Amid the talk of jobless rates, the projected costs of U.S. entitlement programs left unreformed and the price tag for extending Bush-era tax cuts, it may have been easy to miss the recent release of three other sets of numbers that are critical indicators of the future of our nation and people: international results in math, science and reading and U.S. graduation rates.

U.S. scores on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) showed some improvements. U.S. students scored higher in math and reading at grade four since TIMSS and PIRLS were last administered in 2007 and 2006, respectively.  But in eighth-grade math and fourth- and eighth-grade science, U.S. students showed no measurable improvements since 2007.  While the improvements in fourth-grade reading and math are encouraging, these scores still place U.S. students behind their international peers in East Asian countries and in a select group of European countries, which led achievement in math, science and reading at both the fourth- and eighth-grade levels.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) just reported lower high school graduation rates in 26 states, and while 24 states reported unchanged or increased rates, DOE warned us not to view these as measures of progress but of a more accurate snapshot, thanks to the first-ever use of a common, more rigorous metric.

Collectively, these numbers should alarm us all.  U.S. unemployment rates are nearly three times higher for those with less than a high school diploma, and the jobs of the future increasingly require a firm grounding in math and science – neither of which can be obtained if a student doesn’t know how to read. 

What the international and national numbers are telling us is that as a nation, we can and must do a better job of educating our children.

A solid education is the foundation for a better life; for our children’s ability to achieve a high standard of living than that of their parents.  It is the foundation for building a world-class workforce that can compete in an increasingly interconnected global marketplace, and it is a key to greater prosperity and productivity for America and Americans. 

That is why BRT CEOs support U.S. education and workforce policies that ensure all Americans are prepared to work and ready to succeed, and it is why, in addition to the fiscal numbers being debated today in Washington, we care about rates of student achievement rates as numbers that are also critical to America’s future.