Stanford Study: American Math Achievement Trails Most Industrialized Nations

"In the first-ever international comparison of advanced math skills, a team of Stanford and Munich researchers found that American students rank 31st in the world, falling behind those in most industrialized nations. Only 6 percent of U.S. eighth-graders perform at the advanced level in math, compared with 28 percent of Taiwanese students and more than 20 percent of students in Hong Kong, Finland and South Korea. The scores of American students match those of students from Lithuania, Spain and Italy."