ARLINGTON , Virginia ( CNN ) -- American children are n't necessarily getting smarter or dumber , but that might not be good enough to compete globally , according to numbers cited Tuesday by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan . The National Center for Education Statistics found U.S. students placed below average in math and science . He noted a special analysis put out last week by the National Center for Education Statistics that compares 15-year-old U.S. students with students from other countries in the Organization for Economic Development . It found the U.S. students placed below average in math and science . In math , U.S. high schoolers were in the bottom quarter of the countries that participated , trailing countries including Finland , China and Estonia . According to the report , the U.S. math scores were not measurably different in 2006 from the previous scores in 2003 . But while other countries have improved , the United States has remained stagnant . In science , the United States falls behind countries such as Canada , Japan and the Czech Republic . Duncan told a room full of science and math experts of the National Science Board on Tuesday morning that this will hurt the United States as it competes internationally . `` We are lagging the rest of the world , and we are lagging it in pretty substantial ways , '' he said . `` I think we have become complacent . We 've sort of lost our way . '' He acknowledged that in some areas of the United States it is hard to find good math and science teachers . To solve that problem , he said , `` I think we should pay math and science teachers a lot more money . We pay everybody the same . We have areas of critical need -- math , science , foreign language , special education in some places . I think we need to pay a premium for that . '' The National Education Association , which represents teachers , argues against such a proposal . `` Simply being a teacher of a hard-to-staff subject does not equate with effective instruction , and therefore , should not be rewarded in-and-of-itself through a salary differential , '' the organization says in a position statement . The fourth- and eighth-graders who were part of the mathematics testing have improved their average scores compared with their European counterparts , but they still lag behind their Asian peers in China , Hong Kong , Japan , Korea and Singapore . In science , fourth-graders have fallen behind other students even though their average scores remained about the same . The eighth-graders ' scores remain about the same compared to 1995 . `` It has huge implications , '' Duncan said . `` I think as a real economic imperative we have to educate our way to a better economy . ''
National Center for Education Statistics put out special analysis . In math , U.S. high schoolers were in the bottom quarter of the countries . Education secretary : `` We are lagging the rest of the world ... in pretty substantial ways ''