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In recent years U.S. students have performed poorly in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, which measure the performance of 15 year olds in science, math, and reading in 30 developed nations. When the 2006 results were released in early December the results were not encouraging. Here are some of the findings...

• In the science tests, U.S. students ranked lower, on average, than their peers in 16 of the 30 nations. American students scored an average of 489, below the international average among industrialized nations of 500, on a scale of 1 to 1,000. Finland, which has shone in worldwide comparisons in recent years, notched the top science score of 563, followed by Canada, Japan, and New Zealand.
• In math, American teenagers fared even worse, producing an average score of 474, 24 points below the international average of 498, ranking 25th out of the 30 participating nations. Finland, once again ranked first, followed by Korea, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
• In reading, American results were not posted as a mistake in administering the tests invalidated the results. For countries that administered the reading tests correctly, Korea ranked first followed by Finland and Hong Kong-China.
• In the math and science tests, there were not significant gender differences, but in reading there were. In all OECD countries females performed better in reading on average than males. In 12 countries, the gap was at least 50 score points.

Full details on PISA 2006

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