The Atlantic has a nifty chart (tiny segment featured above) that details how our states compare to when it comes to advanced levels of math proficiency. While we typically see either nations or states compared to one another, this is but another, useful perspective, with Massachusetts out in front (whose students perform on par with those in Austria and Slovenia), while Mississippi comes in at a disappointing dead last (on par with Chile and Thailand). It is maybe as persuasive a case for national education standards as any currently out there. We're all over the map here.