Students from East Asia are leading performers in math, science and literacy, according to a set of global studies released Tuesday in the United States.
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study revealed that pupils from Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan are top performers in both fourth- and eighth-grade mathematics.
“At the eighth grade, clearly the East Asian countries … are pulling away from the rest of the world by a considerable margin,” the report said.
The field of science at both grades is dominated by students from Singapore and South Korea, the report from the International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement shows.
The two countries were also named by the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study as among the top performing countries in fourth-grade reading comprehension, while only 12 out of 45 participating nations worldwide had “average achievement below the PIRLS centerpoint of 500”. Girls fared better at reading than boys in nearly all countries, the report says.
The United States surpassed the international average but fell behind East Asia and Europe in some cases, AFP.
