In the United States, student performance on a set of prominent international exams hasn’t budged much over the past decade. Meanwhile, students in East Asian countries such as China, Singapore and South Korea are still performing ahead of the pack — and a few unexpected countries are making significant gains. 

Like many standardized exams, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Programme for International Assessment faces widespread criticism from experts who question its cookie-cutter approach and its ability to adequately reflect the academic performance of such a diverse array of student populations. But others say the results from the 2012 assessment, which were released today, offer a useful and unmatched tool for education policymakers who want to better prepare today’s students for an increasingly globalized economy. 

The results suggest that while American students are just about average compared to their peers in other countries in reading, math and science, their stagnant scores are falling flat against a backdrop of notable improvement in some countries — Vietnam and Poland included — and continuing excellence in others. And that’s causing some consternation among federal education officials, according to the Huffington Post. 

The exams were administered last fall among 28 million students ages 15 and 16 in 34 countries. The U.S. ranked 26th in math (with a slightly-below-average score of 481), 17th in reading (with an average score of 498), and 21st in science (with an average score of 497). 

Check out this Education Week piece for an in-depth overview and interactive dataset. 

Photo courtesy stevecadman via Flickr

— Alia Wong