U.S. 15-year-olds Slip in International Rankings of Reading, Writing and Math

[From article]
For the first time three U.S. states - Connecticut, Florida, and Massachusetts - received separate scores.
Massachusetts’s average scores were higher than the U.S. and OCED averages in all three subjects, and Connecticut’s average scores were higher than the overall averages in science and reading.
Florida fared less well and was below both the U.S. and OCED averages on all three subjects.
[. . .]
Stanford University economist Eric Hanushek warned that the lagging performance would eventually start to have an impact on economic growth.
‘Our economy has still been strong because we have a very good economic system that is able to overcome the deficiencies of our education system,’ he told the New York Times.
‘But increasingly, we have to rely on the skills of our work force, and if we don’t improve that, we’re going to be slipping.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2517499/American-15-year-olds-falling-reading-maths-science.html

American 15-year-olds falling even further behind Asian and European counterparts in reading, maths and science global rankings
While the academic performance of 15-year-olds in other developed countries is improving, it has remained static in the U.S.
As a result the U.S. is losing ground and economists fear it will have a knock-on effect for the nation's prosperity
The top performers across reading, maths and science were all from Asia, including Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan
The U.S.'s under-performance was most striking in maths, where the average score of 481 was well below the average of 494
Three states received separate scores and Florida managed to under-perform the U.S. average on all three subjects
The nation's largest teacher union has blamed the mediocre results on high poverty rates
Even students from high income families did worse than those with similar backgrounds in other countries
By DAVID MCCORMACK
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 10:42 EST, 3 December 2013 | UPDATED: 13:34 EST, 3 December 2013