WASHINGTON » American schoolchildren do better than people think in math and science, but Asian students still dominate in math and have gained ground in science, an international study found.

Kids in the United States made significant gains in math since 1995 and score above average on international fourth- and eighth-grade tests in the subject, according to a study released yesterday.

The findings contradict a persistent view in the United States that its children are lagging behind the rest of the developed world. An AP poll in June found that nearly two in five people believe American students do worse on math and science tests than those in most of the developed countries.

Not true, the authors of the report said.

“;Certainly, our results do not show the United States trailing the developed world by any stretch of the imagination,”; said Ina V.S. Mullis, a Boston College research professor and co-director of the study.

“;The Asian countries are way ahead of the rest of developed countries, but mostly the developed countries are relatively similar,”; Mullis said. “;And the United States might be one of the leaders of that group, depending on whether you're talking about math or science in the fourth or the eighth grade.”;

Kids in Massachusetts and Minnesota did even better than the United States overall. In fact, Massachusetts students did as well as some of their Asian peers. Those two states took part in the study separately.

For the United States, the news in another area isn't as good: Kids still do slightly better in science than math and are well above average, but scores have stagnated since 1995. In the meantime, other countries, including Singapore and Hong Kong, have made significant gains and surpassed the United States.

Conducted every four years, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, is widely used to measure the knowledge and skills of elementary and middle school students around the world. TIMSS is run by the International Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievement, a coalition of research institutions.

In 2007, 48 countries took part in eighth-grade tests, and 36 countries took part in fourth-grade tests. In all, 425,000 students were tested.

The study compares the United States with other rich, industrialized countries as well as many poorer nations. Scores in the United States were above the international average in each subject and grade.

Some believe the study gives too rosy a view of the United States by including poorer countries. Compare the United States with similarly rich countries, and its performance drops to the middle of the pack, said Andrew Coulson of the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute.

Regardless, the international findings generally are consistent with the United States' National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, often called the nation's report card.

In 2005, Hawaii public school fourth-graders scored an average 142 out of 300 on the NAEP science test, compared with a national average of 149, and only five other states scored lower than Hawaii. As for eighth-graders, just one state - Mississippi - scored below Hawaii's average of 136 points.

Since 1990, Hawaii's eighth-graders - despite steady gains in the math portion of the NAEP - have been trailing their mainland counterparts, ranking 47th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in last year's exam. Meanwhile, 33 percent of Hawaii's fourth-graders were able to solve math problems at grade level in last year's test, compared with 39 percent who were proficient in the subject nationally.