Top-Achieving Nations Beat U.S. States in Math and Science

These achievement gaps persist despite years--decades--of standardized testing. If we concede that testing has become the reform, then we must begin to question it. -Angela

Published Online: November 13, 2007
Top-Achieving Nations Beat U.S. States in Math and Science
By Sean Cavanagh


Students in the highest-performing U.S. states rank well below their peers in the world’s top-achieving countries in mathematics and science skill, according to a new study that judges American youths on an international scale.
The study, published Nov. 14 by the American Institutes for Research, compares the performance of 8th graders in individual American states not against each other, but against students in top-performing foreign nations, such as Japan and South Korea, as well as against children in recent lower-scoring ones, such as Bulgaria, Jordan, and Romania.
The analysis found that, on the one hand, most American states are performing as well as, or better than, most foreign nations in the study in math and science.
But it also concludes that even students in states such as Massachusetts, Minnesota, and North Dakota, which have scored well on recent U.S. exams, do not match students in top-performing foreign countries. Read on here.