US fourth and eighth grade students continue to lag behind many of their peers in Eastern Asia and Europe in math, science and reading, found two reports released Tuesday.

US fourth graders ranked 11th in math and seventh in science, while US eighth graders ranked ninth in math and 10th in science, according to a report on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), released by the National Center for Education Statistics under the US Department of Education.

Meanwhile, US fourth graders rank only sixth in reading, according to the report on Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

South Korea tops the rankings in eighth grade math, followed by Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and Japan, while Singapore leads the ranking in fourth grade math, followed by South Korea, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Japan, the TIMSS 2011 report showed.

Only 7 percent of US eighth graders reached the advanced level in math, while 49 percent of eighth graders in Chinese Taipei, 48 percent in Singapore and 47 percent in South Korea reached the advanced level, found the report.

South Korea tops the rankings in fourth grade science, followed by Singapore, Finland, Japan, Russia and Chinese Taipei, while Singapore leads in eighth grade science, followed by Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Japan and Finland. US students are seventh on the list.

Fourth graders from 57 countries and regions or education systems and eighth graders from 56 countries and regions or education systems took the math and science tests, designed by the International Study Center at Boston College, in collaboration with government education officials and academic researchers from all over the world. Students from Hong Kong, Russia and Finland are the top performers in the reading test, with American students ranking sixth, found the PIRLS 2011 report.

Xinhua