International comparisons such as the TIMSS and the PISA studies have already been showing for more than a decade that school systems in North America (the United States and Canada) have been underperforming and failing to serve most students well. Chapter 1: "International Student Achievement in Mathematics" from the TIMSS 2007 study of mathematics achievement in many different countries includes, in Exhibit 1.1 (pages 34 and 35)

http://timss.bc.edu/PDF/t03_download/T03_M_Chap1.pdf

a chart of mathematics achievement levels in various countries. Although the United States is above the international average score among the countries surveyed, as we would expect from the level of economic development in the United States, the United States is well below the top country listed, which is Singapore. An average United States student is at the bottom quartile level for Singapore, or from another point of view, a top quartile student in the United States is only at the level of an average student in Singapore.

That the UPPER range of students in the United States is poorly served by current school mathematics instruction in the United States is shown by a careful analysis of the PISA studies of developed countries around the world. PISA's own analysis refers to specific instructional practices in different countries and other differences in country conditions that make a difference in educational outcomes.

http://www.oecd.org/document/2/0,3343,en_32252351_32236191_3...

Some bloggers in the United States persist in blaming these outcomes on the ethnic diversity of the United States (ignoring the ethnic diversity of Singapore and other countries that outperform the United States). Eric A. Hanushek, Paul E. Peterson, and Ludger Woessmann point out in their analysis of the PISA data, "U. S. Math Performance in Global Perspective: How well does each state do at producing high-achieving students?"

http://www.oecd.org/document/2/0,3343,en_32252351_32236191_3...

that the real problem in United States mathematics education is leaving behind too many of the high-ability students, of whatever ethnicity, compared to many other countries. A specific response about what is wrong with mathematics teaching in United States classrooms comes from Patricia Clark Kenschaft in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society volume 52, number 2 (February 2005).

http://www.ams.org/notices/200502/fea-kenschaft.pdf

Most elementary school teachers in the United States, repeated studies of the issue have shown,

http://www.nctq.org/resources/math/

have poor mathematics preparation in their own higher education and little mathematics knowledge when they enter the classroom. They then are directed by their school districts to use textbooks that are ineffective for primary mathematics instruction, so it is no wonder that most pupils in the United States (and the same applies to Canada) finish primary schooling with poor preparation for higher mathematics study. I speak and read Chinese and have lived in various parts of the Chinese-speaking world. I have Chinese-language textbooks of mathematics at home from more than one country. I am confident that young people of any ethnicity in North America can learn math well if they are taught with materials like those, because I am a math teacher by occupation and my classes include a very ethnically diverse group of students, who thrive in the classes and far exceed the meager expectations of United States classrooms.