U.S. students are seeing their performance on math slip compared to other countries, with scores dropping dramatically since the pandemic.
Fourth graders’ math scores are 18 points behind those of 2019, according to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), while eighth graders’ math scores dropped 27 points from 2019 to 2023.
The drop for eighth graders is the biggest since the U.S. began particpating in the test back in 1995.
For science, fourth graders had the lowest score since the TIMSS was first administered.
The U.S. is still above the international average, but other countries did see improvements over the same time period.
“Progress in prior years has been erased,” said Peggy Carr, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which manages TIMSS in the United States, Education Week reported.
The gap between the highest-performing students and lowest-performing ones in the U.S. is also growing, according to the test.
Carr said the results show “sharp, steep declines” for U.S. students.
The test for fourth graders is given across 63 educational systems every four years, and eighth graders are measured in 45 educational systems.
