U.S. students still lag many Asian peers on international math and science exam

Eighth-grade students across the United States showed some improvement in math and science over the past four years, but fourth-graders’ performance was stagnant and students in both groups continued to trail many of their peers in Asia, according to the results of a major international exam released Tuesday.

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, was administered to nearly 600,000 students in dozens of education systems across the globe in 2015. U.S. scores are likely to stoke renewed debate among politicians, educators and business leaders about why math and science achievement has not improved more quickly relative to other nations.

U.S. fourth-graders, for example, scored an average of 539 out of 1,000 possible points in math, down two points from the average in 2011.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/us-students-still-lag-many-asian-peers-on-international-math-and-science-exam/2016/11/28/cdf2e1d2-b588-11e6-959c-172c82123976_story.html