Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, April 13, 1999
Critics question increase in children's test scores
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A much-heralded gain in children's reading may have been overstated. Federal officials are trying to determine whether 1998 improvements on scores in some states occurred simply because those states excluded higher numbers of students with disabilities.
There's no evidence of wrongdoing, said Pascal D. Forgione, Jr., chief of the Education Department's statistical branch. Indeed, new federal rules led the states to exclude more students. The department is investigating whether the excluded students, if they had taken the test, would have performed poorly, thus negating much of the gain.
In 1998, for the first time in a decade, many states participated in the voluntary national test showed significant increases in the reading scores of fourth-grade students, the only grade level available for comparison.
The 1998 scores drew particular
attention because low-ranking states, many of which suffered political fallout over previous poor showings, also made gains. The achievements were celebrated last month by Vice President Al Gore.
Critics in some states say it's the exclusions, not better student performance, that led to the gains.
Since there are no scores for excluded students, no one can say for sure, said Kent Orlander of the Lexington, Ky.-based Family Foundation, which has questioned Kentucky's reform efforts. Kentucky pulled out 10 percent of students selected for its 1998 sample, compared with 4 percent in 1994.
Orlander said the increase was troubling.
"If you're taking out so many more students who are judged as less likely to achieve well on the test, how can you confidently assert that you are in fact improving?" he said.
Jim Parks, spokesman for Kentucky's Department of Education, said critics can't assume the
excused children would have dragged down scores
"Nobody knows what those students would have scored if they had taken the test," he said.
The test, called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, is administered by a nationwide group established by Congress. It is given about every two years to a nationwide sample of children in three grade levels in subjects such as math and reading. States are not required to participate in national testing.
in previous years, the national test was administered to special students without special help—if they spent at least half their time in a mainstream classroom.
The situation changed for the 1998 test. A federal law began requiring that special-needs students get help on any test comparing their results with others. The governing board of the National Assessment of Educational Progress responded by requiring that those students be excluded from the national test sample.
Study: nutrient may protect men
Tomatoes could stop prostate cancer
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — A study has found the first direct evidence that the nutrient that makes tomatoes red may protect men against prostate cancer by shrinking tumors and slowing their spread.
To see whether tomatoes are truly the reason why, researchers from the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit gave lycopene capsules to men who were about to undergo surgery to remove their cancerous prostate glands.
The nutrient, lycopene, has emerged as one of the trendiest of all nutritional supplements in recent years. Large population surveys have suggested that those who eat plenty of tomatoes — the primary natural source of lycopene — are less likely to get prostate cancer and some other malignancies.
The study involved 38 men who were randomly assigned to take
lycopene or nothing for 30 days before their prostate operations. Before surgery, the volunteers showed no obvious signs that their cancer had spread.
After surgery, the doctors found that cancer tissue was less likely to extend clear to the edges of the lycopene users' prostate glands. And pre-cancerous cells in their prostates were less abnormal-looking.
"This suggests that lycopene results in a decrease of the tumor size and makes the cancer less aggressive," said Dr. Omar Kucuk, who directed the study.
The findings were presented in Philadelphia on yesterday at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Kucuk warned that his study is small, and cautioned against routine use of lycopene supplements without further evidence.
Lycopene pills are widely available. In the study, financed by the Karmanos institute, volunteers were given two daily 15-milligram capsules of LycO-Mate, a lycopene extract made by LycoRed Natural
Products ofIsrael.
Kucuk said this was the amount of lycopene found in about a pound of tomatoes. Since lycopene is not easily absorbed from raw tomatoes, it might take two or three pounds to actually raise blood levels as high as were seen in the study.
Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy among U.S. men. The American Cancer Society estimates that prostrate cancer will be diagnosed in 179,300 men this year, and 37,000 will die from it.
Among the study's findings:
Among the cancer had spread to the very edge of the prostate gland or beyond in seven of the 21 men on lycopene, compared with nine of the 12 in the comparison group.
Levels of PSA — prostate specific antigen, a measure of tumor activity — fell 20 percent between the start of treatment and surgery in the lycopene patients. They were unchanged in the comparison group.
"If this is real, I would expect to see a decrease in the relapse rate and increased survival in these patients" taking lycopene, Kuuked.
Sexual Assault Awareness Week Men & Women Working Together to Stop Rape
"This Is Not an Invitation to Rape Me" A thought-provoking poster display of visual images designed to confront myths and misconceptions about rape. NOTE: This display contains mature themes and should be viewed with discretion.
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Tyler Kelly Management *R* Resistance Center, WAKE COUNTY and Photocellary Network *C* Resistance Center, WAKE COUNTY and Photocellary Network
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