What’s below Hungary and above Cyprus?
New York City’s fourth-grade math scores, according to a new study – which claims to be the first to compare the academic performance of urban American students with that of students around the world.
While the city’s fourth-graders ranked 13th in math proficiency compared to their international peers, eighth-graders ranked 18th of 46 – well below world leader Singapore, and also trailing Belgium, Hungary and Estonia.
The United States as a whole fared better – ranking sixth among fourth-graders, and 10th among eighth-graders – but its standing still sparked a rebuke from the study’s authors.
“If the United States is counting on today’s mathematics education to seed the future technology and science needed to carry our cities and our nation forward, then we are already at a competitive disadvantage,” concludes the report by the American Institutes for Research in Washington, DC.
Students in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei and Japan scored well above the rest of the countries in both grades on the 2003 Trends in International Math and Science Study exam – with proficiency rates above 53 percent.