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I have been told that the level of knowledge in mathematics is much lower today than twenty or fifty years ago. Is it true?

I'm looking for statistics that present the level of knowledge in mathematics of teenagers (or slightly older) versus time (year) in different countries in Europe and/or North America.

Please make sure to give information about the test used to measure knowledge.

A source with easily handling (easy to graph) statistics would be very welcome!

Sklivvz
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Remi.b
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    Please let me know why this question has been downvoted so that I can improve it. – Remi.b Jan 01 '14 at 14:30
  • Find a notable source making that claim. – denten Jan 01 '14 at 20:28
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    @denten Remi.b doesn't need to; the claim is notable. –  Jan 01 '14 at 20:59
  • It would earn my upvote. I have not encountered this claim otherwise. – denten Jan 01 '14 at 21:25
  • @denten I haven't meet such claim in the literature or on a forum. Three people told me that (three people that were not in contact to each other at the moment of claiming this). Two of the three know each other. The all deal with professional education of young people in Switzerland and France. – Remi.b Jan 01 '14 at 22:10
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    There is no burden on the asker to provide evidence of notability. All that matters is whether the claim *is* notable, and this claim is. –  Jan 01 '14 at 22:23
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    I've heard this claimed, usually in blogs critical of current educational systems used to teach math (which, having seen them, I agree are abysmal, but that's beside the point). I've never that I can remember seen scientific studies linked from such blogs though, only other blogs and political flyers. – jwenting Jan 02 '14 at 05:29
  • @Articuno The burden *is* on the asker according to the FAQ. To quote: "But if there's any doubt - if one person shows up and disputes the claim (leaves a comment, or flags for moderator attention) - then it's the responsibility of the asker (or your friendly neighborhood editor) to dig up a real, verifiable source." Who is to say what is and what is not notable otherwise? We specifically want to avoid the "some guy told X" scenario. Please correct me if I am wrong. – denten Jan 02 '14 at 05:51
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    @denten As per Sklivvz, we have explicitly rejected that: http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/311?m=12648620#12648620, and http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/12648625#12648625, and http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/12648582#12648582, and surrounding discussion. Who is to say what is and what is not notable? Us :) It's up to *us* to determine notability, not the asker to demonstrate it for us. –  Jan 02 '14 at 05:52
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    A good answer here would need to deal with the issue of sampling bias of the old tests -- that is, are today's standardized math tests given to ALL students and for the most part we expect everybody to finish high school and be college-ready, whereas 50 years ago (though perhaps not 20 years ago) only those of very high ability and inclination would still be in school in upper grades, and so the tests would have excluded kids not on a college-bound path. – Larry Gritz Jan 02 '14 at 19:49

1 Answers1

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Concerning the United States, the publication Reading and Mathematics Score Trends gives data for 1973-2012.

See especially figure 2.

The national trend in mathematics achievement shows improvement at ages 9 and 13, but not at age 17, between the early 1970s and 2012. The average scores for 9- and 13-year-olds in 2012 were higher than those in 1973 (25 and 19 points higher, respectively), but the average score for 17-year-olds in 2012 (306) was not measurably different from the score in 1973.

This study is by the National Assessment of Educational Progress , a US government program created in the 1960s specifically to determine the type of information asked for by the OP.

DavePhD
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