The United States and three other countries are declining to have their schoolchildren take a test that determines their ability to spot fake news.
Business Insider reported Wednesday that the U.S. joined England, Belgium, and Japan in opting out of the "global competence test" put together by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Twenty-four nations, a list that includes Australia, Canada, Singapore, and the Philippines, will include the test in their school curriculum.
Business Insider reported the test includes multiple parts, including a section on fake news that ascertains whether students can determine when data is misrepresented and whether they can separate facts from non-facts.
"We consider it to be an important innovation, but we want to allow it time to develop and crystalize into an operationalized assessment with a solid empirical foundation to validate its technical stability," a Department of Education spokesman told the news outlet.
The OECD also developed the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, which is used in the U.S. and 71 other countries. OECD uses the results of that exam to measure how well countries do against each other.
President Donald Trump routinely bashes the media and singles out particular stories and reports as fake news. In conjunction with the Republican National Committee, he even released a list of the winners of his "Fake News Awards."
Newsweek was criticized last month for running a story that falsely blamed First Lady Melania Trump for the removal of a 200-year-old tree from the White House lawn.
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