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November 15, 2007
Another report shows U.S. students are not failingJust as our own Center for Public Education found in their report earlier this year, a new report from the American Institutes of Research (AIR) found that U.S. students perform better than students in most countries but not as well as others. However, unlike the Center's report that compared U.S. performance as a whole in a variety of grade levels and subjects, AIR compared only the math and science performance of 8th graders in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia to the performance of 8th graders from over 40 countries around the world.
While the comparison of each state's performance to that of other countries is not perfect, the AIR report does show (once again) that U.S. public schools are not failing as some critics would suggest. As a matter of fact, the report points out that students in most states perform equally as well, if not better, than most English speaking European countries such as England and Sweden. For example, students in Massachusetts outperformed students in all countries except four Asian countries (Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan), which have a much smaller and less diverse student population than in the United States.
So once again a report debunks the myth that U.S. public schools are failing. However, this and the Center's report show that our students' performance in math and science is still not where we want it. Educators and policymakers should look at high performing states like Massachusetts and high performing countries like Singapore, and any other country making great strides with their students, to find out what works best to improve student achievement. By learning from other states and other countries, best practices can be put in place so all students have the math and science skills they need to live comfortably in the 21st century.
For more information on what international tests actually measure, how the United States compares, and how the results should be interpreted, check out “More than a horse race: A guide to international assessments of student achievement” at the Center for Public Education.
Posted November 15, 2007 11:41 AM | Students
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