Brookings Study Suggests Progress In Higher-Math Skills, Not Basics

By Lynn Olson

Students have made slow but steady gains in math since the early 1970s, but their reading achievement has barely budged, says a report scheduled for release this week by the Brookings Institution.

The report, by the Washington-based research organization's Brown Center on Education Policy, relies primarily on data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federally financed program that gauges young people's learning in key subjects. While gains in math since 1973 have been significant—roughly equal to a full year of additional learning for 9- and 13-year-olds—gains in reading have been exceedingly small, the study found.

The findings echo those reached in a new NAEP trend report, which concludes that students' math scores in 1999 were...