U.S. History Again Stumps Senior Class

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo

Washington

For the second time in seven years, American high school students turned in what officials described as an "abysmal" or "awful" performance on the national assessment in U.S. history, with nearly 60 percent of test-takers failing to demonstrate even basic knowledge and understanding of the subject, according to the test results released here last week.

At the same time, 4th and 8th graders who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed signs of improvement, though only small percentages of those younger students showed proficiency in the challenging subject matter.

"Too many of our public school children are still struggling in this critical core subject, ... and the higher the grade in school, the lower their understanding of history," Secretary of Education Rod Paige said at a press conference held May 9 to release the results. "The questions that stumped so many students involve the most fundamental concepts of our democracy, our growth as a nation, and our...