1 For a comprehensive list of STEM occupations, see Table SLBR-1 in the forthcoming Indicators 2022 report, “The STEM Labor Force of Today: Scientists, Engineers, and Skilled Technical Workers.”

2 The rank assigned to all countries in a tie is the smallest of the corresponding ranks.

3 NAEP is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America’s students know and can do in various subject areas. The NAEP mathematics assessment is administered to students in fourth and eighth grade every 2 years and students in 12th grade every 4 years. NAEP mathematics assessment results are reported as average scores on a 0–500 scale for fourth and eighth grades and 0–300 for 12th grade. NAEP reports student performance in two ways: scale scores, and student achievement levels. Regarding scale scores, NAEP states that “a statistically significant scale score that is higher or lower in comparison to an earlier assessment year is reliable evidence that student performance has changed” (NAEP 2018). Regarding student achievement levels, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), an independent board that sets policy for NAEP, has developed three achievement levels, which are determined by score ranges that indicate students’ achievement relative to expected achievement for each grade level. These score levels are: basic (partial mastery of knowledge and skills), proficient (solid academic performance at grade level), and advanced (superior academic performance). NAGB suggests that these levels are subject to refinement, and the results should be interpreted with caution. Because these achievement levels are considered provisional, they are not reported here. More information about NAEP scoring is available here: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/guides/scores_achv.aspx.

4 SES is indicated by a student’s eligibility for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), with eligible students classified as low-SES students. Student eligibility for a free lunch program is a less-than-perfect measure of SES (Harwell and LeBeau 2010).

5 The U.S. Census Bureau divides the United States into four regions: Northeast, Midwest, South, and West. For more information, see https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/maps/reference/us_regdiv.pdf.

6 In PISA, the assessment of science literacy focuses on students’ ability to engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen. It requires students to engage in reasoned discourse about science and technology using their knowledge of facts and theories to explain phenomena scientifically. It also requires students to know the standard methodological procedures and patterns of reasoning used in science to evaluate or design scientific inquiries and interpret evidence. In PISA, mathematics literacy is defined as students’ capacity to formulate, employ, and interpret mathematics in a variety of contexts. It includes reasoning mathematically and using mathematical concepts, procedures, facts, and tools to describe, explain, and predict phenomena.

7 PISA measures the performance of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics, and science. PISA technical standards require that students in the sample be from 15 years and 3 months to 16 years and 2 months at the beginning of the testing period; thus, students in the United States were sampled on the basis of age rather than grade level. The assessment aims to measure students’ ability to apply their knowledge to solving problems. PISA is coordinated by OECD and conducted every 3 years. The assessment was first implemented in 2000 and, as of 2018, includes 79 education systems. Education systems include both countries and selected cities within countries. PISA also provides information about students’ proficiency levels. More information about these levels is available here: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/2018technotes-6.asp.

8 Although it appears that PISA mathematics scores declined by 5 points, from 483 points in 2003 to 478 points in 2018, this score difference is not statistically significant, meaning that the scores are similar.

9 ICILS is a computer-based international assessment of eighth-grade students’ capacities “to use information communications technologies (ICT) productively for a range of different purposes, in ways that go beyond a basic use of ICT.” First conducted in 2013, ICILS assessed students’ computer and information literacy (CIL) with an emphasis on the use of computers as information seeking, management, and communication tools. Twenty-one education systems around the world participated in ICILS in 2013. The second cycle of ICILS was administered in 2018 and continued to investigate CIL, with the added international optional component to assess students’ computational thinking (CT) abilities, as well as how these relate to school and out-of-school contexts that support learning. The United States participated in ICILS for the first time in 2018, along with 13 other education systems. Among them, 9 education systems, including the United States, participated in the optional component of CT. ICILS is sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement and is conducted in the United States by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education.

10 The ICILS average score for both computer information literacy and computational thinking assessments did not include the U.S. score because the U.S. sample did not meet the guidelines of a sample participation rate of 85% needed to be included in the average score. The U.S. participation rate of 77% did meet the requirements for score validity and reporting. For more information, see https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/icils/international-requirements.asp.

11 The difference in computational thinking scores rounds to 112 points (112.35) when the more precise scores of 556.79 and 444.44 are compared.

12 The 2017–18 NTPS is a state and nationally representative sample survey of public and private K–12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. NTPS collects data on core topics, including teacher and principal preparation, classes taught, school characteristics, and demographics of the teacher and principal labor forces. It is developed by NCES, part of the Institute of Education Sciences within the U.S. Department of Education, and is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

13 TALIS, sponsored by OECD, is an international, large-scale survey of teachers, teaching, and learning environments in schools. Conducted internationally in 2008, 2013, and 2018, TALIS data are based on questionnaire responses from nationally representative samples of teachers and their principals in participating countries and education systems. The United States first participated in 2013, along with 37 other education systems. The most recent round of data collection was in 2018, with 49 education systems participating.

14 Alternative teacher certification is a process by which a person is awarded a teaching license even though that person has not completed a traditional teacher certification program. In the United States, traditional teacher certification is earned through completing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in education, taking standardized tests, and fulfilling additional state requirements. Teachers with an alternative certification typically possess a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university and complete an alternative certification program while teaching full time. Other state certification requirements, such as the type of education coursework or the length of practice teaching, may be modified or waived. NTPS asked respondents whether they entered teaching through an alternative route to certification program, a program that was designed to expedite the transition of nonteachers to a teaching career (e.g., a state, district, or university alternative route to certification).

15 Teachers’ education is based on the International Standard Classification of Education 2011 (ISCED 2011), which defines nine education levels: level 0 = early childhood education, level 1 = primary education, level 2 = lower secondary education, level 3 = upper secondary education, level 4 = postsecondary non-tertiary education, level 5 = short-cycle tertiary education, level 6 = bachelor’s degree or equivalent education, level 7 = master’s degree or equivalent education, and level 8 = doctoral degree or equivalent education. More information about ISCED 2011 is available at http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/international-standard-classification-of-education-isced-2011-en.pdf.

16 This indicator examines the percentage of U.S. public high school students who graduate on time, as measured by the adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR). In this indicator, the United States includes public schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, except for Bureau of Indian Education schools. State education agencies calculate the ACGR by identifying the cohort of first-time ninth graders in a particular school year. The cohort is then adjusted by adding any students who immigrate from another country or transfer into the cohort after ninth grade and subtracting any students who transfer out, emigrate to another country, or die. The ACGR is the percentage of students in this adjusted cohort who graduate within 4 years with a regular high school diploma.

17 In 2019, 15.1% of elementary and secondary students were Black, 27.3% were Hispanic, 0.4% were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 1.0% were American Indian or Alaska Native (Hussar et al. 2020).

18 HSLS:09 is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of approximately 20,000 students who were first surveyed in fall 2009 as ninth graders and were surveyed again in 2012, 2013, and 2016, approximately 3 years after most had completed high school. These students’ high school transcripts were collected in 2013, and for those who enrolled in postsecondary education after high school, their postsecondary transcripts were collected in 2017 and 2018. Combined, these data allow researchers to examine an array of young-adulthood outcomes, including whether students chose a STEM major at the postsecondary level. This analysis uses the National Science Foundation’s definition of STEM majors, which includes not only mathematics, natural sciences, engineering, and computer and information sciences but also such social or behavioral sciences as psychology, economics, sociology, and political science.

19 The questionnaire is a result of collaboration between the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Center for Health Statistics, NCES, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Household Pulse Survey has been conducted in three phases. Data presented here are from Phase 1 and Phase 2. Each phase utilizes an overlapping weekly panel of respondents, each of whom are surveyed once per week for 3 consecutive weeks before being replaced by a new panel. Each phase is designed to be nationally representative of the U.S. population, though different panels responded in the Phase 1 and Phase 2 data collections. For more information, see https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/household-pulse-survey/technical-documentation.html.