A new international study showing a sharp drop in US students’ math test scores raises concerns about student performance.
They are published by the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES Trends in Mathematics and Science International ResearchAlso known as TIMSS, it provides a snapshot of how many students are behind in math and science, both critical subjects, on Wednesday.
Between 2019 and 2023, American fourth-graders’ math test scores dropped 18 points and eighth-graders’ scores dropped 27 points. Overall, math test scores remained flat, remaining comparable to math test scores since 1995, when TIMSS began being administered to students.
U.S. students’ math scores declined from 2019 to 2023, according to the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study of fourth- through eighth-grade students.
ABC
In addition, fourth- and eighth-grade boys outperformed girls in math and science tests in 2023, according to TIMSS results, highlighting the persistence of gender gaps in different academic subjects.
“The results are overwhelming,” NCES Commissioner Peggy G. Carr told ABC News. “We started this assessment in 1995, so basically … we’ve wiped out the gains we were seeing for decades.”
Compared to students in other countries, US students are in the middle of the pack and behind students in Asian and European countries, including Singapore, Japan, the UK and Poland, according to TIMSS results.
U.S. students’ math scores declined from 2019 to 2023, according to the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study of fourth- through eighth-grade students.
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Education experts cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a major reason for the decline, with schools closed or suspended for longer in the US than in other countries and absenteeism as another significant problem.
But Carr said the pandemic was not the main reason for the sharp drop in student knowledge and performance.
“This decline we’re seeing was in 2015, so it can’t all be blamed on COVID,” the commissioner said. “We’ve been struggling with declining scores, especially in math, for a while.”
“Now we have to focus on the students who have been struggling a little bit, and I want to leave that as a reflection as a country,” Carr added.
Other countries, with the support of parents, have changed their curriculum in recent years to make math more fun for young students and shift the focus away from formulas or toward creativity and problem solving.
Experts say that if parents think their child is struggling with math or science, they should talk to teachers about what resources may be available, such as after-school programs or additional online courses that parents can work with their children on.
