PISA: How did our 15-year-olds do?

Here is the report for the United States on the 2012 international exams sponsored by the Programme for International Student Assessment.
Some highlights:

While the U.S. spends more per student than most countries, this does not translate into better performance. For example, the Slovak Republic, which spends around USD 53 000 per student, performs at the same level as the United States, which spends over USD 115 000 per student.

Strengths

• Reading data directly from tables and diagrams – requiring students only to understand a short text and read single values directly from a representation provided such as a table or a bar diagram

• Simple handling of data from tables and diagrams – requiring students to understand a short text, read two values from a given representation, and then perform some straightforward operation such as adding or comparing the values

• Handling directly manageable formulae – requiring students to use a formula provided, e.g. inserting numbers for variables, and do some easy calculation. The formulae can be used directly, without any re-structuring.

Weaknesses

• Use of the number π (pi) – requiring students to make explicit use of the number π (pi) in a calculation

• Substantial mathematization of a real-world situation – requiring students to establish a mathematical model of a given real-world situation in the form of a term or an equation with variables for geometric or physical quantities, before further actions (especially calculations) can take place. Students have to understand the situation and activate and apply the appropriate mathematical content

• Genuine interpretation of real-world aspects – requiring students to take a given real-world situation seriously and properly interpret aspects of it

• Reasoning in a geometric context – requiring authentic reasoning in a planar or spatial geometric context by using geometric concepts and facts

• U.S. students have particular problems with mathematical literacy tasks where the students have to use the mathematics they have learned in a well-founded manner. Given that even in more demanding tasks some basic skills are nevertheless needed, an implication of the findings is that much more focus is needed on higher-order activities, such as those involving mathematical modeling (understanding real world situations, translating them into mathematical models, and interpreting mathematical results), without neglecting the basic skills needed for these activities

PISA 2012 Results US(1) by freestategal