“Counting on the Future: International Benchmarks in Mathematics for American School Districts” is a new report published by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The report compared the mathematics performance of 4th and 8th grade students from eleven U.S. urban school districts, including Charlotte, to the math performance of other countries.
Overall, the findings were mixed, but Charlotte fared better than most other cities. (Note that the U.S. cities in the cohort are hardly similar.) In grades 4 and 8, Charlotte performed above the international average in math. The average among fourth grade students in Charlotte exceeded the average of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) member nations in math, while 8th grade students in Charlotte had math scores that were similar to the OECD average.
Before education folk in Charlotte celebrate, let’s get some things straight. According to the AIR study, U.S. math performance takes a hit in middle school. Compare Charlotte’s math performance in 4th grade and 8th grade above, and we see evidence of this. Moreover, as Cato’s Andrew Coulson notes, the AIR report may be overstating math achievement in the U.S. Finally, heed the conclusion of the AIR report, which points out that the U.S. still performs worse in math than our economic competitors in Asia.
The findings in this report reinforce the fact that neither the typical student in the United States or in any of the 11 urban districts has achieved the Proficient level of performance found in Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Chinese Taipei, and Japan . 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.
