NYTimes | In a post-smokestack age, there is only one way for the United States to
avoid a declining standard of living, and that is through innovation.
Advancements in science and engineering have extended life, employed
millions and accounted for more than half of American economic growth since
World War II, but they are slowing. The nation has to enlarge its pool
of the best and brightest science and math students and encourage them
to pursue careers that will keep the country competitive.
But that isn’t happening. Not only do average American students perform
poorly compared with those in other countries, but so do the best
students, languishing in the middle of the pack as measured by the two
leading tests used in international comparisons.
On the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment test,
the most recent, 34 of 65 countries and school systems had a higher
percentage of 15-year-olds scoring at the advanced levels in mathematics
than the United States did. The Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland
all had at least twice the proportion of mathematically advanced
students as the United States, and many Asian countries had far more
than that.
Other tests have shown that America’s younger students fare better in
global comparisons than its older students do, which suggests a
disturbing failure of educators to nurture good students as they
progress to higher grades. Over all, the United States is largely
holding still while foreign competitors are improving rapidly.
Federal, state and local governments and school districts have put
little effort into identifying and developing students of all racial and
economic backgrounds, both in terms of intelligence and the sheer grit
needed to succeed. There are an estimated three million gifted children in K-12
in the United States, about 6 percent of the student population. Some
schools have a challenging curriculum for them, but most do not.
With money tight at all levels of government, schools have focused on
the average and below-average students who make up the bulk of their
enrollments, not on the smaller number of students at the top. It is
vital that students in the middle get increased attention, as the new
Common Core standards are designed to do, but when the brightest
students are not challenged academically, they lose steam and check out.
Analysts and scholars have studied international trends and identified
the familiar ingredients of a high-performing educational system: high
standards and expectations; creative and well-designed coursework;
enhanced status, development and pay of teachers; and a culture where
academic achievement is valued, parents are deeply involved and school
leaders insist on excellence.
But raising the performance of the best students will require the
country to do far more. Here are a few recommendations:
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