Leaning Tower of PISA

In a recent report by the National Council on Teacher Quality, the bipartisan research council found that American students are just average. It cited the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) as a basis for their conclusions, so we at AIA took another look at the PISA results.

One of the most worrisome results from the study was that American students were average when it came to reading and literacy scores, but their science and math skills were below average. Compared to other well-developed and advanced countries, the U.S. only had 27% at an average math literacy level compared to the average of 32% in the other countries studied.

Even though the U.S.’s math literacy in 2009 was higher than in 2006, their average scores were noticeably lower than the overall average of the entire study.  Science literacy is eerily similar to the math literacy results, although U.S. students did better overall in 2009 than in 2006.

 

Spencer Irvine is a staff writer at Accuracy in Academia.
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