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FootnoteTV (TM) : The West Wing Examining the issues behind your favorite TV shows, episode by episode. More info here.   (Frames) | <--- Episode ---> The Long Goodbye (episode 78). CJ goes home for her high-school reunion, and spends time with her father, who has Alzheimer's disease (1) and has some strong opinions about the state of mathematics education (2). The White House Alzheimer's Disease (last updated January 9, 2003) (back to top) About 4 million people in the United States currently suffer from Alzheimer's disease (AD), an age-related and irreversible brain disorder that causes memory loss, personality changes, and a decline in thinking abilities. Perhaps the most well-known case of Alzheimer's disease is former President Ronald Reagan, who announced that he had been diagnosed with the disease in 1994. Alzheimer's disease caused about 140 deaths per 100,000 people aged 65 and over in 2000, according to the Department of Health and Human Services' National Vital Statistics Report. While that report ranked Alzheimer's as the eighth leading cause of death for people of all ages, heart diseases are the leading cause and caused more than ten times as many deaths in 2000, and accidents caused about twice as many deaths. The disease, which is not part of the normal aging process but is sometimes confused as being part of it, was first described in 1906 by German physician Dr. Alois Alzheimer. Scientists today do not fully understand what causes AD, but age and genetics are believed to play a role. AD cannot be diagnosed definitively until after a person's death, but can be diagnosed with some accuracy through medical tests, brain scans, and the use of a complete medical history. Sources: The Centers for Disease Control has some basic information about Alzheimer's disease on-line here. The National Institute on Aging has information about Alzheimer's on-line here. Mathematics Education (last updated January 15, 2003) (back to top) Assessments conducted by the Department of Education show that pre-college students' average math scores on an unchanging test have increased slightly overall since the 1970s, and that a growing but still small percentage of such students (17 percent of 12th-graders, 27 percent of 8th-graders, and 26 percent of 4th-graders) achieve or surpass the recommended level of proficiency in math. A congressionally mandated program carried out by the National Center for Education Statistics (part of the Department of Education), the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the nation's only representative "report card" of what students know and can do in various subject areas. NAEP is conducted at several levels and comparing different groups of students. At the national level, NAEP is conducted at grades 4, 8 and 12; state NAEP is conducted at grades 4 and 8. NAEP long-term trend assessments are done at ages 9, 13 and 17 in math, science and reading, and at grades 4, 8 and 11 in writing. The following graphs show how students at age 9, 13 and 17 have done in the long-term trend assessments. In order to track trends, the long-term trend instrument used here has not evolved. Generally, the trends in mathematics and science show that scores declined in the 1970s, then increased in the 1980s and early 1990s, and stayed constant since. Reading scores do not show much significant variation. In addition to determining the overall scores, NAEP has since 1990 measured on a trial basis students' level of proficiency through "achievement levels" adopted by the National Assessment Governing Board. Students should reach the "proficient" level, according to the NAGB; the percentage of students at or above this level in 2000 was 26 percent at grade 4 (up from 13 percent in 1990), 27 percent at grade 8 (up from 15 percent in 1990), and 17 percent at grade 12 (up from 12 percent in 1990). At the same time, the percentage of students with less than basic proficiency has dropped from 1990 to 2000. The NAGB reported that there was no significant difference between the average scores of male and female 4th graders, but that the average score of males was higher than that of females among 8th and 12th graders. Sources: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is available on-line here. The Nation's Report Card for Mathematics in 2000 is on-line here.

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FootnoteTV ® | Footnote Comics™ | Mirror Law™ | Bulletin Board

By Stephen Lee