Acting Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia I. Wright on 2005 National Science Scores
May 24, 2006

Charles Pyle, Virginia Department of Education (off camera)

Dr. Wright, why do you think Virginia students did so well on the national science tests?

Patricia I. Wright, Acting Superintendent of Public Instruction

Science is very important in Virginia. Science is one of the four core areas in our state accountability system. Schools are accredited based on their English, mathematics, science, and social studies achievement results. The Science Standards of Learning were put into place in 1995 as one of the core areas and clearly the teachers, the principals, the administrators, the central offices, local boards – everyone has rallied around our Standards of Learning and made science important.

The standards include both content as well as process skills. An important component of NAEP as I understand it is scientific inquiry, investigation and process sills, and all of those are key components of our Science Standards of Learning.

Over the years we have been accused of emphasizing reading and mathematics at the expense of other subjects, but the reality is if children succeed in reading and mathematics, they are foundation skills for all other disciplines. As a mathematics educator by trade, I can tell you first hand that students who excel in mathematics have a jump start in science because mathematics is the tool of science.

Charles Pyle

Even though Virginia students did very well this year – they are leading the nation on these national science tests – there is still room for improvement.

Dr. Wright

Absolutely. We have improvement in several areas. One is the subgroup area. While we are pleased at progress overall, when we look at the achievement of Hispanics and African-American students, clearly there is still an achievement gap between those groups and white students and that is just not acceptable. We need to work on the subgroups. We also can’t be satisfied with where we are in the aggregate. When we look at the percent of proficiency in Virginia, while we excel in that area compared with other states, we still can’t be satisfied with where we are. We still need to push forward and continue to improve with all children.