The study's author is Gary Phillips, chief scientist at the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit independent scientific research firm.
Eighth-grade students were compared with peers in 45 countries.
American students trailed the top students and were comparable to pupils in Slovakia and Estonia, but they were well above those in countries like Egypt, Chile, and Saudi Arabia.
The highest-performing state in math was Massachusetts; in science, it was North Dakota. The new study shows that average math achievement in Massachusetts was lower than in the leading Asian nations and Belgium.
Mississippi was the lowest-performing state in both math and science.
Is this really where the U.S. should be?