Clarification

A chart that appeared in the April 23, 2008, issue of Education Week, which ran as part of the special coverage on A Nation at Risk, included imprecise information describing the national percentage of U.S. students reaching proficiency on an international testing scale. The chart, which was based on a 2007 study, compared U.S. student performance in math and science on an American test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, against that of foreign students on an international exam, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, by linking the NAEP scoring scale to the TIMSS scale. The chart should have made clear that the U.S. nationwide scores were based on estimates of American students’ proficiency on the 2003 TIMSS. The scores for individual U.S. states listed on the chart were taken from NAEP.