when it comes to reading, mathematics, and science.

The academic performance of American 15-year-olds hasn't improved over the past decade,

while other countries, like Ireland and Poland, are passing the United States.

That's according to the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA.

PISA is designed to measure how well students can apply what they've learned -- in and out of school --

as they near the end of high school or secondary education.

PISA is especially valuable because it measures applied literacy skills, which makes it different

from nearly every other major assessment.

With PISA, we can see how American 15-year-olds compare to their peers in a very diverse group

of participating education systems, including nearly every developed economy in the world.

PISA began in 2000

and since then every 3 years 15-year-olds from countries around the world have taken it.

Average scores for U.S. 15-year-olds in 2012 were not different from any of the previous years

in any of the subjects.

Eighteen education systems had higher average scores in all three subjects: reading, mathematics, and science.

Shanghai-China, which participated in PISA for the first time in 2009,

remained the top performer in the world in all three subjects.

The U.S. performed better in reading than in mathematics or science.

If you take a closer look at U.S. math scores, you discover that the U.S. had more low-performing students

and fewer high-performing students than the international average.

In reading and science, the U.S. had about the same percentage of low-and high-performing

students as the international average.

On the NCES PISA website, you'll find the international rankings and details

on how American 15-year-olds performed: by gender, socioeconomic status, by race and ethnicity,

and other variables.

You can get the full report here.