Mississippi was the lowest-performing state in both math and science. In math, Mississippi students' achievement was compar-able to those of peers in Bulgaria and Moldova, and in science, to those in Norway and Romania.
In math, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York students were roughly equivalent with each other and with their peers in Australia, the Netherlands and Hungary.
The study's contribution is the high-level perspective it offers on the nation's education system, a bit the way a satellite image highlights the nation's topography, said Thomas Toch, a co-director of Education Sector, an independent policy group.
"It shows we're not doing as badly as some say," Toch said. "We're in the top half of the table, and a number of states are outperforming the majority of nations in the study. But our performance in math and science lags behind that of the front-running Asian nations."
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