SACRAMENTO, CA -- In Pacific Research Institute's California Index of Leading Education Indicators (released February 25th) much emphasis was placed upon the precipitous decline of math skills among the state's students. Various test score indicators showed California students near the bottom of math proficiency rankings. In 1994, 54 percent of entering freshmen in the California State University system were required to take remedial math. Also, California students took fewer tough math courses than students in virtually every other state in the nation.

At the end of last week, a new set of math test scores were released that supported the evidence contained in the PRI report. On the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math test, California students once again produced failing results. The NAEP grades student scores as either advanced, proficient or basic. Most of California's students could not even achieve the minimum "basic" rating: 54 percent of the state's fourth graders scored below this performance level. California's average fourth-grade math score beat out the average scores in only two states (Louisiana and Mississippi).

In response to this poor performance, Governor Wilson reacted by saying that these dismal scores "should be a
wake-up call for every educator, parent and elected official in our state that the math programs we are currently using just aren't working." The governor's observation is exactly the conclusion reached by PRI's Index. According to the Index, low student math achievement is due to "new, new math" teaching methods that de-emphasize basic computational skills, promote general discussions about math concepts, require little homework, and encourage calculator use over learning how to do addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division (use of calculators in California is double the national average). As the Index points out, given such
teaching practices it is little wonder that California's students are performing so abysmally.

There are some small rays of hope, however. In a huge political defeat for state schools chief Delaine Eastin, the State Senate Rules Committee on March 3rd confirmed Janet Nicholas to the state Board of Education. As a temporary member, Nicholas had been the force behind the Board's recent advisory policy favoring a return to basic computational skill-building in math. Eastin, who works behind the scenes to push "new, new math," put out the word that she wanted Nicholas' nomination killed. But in the face of the terrible NAEP math results, even the Democrat-controlled Rules Committee couldn't bring itself to reject the leader of the Board's back-to-basics policy in math. According to newspaper reports, Eastin interpreted Nicholas' successful effort to change math teaching methods "as a slap in the face." Well, if Eastin thought that was a slap in the face, Nicholas' confirmation represents a punch in Eastin's nose. Too bad for Delaine, but thank goodness for California.

-By Lance T. Izumi