Debate Rages Over Validity of International Studies of Students

By Robert Rothman

WASHINGTON--The international study released here last week offers "confirming evidence" that previous cross-national studies, which have been criticized by some as invalid, did not misrepresent the low levels of American students' achievement, federal officials maintain.

"When every study comes out with about the same conclusion," said Diane S. Ravitch, the assistant secretary of education for educational research and improvement, "and the methodological flaws in earlier studies were corrected, you have to say that the others are not moot."

Education Department officials last week released a new report concluding that, despite their flaws, international studies over the past three decades consistently show that students from the United States lag behind their counterparts in other industrialized countries in...