Dive Summary:
- A global study released Tuesday showed improved performance in American fourth-graders' math and reading scores over four years ago, though eighth-graders' progress remained stagnant.
- Despite the improvements, many other nations--especially in Europe and Asia--have improved faster, leading Education Secretary Arne Duncan to describe the study as "sober cautionary notes," warning that the unacceptable results could soon see the U.S. being outperformed in a "knowledge-based, global economy" by the nations it trails.
- The study found that while American students still perform better than the global average in all subjects tested, those in high-poverty schools fall short of both the U.S. and international average.
From the article:
American fourth-graders are performing better than they were four years ago in math and reading, but students four years older show no such progress, a global study released Dec. 11 revealed. Although the U.S. remains in the top dozen or so countries in all subjects tested, the gap between the U.S. and the top-performing nations is much wider at the eighth-grade level, especially in math. ...
