Montgomery County schools fare well against other large districts in the U.S., but are middle-of-the-road when compared to international competition, particularly in reading, according to recently-released data.

A study from the George W. Bush Presidential Center released last month states that when it comes to math and reading on state, national and international exams, suburban students like those in Montgomery County who are often thought of as flagbearers for American educational excellence are not making the grade when compared to students in 25 other developed countries.

But the school system says the performance of its 146,000 students still looks good, especially since many of them do not fit the stereotype of wealthy suburbanites.

Among the 30 largest school systems in the U.S., the average student in Montgomery schools performed better than half of international counterparts on reading, and better than 63 percent of international students on math.

That placed Montgomery schools with the highest percentage in math, and the second-highest in reading, behind Wake County schools in North Carolina.

But Montgomery’s status as a large district is due to the state’s organization of school systems by county, and by its other socioeconomic characteristics is actually more comparable to other affluent but smaller districts, said Jay P. Greene, one of the study’s authors.

Given their resources, many students in the county should do better when performing toe-to-toe with students from other first-world nations, Greene said. For a district like Montgomery County, the average student should be doing better than two-thirds to three-fourths of international students.

“Doing better than other large districts is not particularly impressive for Montgomery County, because it’s not like other large districts because it’s not a major urban center with a large disadvantaged population,” said Greene, a professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas and a senior policy fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank in New York City.

In a blog post on his personal website on Monday, Greene argued that, “People who flee from urban education ills thinking that their children will get a top world-class education in the suburbs may be disappointed.”

Relatively small school districts in Massachusetts and New Jersey, as well as rural districts in Texas and Kansas, do very well on an international level, the study reported.

The study used three different tests for comparisons. It examined the statewide tests (like the Maryland School Assessment) required by the federal No Child Left Behind law in 2002; the National Assessment of Educational Progress, dubbed the “nation’s report card” and administered every two years in math and reading; and the Programme for International Student Assessment, administered to 15-year-olds internationally by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Greene conceded that the study had flaws and was not meant to be a perfect educational comparison. A major potential concern is that the three tests used are designed to measure different things, and that students take the tests at different ages, Greene wrote in the report.

The study also uses math and reading data that is several years old, ranging from 2004 to 2007.

The school system has over 30 percent of its students receiving free and reduced-price meals, a strong indicator of poverty, said Dana Tofig, a spokesman for the school system. Many Montgomery students, he said, could easily go toe-to-toe with international counterparts.

“We certainly have a lot of high-achieving kids,” he said. “We also have a lot of kids who come to us with a lot of challenges.”

He said the study was interesting, however, because it highlighted how students will be competing for jobs on a global stage.

Superintendent of Schools Joshua P. Starr could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

To read an article about the Global Report Card study in Education Next, click here.

aujifusa@gazette.net