Americans between the ages of 16 and 34 fared poorly on tests designed to measure their grasp of the literacy, numeracy, and computer-age problem-solving skills needed to compete in the international labor market. Even the youngest of U.S. millenials lag behind peers in other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.
U.S. Millennials Come Up Short in Global Skills Study
Shortfalls affect all segments of American society
By Sarah D. Sparks
America’s wealthiest and best-educated young adults still lag behind their peers in other countries in the literacy, numeracy, and computer-age problem-solving skills needed to compete in the global labor market.
That, coupled with yawning racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps and even grimmer skills levels for students with less than a college degree, could lead to long-term difficulty for the country, according to a new study by the Education Testing ServiceCenter for Research on Human Capital and Education in Lawrenceville, N.J.
It’s far from the first study to suggest American students are falling behind their international peers. But the analysis of U.S. millennials—those born after 1980, ages 16 to 34 during the study—specifically highlights that the skills gap goes beyond young people who are typically seen as more “at-risk,” like immigrants and high school dropouts.
“We’ve often looked at these as disconnected, only looking at the problems of individual parts,” said Martha J. Kanter, a visiting professor of higher education at New York University and former assistant education secretary under President Barack Obama. She was not associated with the study.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/02/18/us-millennials-come-up-short-in-global.html
