The Lord guides the people of Israel "so that none shall stumble," we hear in this Sunday's first reading. It appears, however, that U.S. schoolchildren need a bit more guidance when it comes to math. For the first time since 1990 America's fourth-graders stumbled a bit, showing no improvement in test scores.

According to the latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation's report card, scores for fourth-graders in four states actually declined between 2007 and 2009--the first time any state has shown a drop since all 50 states began participating in the assessment in 2003.

"This is a warning light that there's something going on here, and school districts should look into it," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy in Washington. But noting that long-term trends are still positive, he said, "it's not an alarm bell."

The lack of progress, education advocates said, was striking enough that the country should be asking hard questions about its math education, particularly for younger students. "This may mean we've gotten all the octane we can out of our current math teaching force," said Amy Wilkins, a vice president of the Education Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing achievement gaps. "What can we do to get more really good math teachers not only into the profession, but into high-poverty and high-minority schools?"

To that end a White House report released Monday concluded that money from a $787 billion stimulus package had helped states fill budget gaps that would have cost many teachers their jobs in school districts and public universities across the country. The report estimates that stimulus spending has created or saved 250,000 teaching or other education jobs this year.

Source: Articles by Amanda Paulson for the Christian Science Monitor and the Associated Press