was being assigned in 1983.