“Fourth-graders in the United States score better in reading than many of their peers around the world, but poor and minority U.S. students still lag behind other U.S. learners, a new international study shows. | Students in U.S. public schools outperformed 23 of 34 other countries in the project, known as the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study of 2001.”

—Rating U.S. Kids’ Reading SkillsCBS News)

Among the other findings cited by the study: girls outperformed boys in reading comprehension in all 35 countries examined in the study.