Behind the Headline: U.S. Adults Lag Behind Counterparts Overseas in Skills

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U.S. Adults Lag Behind Counterparts Overseas in Skills
10/8/13 | USA Today

Behind the Headline
Teaching Math to the Talented
Winter 2011| Education Next

A new international study of the labor force in 23 industrialized nations finds that American adults score below international averages in basic problem-solving, reading and math skills. Ed Next’s Paul Peterson is quoted in a USA Today article about the study. The results are “quite distressing,” he says. “Other countries have been catching up for some time. At one time, we had a really significant lead, but those people are disappearing from the workforce.”

A new book by Paul Peterson, Eric Hanushek, and Ludger Woessman, Endangering Prosperity, finds that the failure of U.S. schools to give students the knowledge and skills they need to succeed is threatening U.S. economic performance.

An article by Hanushek, Peterson, and Woessman published by Education Next looks at how even our highest achieving students are trailing the international competition.

-Education Next

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