Only 12% of US students were top-performers in math and/or science

The OECD’s recent report, Dream Jobs? Teenagers’ Career Aspirations and the Future of Workfound that by the time today’s 15-year-old students enter the workforce, many of the available jobs will have high technical demands. In the United States, many of the jobs with the highest expected growth are computer and mathematical occupations. However, on PISA 2018 only 12 percent of 15-year-old U.S. students scored at level 4 or higher on PISA’s 6-point scale in either science or math or both. In contrast, 40 percent of 15-year-old students in Singapore scored at the top levels of PISA in either science or math or both. Is the U.S. education system preparing students for an increasingly technical, highly-skilled future workforce?