US Students performing poorly in Math

A new study finds little difference in U.S. students from better-educated families compared to lesser-educated families. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development reports that U.S. students are slipping in global educational rankings, explains study author, Paul Peterson of Harvard. “Students who come from family backgrounds where one of the parents has a college degree are not doing well when compared to students in other countries.” In math, U.S. students rank 30th out of 34 countries reviewed. Canada ranks high, and U.S. states bordering Canada, do better than states farther south, adds Peterson.  “Any state that has a border with Canada does fairly well but the largest states in the United States, California, New York, Illinois and Florida, they are way down the list.” What is of concern, these students are the future leaders of math, science and business, concludes Peterson.  “If we look at the percentage of students who are performing at the advanced level in mathematics, only 8% of our students are, we find twice that percentage in Canada, Germany and many other countries around the world.” The study does not look at possible reasons why U.S. students rank so low on the education list.