Wealthy Asian nations lead in education, studies find

BOSTON (REUTERS) - Relatively wealthy Asian nations including South Korea and Singapore, as well as Hong Kong, led a ranking of international student achievement, a result that researchers said reflected a strong societal commitment to primary education.

Morocco and several Middle Eastern nations occupied the bottom of the rankings of fourth-grade student performances in reading, science and math, reflecting the challenges caused by poverty and relatively new educational systems, according to two Boston College-backed studies released on Tuesday.

The studies found that international student achievement generally has improved in the past decade as more nations have increased their focus on education, with top-performing Asian countries holding their lead in math and science and gaining ground in reading.

"In the beginning, when we were assessing the reading, they were not necessarily at the top of the charts," said Ina Mullis, a Boston College professor who worked on the studies. "A decade later they are." The improvement reflects a focused effort both by parents to read more to their children in the home and official efforts to make school reading programs more rigorous, Mullis said.