Math a concern for US teens; science, reading flat on test

The latest global snapshot of student performance shows declining math scores in the U.S. and stagnant performance in science and reading.

Students in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Minnesota aren't just vying for great jobs along with their neighbors or across state lines, they must be competitive with peers in Finland, Germany, and Japan.

The 2015 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, study is the latest to document that American students are underperforming their peers in several Asian nations.

The test is coordinated by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD.

Andreas Schleicher, director of education and skills at OECD, says high-performing countries do really well in math in three things: rigor, focus, and coherence.

— "This stagnant performance on PISA by U.S. students in the last four years once again affirms our belief that the U.S. would be well served to take a hard look at the strategies used by the top-performing education systems and adapt lessons learned from them to fit the U.S. context and needs," said Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy.

Across OECD countries, on average, the gender gap in reading in favor of girls narrowed by 12 points between 2009 and 2015.

Schools in each country are randomly selected, and OECD says the selection of schools and students is kept as inclusive as possible so that student samples are drawn from a broad range of backgrounds and abilities.

Another international test, known as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, had similar international comparisons with Asian countries solidly outperforming American students.