Florida Teens Falling Further Behind International Peers In Education

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Florida school children are not keeping up with their national and international peers in math and science.

According to the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, U.S. students have made little improvement overall in average math scores and are only average in science and reading. Florida was one of three states to get specific results, and they weren't good.

Students in Florida scored an average of 467 in math, far lower than the international average of 494 and the U.S. average of 481. In science, Florida students scored lower than the international average but about the same as other students in the U.S. Reading scores for Florida students were about the same as both the international and U.S. averages.

The poor scores come despite massive school reforms in Florida that have included charter schools, more focusing on standardized testing like the FCAT, and teacher merit pay raises based on school test scores.

Overall, the study found 30.4 percent of Florida 15-year-olds scored at or below level two in the study and just 5.8 percent were at or above level five, the highest level available.

Teens from Asian nation dominated the global exam with the top average scores in each subject coming from Shanghai. Additionally, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong all had students scoring at the top on average in each subject.

Even Vietnam, which participated in the exam for the first time, had an average score in math and science greater than that of the United States.

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