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The performance of American high school students in mathematics has fallen significantly behind other countries, according to the world’s most influential education league tables published today.  

The US ranking for math fell from 36th to 40th, according to the Programe for International Student Assessment (Pisa) results, making it one of the worst performers among industrialized countries.

Its league table position in science improved slightly - up from 29th to 25th - while performance in reading remained static with a ranking of 24th, according to the tests administered by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Singapore topped all three tables, which are based on the performance of 15 year-old students. While the Far Eastern countries remain dominant in math, where they took all seven top places, the pattern in science and reading was more mixed, with Estonia taking third place in science and Canada taking third place in reading.

Shanghai, which had topped all three tables in 2012, was not entered as a separate province in this round of testing. Instead four Chinese provinces, Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangdong, have had their scores combined and have taken 10th place in science, 6th place in maths and 27th place in reading.

A total of 72 countries took part in the 2015 round of Pisa, which has established itself as the most influential set of international education league tables. Governments around the world use the results to justify policy changes and the results will be watched closely to see what can be learned from other nations.

The results come after another set of international comparisons - the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) - found 4th and 8th grade students in America were also falling further behind their Asian peers in math and science.

The main focus of this year’s Pisa results is science. The US score, which has remained almost unchanged over the past three years, ranks slightly above average.

But while the country is placed 25th in the table, there are significant variations state-by-state. Pisa has highlighted the results in Massachusetts for particular praise, with a score (529 points) in science that is comparable with some of the top-performing education systems in the world.

“Among the 122 countries and regions with comparable data, only Singapore shows significantly higher scores than Massachusetts,” the report notes.

The state also excels at reading, with a score (527 points) that again ranks it among the best in the world, and significantly above overall US performance.

In math, however, the US is among the lowest performing OECD countries. Just over one in ten students in OECD countries are top performers in math, the findings reveal. In Singapore, this increases to one in three students - but in America, just one in 17 students makes the grade.

Hungary, Lithuania and Wales, which all ranked below the US last time have now moved above it.

The math results of students in Massachusetts were in line with the OECD average, putting them on a par with countries including Australia, Germany, France and the UK.

The results also highlight a problem with student truancy in America. On average across OECD countries, 20 per cent of students said they had skipped a day of school in the two weeks before the test, but in the US that rate was almost double at 37 per cent. Students in America were also much more likely to arrive late for school.

The poor performance of American students should act as a “Sputnik moment” to inspire improvements in US schools, according to Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy. 

“We’re living in a world that is highly integrated,” Mr Tucker told the Washington Post. “And the United States cannot long operate a world-class economy if our workers are, as the OECD statistics show, among the worst-educated in the world.”

“Donald Trump as candidate basically staked his candidacy on the plight of industrial workers in the United States,” he said. “The Chinese workers are vastly better educated than the typical American worker and willing to work for one-fifth of what the equivalent American workers are willing to work for.”

However, Pisa has its detractors who believe there is little to be learned from comparing test scores and who criticize its methodology.

One long-standing critic, Professor Yong Zhao, from the University of Oregon, argues that Pisa hinders innovation among countries that do well for fear of losing their ranking. He is also critical of Shanghai’s success because the system there, he says, “stifles creativity, smothers curiosity, suppresses individuality [and] ruins children’s health”.

Science

2015 (2012)

Rank

Country

Score

1 (3)

Singapore

556 (551)

2 (4)

Japan

538 (547)

3 (6)

Estonia

534 (541)

4 (13)

Taiwan

532 (523)

5 (5)

Finland

531 (545)

6 (16)

Macao (China)

529 (521)

7 (11)

Canada

528 (525)

8 (8)

Vietnam

525 (528)

9 (2)

Hong Kong (China)

523 (555)

10 (1 - as shanghai)

Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangdong (China)

518 (580 - as Shanghai)

11 (7)

South Korea

516 (538)

12 (18)

New Zealand

513 (516)

13 (20)

Slovenia

513 (514)

 

England

512 (516)

14 (17)

Australia

510 (521)

15 (21)

United Kingdom

509 (514)

16 (12)

Germany

509 (524)

17 (14)

Netherlands

509 (522)

18 (19)

Switzerland

506 (515)

19 (15)

Republic of Ireland

503 (522)

20 (24)

Belgium

502 (505)

21 (27)

Denmark

502 (498)

22 (9)

Poland

501 (526)

23 (36)

Portugal

501 (489)

 

Northern Ireland

500 (507)

24 (28)

Norway

498 (497)

 

Scotland

497 (513)

25 (29)

USA

496 (497)

26 (23)

Austria

495 (506)

27 (26)

France

495 (499)

28 (38)

Sweden

493 (485)

29 (22)

Czech Republic

493 (508)

30 (30)

Spain

493 (496)

31 (25)

Latvia

490 (502)

32 (37)

Russia

487 (486)

 

Wales

485 (491)

33 (34)

Luxembourg

483 (491)

34 (32)

Italy

481 (494)

35 (33)

Hungary

477 (494)

36 (31)

Lithuania

475 (496)

37 (35)

Croatia

475 (491)

38 (58 - as Argentina)

Buenos Aires (Argentina)

475 (406 - as Argentina)

39 (39)

Iceland

473 (478)

40 (41)

Israel

467 (470)

 

Mathematics

2015 (2012)

Rank

Country

Score

1 (2)

Singapore

564 (573)

2 (3)

Hong Kong (China)

548 (561)

3 (6)

Macao (China)

544 (538)

4 (4)

Taiwan

542 (560)

5 (7)

Japan

532 (536)

6 (1 - as shanghai)

Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangdong (China)

531 (613 - as shanghai)

7 (5)

South Korea

524 (554)

8 (9)

Switzerland

521 (531)

9 (11)

Estonia

520 (521)

10 (13)

Canada

516 (518)

11 (10)

Netherlands

512 (523)

12 (22)

Denmark

511 (500)

13 (12)

Finland

511 (519)

14 (21)

Slovenia

510 (501)

15 (15)

Belgium

507 (515)

16 (16)

Germany

506 (514)

17 (14)

Poland

504 (518)

18 (20)

Republic of Ireland

504 (501)

19 (30)

Norway

502 (489)

20 (18)

Austria

497 (506)

21 (23)

New Zealand

495 (500)

22 (17)

Vietnam

495 (511)

23 (34)

Russia

494 (482)

24 (38)

Sweden

494 (478)

25 (19)

Australia

494 (504)

 

England

493 (495)

26 (25)

France

493 (495)

 

Northern Ireland

493 (487)

27 (26)

United Kingdom

492 (494)

28 (24)

Czech Republic

492 (499)

29 (31)

Portugal

492 (487)

 

Scotland

491 (498)

30 (32)

Italy

490 (485)

31 (27)

Iceland

488 (493)

32 (33)

Spain

486 (484)

33 (29)

Luxembourg

486 (490)

34 (28)

Latvia

482 (491)

35 (NA)

Malta

479 (NA)

36 (37)

Lithuania

478 (479)

 

Wales

478 (468)

37 (39)

Hungary

477 (477)

38 (35)

Slovak Republic

475 (482)

39 (41)

Israel

470 (466)

40 (36)

United States

470 (481)

  Reading

2015 (2012)

Rank

Country

Score

1 (3)

Singapore

535 (542)

2 (2)

Hong Kong (China)

527 (545)

3 (8)

Canada

527 (523)

4 (6)

Finland

526 (524)

5 (9)

Ireland

521 (523)

6 (12)

Estonia

519 (516)

7 (5)

South Korea

517 (536)

8 (4)

Japan

516 (538)

9 (22)

Norway

513 (504)

10 (14)

New Zealand

509 (512)

11 (19)

Germany

509 (508)

12 (16)

Macao (China)

509 (509)

13 (10)

Poland

506 (518)

14 (38)

Slovenia

505 (481)

15 (15)

Netherlands

503 (511)

16 (13)

Australia

503 (512)

17 (37)

Sweden

500 (483)

18 (25)

Denmark

500 (496)

 

England

500 (500)

19 (21)

France

499 (505)

20 (18)

Belgium

499 (509)

21 (31)

Portugal

498 (488)

22 (23)

United Kingdom

498 (499)

23 (7)

Taiwan

497 (523)

 

Northern Ireland

497 (498)

24 (24)

United States

497 (498)

25 (32)

Spain

496 (488)

26 (41)

Russia

487 (475)

27 (1 - as Shanghai)

Beijing-Shanghai-Jiangsu-Guangdong (China)

494 (570 - as Shanghai)

 

Scotland

493 (506)

28 (17)

Switzerland

492 (509)

29 (29)

Latvia

488 (489)

30 (20)

Czech Republic

487 (508)

31 (35)

Croatia

487 (485)

32 (20)

Vietnam

487 (508)

33 (27)

Austria

485 (490)

34 (28)

Italy

485 (490)

35 (36)

Iceland

482 (483)

36 (30)

Luxembourg

481 (488)

37 (34)

Israel

479 (486)

 

Wales

477 (480)

38 (60 - as Argentina)

Buenos Aires (Argentina)

475 (396 - as Argentina)

39 (39)

Lithuania

472 (477)

40 (33)

Hungary

470 (488)