My school got back our beginning of the year diagnostic tests this week and the results were not pretty. On average, our 8th graders read at a 4.6 grade level, they do math at a 5.5 grade level, and their science and social studies is at a 4.8 grade level. In other words, at the young age of only 13 and 14, they are already about three grades behind the national average in core subjects. But the numbers get worse: turns out that almost half of this achievement gap has developed in just the past two years!!

What exactly does that mean? It means that when our kids were in 6th grade, there were only about one and a half grade levels behind the national average. Our diagnostic tests for the 6th grade show the average reading level at 3.7, math at 4.8 and social studies and science at 4.0. In other words, in the past two years, the kids in our school have improved their core subject knowledge by less than a full grade.

These numbers are mirrored by national assessments and even international comparisons. US 4th graders are actually fairly proficient in reading and math, usually achieving in the top half of developed countries. But by the time they hit 8th and 10th grade, our average acheivement staggers. A 2004 international assessment had American students falling to 24 out of 29 countries in math and science by age 15.

One can interpret this dramatic worsening of our students performance over the middle and early high school years in a couple different ways. The most obvious way would be to attribute the achievement lag to poor school structures and systems. Perhaps our elementary schools do a good job with our kids, but something about the way middle and high schools operate fails to keep their achievement on track. I would volunteer my own school here in St. Louis City as an example for how this might be the case--we simply do not have the skilled teachers or expert leadership needed to serve our children in the way they need. After all, should it really come as a surprise that our 8th graders are statistically no better at reading than our 7th graders when one of our 8th grade language arts teachers doesn't know half of the students' names yet and has absolutely no classroom management ability?

A second explanation for why our students might lose so much traction by age 15 is to say that maybe we have more kids still in school at age 15 than other countries. For instance, many countries have expansive vocational education programs for students who are not cut out for an academic track in high school - in which case perhaps our lower scores are simply because we try to get more kids to succeed. This may be true in part, but the evidence seems to discount the power of this explanation. Just as we are not highly ranked internationally for achievement, we are no longer highly ranked in terms of high school completion either. One study found that we rank 11th of all countries in the percentage of our 25-34 year olds who have a high school diploma.

For as much as the solution to these problems may be difficult to come up with, this much is clear: the numbers don't lie. We have a big hill in front of us. I'm willing to wager that most of the reason why we are falling further and further behind our international counterparts in achievement and school completion is not because our schools are worse, but rather because other countries schools are getting better over time. Economic growth and the benefits of globalization have paid dividends to children in other countries--and I think that, for the children at least, is a good thing. But it means what was once good enough for America's children may no longer be good enough today. And if that's the case, serious change is needed in our schools.