By Associated Press PUBLISHED: 11:30 EST, 11 December 2012 | UPDATED: 14:47 EST, 11 December 2012 An international study has revealed that students in U.S. schools perform better than the global average, but still lag behind many of their peers in Asia and Europe. Fourth-graders have improved their scores in reading and math over the past four years, according to a study released Tuesday. But progress seems to fall off by eighth grade, where math and science scores are stagnant. Meanwhile, kids in countries like Finland and Singapore are outperforming American fourth-graders in science and reading. Lagging behind: Hong-Kong is leading in fourth-grade reading, with the U.S. in sixth place, while Singapore is No 1 in fourth-grade math, 10 spots ahead of the U.S.
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Hong-Kong is leading in fourth-grade reading, with the U.S. in sixth place
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Singapore is No 1 in fourth-grade math, while the U.S. is in the 11th spot on the list
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U.S. eighth-graders are in ninth and 10th place respectively in math and science, with Korea and Singapore in top spots
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Only one in 10 American students has achieved 'advanced benchmark' in science, compared to four in 10 in Singapore
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Eighth-graders in Massachusetts and Minnesota score far better in math and science than the U.S. average
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Eighth-graders in schools with the highest poverty performed below both the U.S. and global average
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Boys in the U.S. do better than girls in fourth-grade science and eighth-grade math, but girls lead in reading
Some U.S. states that were measured separately were clear standouts, performing on par with or better than some top-performing @placeholder countries.