20 years, and less than 20 points...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1863 (j) (1) requires the biennial Science and Engineering Indicators (SEI) report to the President and to the Congress by January 15 of every even-numbered year. Since the next report is due out in six weeks, let's review the indicators in the last report (2010).

U.S. data show that the public's level of factual knowledge about science has not changed much over time. Figure 7-8 shows average numbers of correct answers to a series of mostly true-false science questions in different years for which fully comparable data were collected (appendix table 7-8 ).^[10] Although performance on individual questions varies somewhat over time (appendix table 7-9 ), overall scores are relatively similar.

CITATION
National Science Board. 2010. Science and Engineering Indicators 2010. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation (NSB 10-01).

Ah, geez. Over twenty years from 1988 to 2008, we haven't risen twenty percent above the gathering storm. Look at the learning gains - they are mostly small, between 5-10%.

Remember, SEI is factual and policy-neutral; it neither offers policy options nor makes policy recommendations. The indicators included in the report are intended to contribute to the understanding of the current science and engineering environment. The SEI digest draws attention to disturbing trends....

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind10/c7/c7s.htm#sb4