Let’s start with the bad news: fourth-graders in the U.S. haven’t improved their reading skills since No Child Left Behind was started. And the number of countries and regions whose fourth-graders are now better than their American counterparts has increased. A lot.

The good news? U.S. scores are still above the international average. And, U.S. fourth-graders scored better than their peers over in the U.K. (They still have the better accents when reading aloud, which, sadly, for them, was not a part of the standards.)

Here’s the rest of the competition: U.S. students posted a lower average score than students in Russia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, Hungary, Italy and Sweden, along with the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. (Damn Canadians)

In the last round of these international literacy tests, Russia, Hong Kong and Singapore were behind the United States.

These scores are the source of much consternation for the U.K., who not only falls behind the U.S. (which is likely quite humiliating for them) but is also actually scoring lower than in previous years. Great Britain fell from third to 19th place in the overall scores. Only Morocco and Bulgaria fell harder, faster.

Experts in the U.K. fault computer games, a decline in reading at home, and a decline in the amount of time students are read to at school.

Photo: BBC