Harvard Study Measures Wisconsin Student Performance in a Global Context

Christian D'Andrea

What do to 8th grade students in Wisconsin have in common with 8th grade students in Russia and Lithuania? They're just as likely to post advanced scores in math testing as their Eurasian counterparts.

A new study released by Harvard University measured how America's students stack up across the world in advanced knowledge of math and other school subjects. Not surprisingly, the results didn't weren't exactly encouraging for us Yankees. The United States ranked 31st out of 57 participating countries when it came to the percentage of students testing at an advanced level or better in 8th grade math. In all, 16 of those countries had at least twice as many advanced students than America, according to recent test data.

The report, authored by education policy stalwarts Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson, and Ludger Woessman, dug even deeper to America's lag. The trio produced specific results for readers to compare individual states against the rest of the world. Wisconsin, despite ranking 11th in the country, fails to match up favorably against other developed countries.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 16, 2010 3:12 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas