Dive Brief:
- South Korea is ranked No. 1 for reading and math in the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for 2012, the World Economic Forum reports.
- Japan, the Netherlands and Finland also rank toward the top of the pack.
- The United States ranked No. 23 for numeracy and No. 21 for literacy, doing just slightly better than the United Kingdom, where a fifth of youth have "low level skills" in literacy.
Dive Insight:
The OECD previously found that, between 2003 and 2012, the U.S. had no changes in the number of low-performing students in math and reading, while other countries like the Russian Federation, Brazil and Mexico continued to make gains on an upward trajectory for low-performing students.
Additionally, the OECD found per-pupil spending wasn't strictly tied to performance. The amount of money spent per pupil didn't matter as much as the fair and equitable distribution of resources and existing money, a finding that other research bodies have also supported in the U.S. One solution is greater study time: Students who engaged in six to seven hours of homework each week performed better in math, and students who engaged in extracurricular activities were also better performers.
Last November, the organization found the U.S. lagged behind other countries for pre-K enrollment numbers, which was attributed to stagnation while other countries made rapid improvements.
