More students grasping geography

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Geography scores for fourth- and eighth-grade students in the United States have improved since 1994, but scores for 12th-graders have remained flat, a federal survey showed Friday.

The latest scores on "The Nation's Report Card" -- the ongoing assessment of student achievement by the National Center for Education Statistics -- show that 74 percent of fourth- and eighth-graders score at or above the "basic" level of geography skills. The "basic" level is defined as partial mastery of skills necessary for proficient work at each grade.

At the more advanced "proficient" level, 21 percent of fourth-graders, 30 percent of eighth-graders and 25 percent of seniors made the grade.

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A typical fourth-grade question in the test showed a simple map of several countries in a region where natural resources were indicated and asked which countries would be likely to have a conflict over resources. Thirty-three percent of fourth-graders answered correctly.

Although the gap persists between white, Asian and American Indian students on the high side and African-American and Hispanic students on the low end of the scoring scale, elementary school-level black students showed progress.

The average scores of fourth-grade African-American students increased more than any other group. There was a smaller gain for black eighth-grade students but none at all for seniors.

The report was based on answers from about 25,000 students in some 1,100 public and private schools across the United States.