American 15-year-olds place below average in math and science compared with their peers in other advanced industrialized countries, according to a new analysis by the National Center for Education Statistics.

In math, U.S. high schoolers were in the bottom quarter of the countries that participated, trailing countries including Finland, China and Estonia, CNN reported.

“We are lagging the rest of the world, and we are lagging it in pretty substantial ways,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the National Science Board Aug. 25, according to the news channel.

According to the report, U.S. math scores were not measurably different in 2006 from the previous scores in 2003. But while other countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have improved, the United States has remained stagnant.

Filed under: K-12 Education News