New Studies Show Mixed Results Internationally For U.S. Elementary Education

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Ken O’Brien
Following several years of dismal reports on thedeclining state of American education in the international arena, a new set ofstudies show mixed signs of progress among elementary school students.
On the bright side, substantial progress has beenmade in reading levels among fourth graders.
On the other hand, little if any progress has beenachieved in science or mathematics at both the fourth grade and eighth gradelevels. 
The studies, named the Trends inInternational Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)and Progress in InternationalReading Literacy Study (PIRLS) are conducted by the InternationalStudy Center at Boston College’s LynchSchool of Education.
TIMSS provides data on the mathematics and scienceachievement of U.S. 4th- and 8th-grade students compared to that of students inother countries. TIMSS data have been collected in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and2011.
For the past 15 years PIRLS has measured trends inreading comprehension at the fourth grade. First assessed in 2001, PIRLS hasbeen on a regular 5-year cycle since then.
In 2011, more than 60 countries and other educationsystems, including the United States, participated in TIMSS. More than 20,000students in more than 1,000 schools across the United States took the assessmentin spring 2011, joining almost 500,000 other students around the world who tookpart in TIMSS. Because the PIRLS study was also administered at grade four inspring 2011, TIMSS and PIRLS in the United States were administered in the sameschools to the extent feasible. Students took either TIMSS or PIRLS on the dayof the assessments.
The most dramatic improvement for U.S. students wasin reading scores that were measured at the fourth grade level..
In 2006 the U.Sranked 15^th* among those countries surveyed.
        *Reflects separate reporting for four Canadian provinces
In the2011 study, The U.S. had advanced to 6^th overall.


In Mathematics and Science, studies are conducted atboth the fourth and eighth grade levels.
In 2007, U.S.students in the fourth grade ranked in 8^th position worldwide inscience.

In 2011fourth graders had advanced one position to 7^th place.

Eighth graders from the U.S. held the 11^thposition worldwide in 2007.



In 2011they also moved up one position to the number 10 position.

In 2007 U.S. fourth grade students ranked in 11^th position in mathematics.


In the 2011study they had merely succeeded in maintaining that position.

U.S. eighth graders ranked 9^th in math in 2007


In2011 U.S students had remained in 9^th place.
One of the few bright spots in the mathematics andscience categories was the performance of eighth graders in Massachusetts. Inmathematics the state of Massachusetts was outperformed only by the fourhighest achieving Asian countries. In science, Massachusetts eighth graders wereoutperformed only by the top-performing country of Singapore.



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