A Flawed Portrait of Student Performance

The depiction of U.S. performance on international assessments in "A Snapshot of the State of U.S. Education" [Schools & Learning, Nov. 21] was accurate but misleading.

The table that compared the United States with other countries in performance in fourth-grade math gave the false impression that the United States ranked 12th out of 13 countries, and it suggested that the only country the United States outperformed was Cyprus. Not shown were 12 countries, including Italy, Australia and Norway, that were outperformed by the United States, leaving the impression that U.S. fourth-graders were next to last in the world. In reality, the United States is among neither the highest-performing nor the lowest-performing countries in fourth-grade math.

A fuller picture would also reveal that U.S. performance varies by subject and grade level. For example, U.S. fourth-graders performed well in reading; they were outperformed by their peers in only three of the 34 countries that took that test, and the Americans were above the international average. In contrast, U.S. high school students were outperformed by their counterparts in 20 of 30 countries in math, a performance that was below the international average. By looking at the full picture, educators and policymakers have yet another tool to determine if our nation's students have the knowledge and skills to compete with students around the globe.

-- Patte Barth

Alexandria

The writer is director of the Center for Public Education at the National School Boards Association.