South Korea's junior high school students are ranked among the best in the world in mathematics, a U.S. report showed on Friday.
According to the report compiled by the U.S. Department of Education, South Korean students aged 14 received an average of 589 on a 1,000-point scale in mathematics in 2003, second only to Singaporean students whose score was 605.
Students from Hong Kong came in third with 586, followed by Taiwanese with 585 and Japanese with 570. U.S. students were ranked 15th with an average of 504, the report showed.
Compared with a similar report released in 1995, South Korean students saw their average in math improve by 8 points from 581, the same level as their Japanese counterparts, whose average dropped 11 points over the period, according to the report.
The U.S. report was based on a survey presented by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a state-run organization, which analyzed and compared academic performances by junior high school students in 45 countries including 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The TIMSS has collected related data in 1995, 1999, and 2003, according to its website.
WASHINGTON, June 2 (Yonhap)
S. Korean junior high students second worldwide in math: U.S. gov't report |
