TEACHING METHODS ARE KEY TO PERFORMANCE

The performance of American students compared to their global counterparts continues to be fodder for study after study. American students, it seems, continue to lag behind in math and science scores.

But a new study suggests that this shortfall isn't due to too little homework or too much television. Teachers in Japan, where students ranked near the top in both math and science, actually assign less math and science homework and students watch just as much television as their peers in America, according to this international math and science study of 500,000 students.

The difference may actually lie in the way students are taught.

This revelation puts the responsibility for student performance squarely back on the shoulders of the schools and teachers. Faddish teaching styles simply don't work, and American schools have been too quick to embrace these educational gimmicks.

The basics are what count in teaching comprehension and achievement in math, science and other education fundamentals. That is the real lesson that public education must learn in America.