International Differences in Mathematical Achievement

Every now and then, a spate of popular-press articles reminds us of the poor educational achievement of American children in comparison to their international peers. For many people, concerns about the education of American children likely fade, as these articles are bumped from our memory by a slew of hotter popular-press issues. In this article, the mathematical achievement of American children is first contrasted with that of their cohorts in other industrialized nations, and then sources of these cross-national achievement differences are briefly reviewed. The article closes with a discussion of the potential consequences of the poor mathematical development of American children, conesquences that speak to the importance of the associated educational issues and remind us that our concern for the education of American children must continue unabated, even after the popular press has moved on to other issues.