The numbers don't lie: Why the US education system is in tatters

Washington D.C.: President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order to dismantle the US Department of Education. The Order calls for the dismantling of the department to the bones. Trump instructed the the US education secretary, Linda McMahon, to start the dismantling process. The administration will need Congress to officialy shut down the agency. Trump has long stated that the Department of Education has failed American students, whose Math and Reading scores have remained dismal on a global scale.

American students' performance in math, science, and reading, as measured by international assessments like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), has consistently lagged behind many other developed nations.

PISA results  in 20200 showed that US students ranked 28th out of 37 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in math, with an average score of 465, below the OECD average of 472. Top-performing countries like Singapore, China, and South Korea significantly outperformed the US, with Singapore scoring 575.

Dr Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills at the OECD, in a 2023 interview, said that US math performance had stagnated over the past decade. He attributed this to a lack of focus on conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills in US classrooms: "The U.S. tends to focus on procedural math, teaching students how to solve equations step-by-step, but not why those steps work or how to apply them in real-world contexts."

PISA results in 2022 ahowed US students ranked 18th out of 37 OECD countries in science, with an average score of 485, just above the OECD average of 485. However, they were far behind top performers like Singapore, Japan, and Estonia. The same results also showed US students ranked 13th out of 37 OECD countries in reading, with an average score of 504, slightly above the OECD average of 476.

The US consistently performs below top-tier countries in math and science, with only modest improvements in reading. The gap is particularly stark in math, where American students often score significantly lower than their peers in East Asia and parts of Europe.

Dr Timothy Shanahan, Literacy Expert and Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago claimed that while US reading scores had improved slightly in recent years, significant gaps remained. "The science of reading is clear, but many schools are still using outdated methods that don't align with the evidence," he said in a 2023 interview. 

While the US remains a leader in higher education and research, the K-12 system's performance suggests a need for systemic reforms to close the gap with top-performing nations.