The conventional wisdom that American students lag far behind peak performers similar Republic of finland and Republic of korea in academic accomplishment is oversimplified. A new study out today by researchers at Stanford University and the Economic Policy Institute finds that comparisons of scores on international tests fail to adequately consider social and economic differences.

PISA scores for U.S. students increase when adjusted for social class. Source: What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance? (Click to enlarge).

PISA scores for U.Southward. students increase when adjusted for social class. Source: What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance? (Click to enlarge).

"If the social course distribution of the United states of america were similar to that of acme-scoring countries, the average test score gap between the United states and these peak-scoring countries would be cut in half in reading and past i-third in mathematics," write Stanford Teaching Professor Martin Carnoy and Richard Rothstein, a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, in their written report, What do International Tests Actually Prove About U.S. Student Operation?

The study also plant big discrepancies in results for dissimilar tests. On the 2009 Plan for International Student Assessment (PISA), U.S. students scored 487 in mathematics while Finnish students scored 541. Ii years later on, on Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), U.S. students scored 509, only 5 points below Republic of finland.

Carnoy and Rothstein also say it'due south not true that low-income American students do significantly worse on the tests relative to their high-income classmates, while the economical accomplishment gap in other countries is much smaller. The U.Southward. has the smallest gap on reading and math on the PISA examination compared to French republic, Deutschland and England. And next to the top-scoring countries, the U.S. has a narrower achievement gap than Korea, and isn't far backside Canada and Finland.

However, the authors practise acknowledge that U.S. students score lower than students in the top-ranked countries beyond the board at every economic level. "At all points in the social course distribution, U.South. students perform worse, and in many cases substantially worse, than students in a group of tiptop-scoring countries (Canada, Finland and Korea). Although controlling for social class distribution would narrow the divergence in average scores between these countries and the U.s., it would not eliminate it," they write in the study.

On the 2009 PISA exam, which assesses 15-year-olds, the united states of america ranks 14th in reading and 17th in scientific discipline, which are well-nigh average, but drops below average in mathematics to 25th. On TIMSS, which tests students in fourth, 8th and twelfth grades, U.Due south. students were above the international average in both science and mathematics in form four, to a higher place the international average in scientific discipline and below the international average in mathematics in 8th grade and amidst the lowest in both scientific discipline and mathematics for twelfth course students.

The message for policymakers is to accept a more nuanced view of examination scores, not to rely on simply one test, and non to leap to the conclusion that U.S. students are unprepared to compete in the global economy, said the researchers.

"Such conclusions are oversimplified, frequently exaggerated and misleading," said Rothstein in a news release on the study.

Non so, says Andreas Schleicher, Deputy Director for Education and Special Advisor on Pedagogy Policy at the Organization for Economical Co-functioning and

Scores on PISA adjusted by the number of books children report having in their homes. Source: What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance? (Click to enlarge).

Scores on PISA adjusted by the number of books children study having in their homes. Source: What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance? (Click to enlarge).

Development, the group that administers PISA. He said the study "contains several fundamental misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the PISA data. In item, the paper claims that there are flaws in PISA samples, which is simply incorrect and unsupported in the paper."

The primary factor distinguishing students by social class, according Rothstein and Carnoy, is how many books a child has in his or her dwelling.  "Books in the dwelling house, to us, refers to the academic orientation of the household," said Carnoy.  He and Rothstein too say that this "indicator of household literacy" is used past both PISA and TIMSS and is "plausibly relevant to student academic performance."

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