Just the Stats: U.S. Students Lag Behind in Math and Science

Overall, U.S. students are performing better in math and science than students in foreign  countries. However, U.S. students  perform considerably behind the highest-achieving countries, based on a recent study released by the American Institutes for Research (AIR), a nonprofit behavioral and social science research organization based in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Gary Phillips, chief scientist at AIR and author of the report Chance Favors the Prepared Mind: Mathematics and Science Indicators for Comparing States and Nations, categorized students into three levels: basic, proficient and advanced. The report presents an in-depth evaluation of mathematic and science scores of eighth-grade students, both internationally and in each of the 50 U.S. states. The analysis reviews scores collected in 2005 and 2007 on the  National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) for U.S, students; compared to 2003 international data on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for students in other countries in grade 8.