Future U.S. Teachers Rank in Middle on Math Tests

New International Comparison Eyes Elementary and Middle School Levels

Future elementary and middle school math teachers in the United States, on average, earned middling scores, compared with their counterparts in 15 other countries, on a new test designed to gauge their skills in that subject.

The findings from the first Teacher Education Study in Mathematics , or TEDS-M, were unveiled last week at a press conference in Washington.

Among the world’s aspiring elementary teachers, the results show that American college students nearing the end of their teacher-preparation programs performed “neither particularly low, nor particularly strong.” They scored at rates similar to those of future teachers in Germany, Norway, and Russia, but not on par with typically high-achieving countries such...