How Do American Kids Stack Up on Math, Science, and Reading?

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Bob Somerby alerts me that new international test results are in. Here they are:

  • In 8th grade math, American students ranked ninth out of the 56 educational systems that participated in the testing, behind five Asian countries and three others. Average scores are up 17 points since 1995.
  • In 8th grade science, American students ranked tenth out of 56, behind the same five Asian countries plus four others. Average scores are up 12 points since 1995.
  • Reading scores are available only for fourth graders. American students ranked sixth out of 53. Average scores are up 14 points since 2001.

So are American kids hopelessly behind their peers around the world? It doesn’t really look that way to me, though note that not all countries participate in every test. As usual, though, I’m posting the raw data below so you can make up your own mind. The full math/science results are here. The full reading results are here. The full results include more detailed information on what percentage of kids scored at high vs. intermediate levels, as well as some race/gender/state comparisons. Overall, however, U.S. results seem to be about the same no matter how you slice them. Roughly speaking, we’re in the bottom half of the top ten.

UPDATE: I included an incomplete table in the original version of this post, which showed American rankings in math and science slightly higher than they should have been. I’ve corrected both the tables and the text.

UPDATE 2: If you’re wondering why the math and science tables don’t have 56 entries, it’s because several of the “educational systems” are subregions of larger countries, including nine U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. The main table only shows the primary political entities that participated in the testing.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate