Most U.S. students are still lost on geography

Even as schools aim to better prepare students for a global work force, fewer than one in three U.S. students are proficient in geography, with most eighth-graders unable to explain what causes earthquakes or accurately describe the American Southwest, according to a report released Tuesday morning.

Overall, high-school seniors demonstrated the least proficiency on a 2010 test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the nation's geography report card, with 20 percent found to be proficient or better, compared with 27 percent of eighth-graders and 21 percent of fourth-graders.

The average test score for 12th-graders declined to 282 (on a scale of 500) from 284 in 2001 when the test was last given. It remained essentially unchanged for eighth-graders during that period, though there were gains among the lowest-performing students. Fourth-graders had the largest gains, with the average score rising to 213, up five points from 2001.

"Geography is not just about maps," said David Driscoll, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board. "It is a rich and varied discipline that, now more than ever, is vital to understanding the connections between our global economy, environment and diverse cultures."

The report found that boys scored higher than girls in all three grades, and that the average scores for black and Hispanic students in fourth and eighth grades were higher than in earlier tests.

The tests were given to a national sample of 7,000 fourth-graders, 9,500 eighth-graders and 10,000 12th-graders. The program, which currently evaluates student progress in geography and eight other subjects, has also recently released scores in civics and history.

The geography test rated students' knowledge as basic, proficient or advanced, based partly on knowledge of space and place — say, a particular place on Earth — as well as environment and society and spatial dynamics and connections.

It also assessed students' cognitive skills through problem-solving questions. For instance, a fourth-grader rated as proficient would be able to recognize factors that prevent soil erosion; one rated advanced would be able to use a map to understand city development, according to the report. A proficient eighth-grader would be able to explain the effect of a monsoon in India; an eighth-grader rated advanced would be able to describe the impact of a highway on a landscape.

Roger Downs, a geography professor at Pennsylvania State University who has studied the results, said that while he was encouraged by the improving test scores for fourth-graders, and for low-performing and minority students, he was concerned that "geography's role in the curriculum is limited and, at best, static."

"That is ironic given the convincing case that can be made for the importance of geographic literacy," Downs said. "But it is doubly ironic given a world in which adults and now children have smartphones and tablets that can download maps on the fly, provide directions to places, and give your location to your friends."