Federal education officials painted a grim picture of student achievement Tuesday, releasing test scores that in some grades have fallen to their lowest level in decades.
Connecticut’s students outperformed the nation in a standard measure comparing academic achievement across the United States known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” but education union officials said there is still cause for concern about the future.
The National Center for Education Statistics’ National Assessment of Educational Progress results show the state’s fourth grade students outperformed their peers in reading and scored on par in mathematics compared with national averages, the CSDE reported. And Connecticut’s eighth grade students outperformed the nation in both subjects, according to data from CSDE.
Overall at the national level, the results illustrate a troubling trend. The Nation’s Report Card showed that 12th graders’ scores dropped to their lowest levels in more than two decades. Eighth-grade students also lost significant ground in science skills, according to the NAEP results.
While expressing optimism about the results in the state, several local education officials said they are concerned about maintaining funding for education as staffing and budget cuts have occurred in municipalities and they await the impact federal cuts to Medicaid may have on state budgets. Funding education, they argue, is critical to improvements in student achievement including the Nation’s Report Card.
In the latest PISA exam results, U.S. 15-year-olds scored below their peers in over 30 countries in both math and reading, marking one of the lowest international rankings the U.S. has ever recorded.
Math: U.S. students scored 465, placing them below students in 36 countries, including Singapore (575), China (552), Taiwan (547), and Japan (536).
Reading: U.S. students scored 498, ranking behind students in 31 countries, such as Ireland (516), South Korea (515), and Finland (490).
Science: U.S. students scored 499, which was more competitive but still below top performers like Japan (547) and Singapore (561)
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/pisa-scores-by-country