Why Gloomy Pundits and Politicians Are Wrong About America's Education System

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Here's what everybody knows about education in the United States. It's broken. It's failing our poorest students and codding the richest. Americans are falling desperately behind the rest of the developed world.

But here's what a new study from the Economic Policy Institute tells us about America's education system: Every one of those common assumptions is simplistic, misguided, or downright wrong.

When you break down student performance by social class, a more complicated, yet more hopeful, picture emerges, highlighted by two pieces of good news. First, our most disadvantaged students have improved their math scores faster than most comparable countries. Second, our most advantaged students are world-class readers.

Why break down international test scores by social class? In just about every country, poor students do worse than rich students. America's yawning income inequality means our international test sample has a higher share of low-income students, and their scores depress our national average. An apples-to-apples comparison of Americans students to their international peers requires us to control for social class and compare the performances of kids from similarly advantaged and disadvantaged homes.

That's precisely what Martin Carnoy, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, and Richard Rothstein have done in their new paper, "What Do International Tests Really Show About U.S. Student Performance?" Carnoy and Rothstein dive into international standardized tests and compare U.S. performance, by social class, to three post-industrial countries (Germany, the UK, and France) and three top-scoring countries (Canada, Finland, and Korea).

The US happens to have a very high fraction of low-social-class kids taking the PISA test," said Carnoy. "The composition of our test sample is very different from the higher-scoring countries and post-industrial countries. If you want to more clearly see how much students are getting from the school, you have to find some way to control for their families."

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[^_^ 5,021]

It's true. Our best are the best in the world.

But our worst is absolute trash that must be pacified with handouts lest they go cray-cray and start raping our women and robbing our homes.

Edited February 4, 2013 by ^_^

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Sounds like some loafers are scared for their phoney-baloney jobs.

[Karee 4,191]

Here's what everybody knows about education in the United States. It's broken. It's failing our poorest students and codding the richest. Americans are falling desperately behind the rest of the developed world.

But here's what a new study from the Economic Policy Institute tells us about America's education system: Every one of those common assumptions is simplistic, misguided, or downright wrong.

When you break down student performance by social class, a more complicated, yet more hopeful, picture emerges, highlighted by two pieces of good news. First, our most disadvantaged students have improved their math scores faster than most comparable countries. Second, our most advantaged students are world-class readers.

Why break down international test scores by social class? In just about every country, poor students do worse than rich students. America's yawning income inequality means our international test sample has a higher share of low-income students, and their scores depress our national average. An apples-to-apples comparison of Americans students to their international peers requires us to control for social class and compare the performances of kids from similarly advantaged and disadvantaged homes.

That's precisely what Martin Carnoy, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, and Richard Rothstein have done in their new paper, "What Do International Tests Really Show About U.S. Student Performance?" Carnoy and Rothstein dive into international standardized tests and compare U.S. performance, by social class, to three post-industrial countries (Germany, the UK, and France) and three top-scoring countries (Canada, Finland, and Korea).

The US happens to have a very high fraction of low-social-class kids taking the PISA test," said Carnoy. "The composition of our test sample is very different from the higher-scoring countries and post-industrial countries. If you want to more clearly see how much students are getting from the school, you have to find some way to control for their families."

more...

http://www.theatlant...XiFPLY.facebook

So really we have a higher percentage of poor kids than most developed countries.

[^_^ 5,021]

So really we have a higher percentage of poor kids than most developed countries.

The american underclass is huge.

And we need them, I'm not going to serve myself those french fries!

[Karee 4,191]

[quote name=' timestamp='1360009707' post='5959637]

And we need them, I'm not going to serve myself those french fries!

That's what the illegals (sorry undocumented) are going to be doing with their 2 year EADs.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

[quote name=' timestamp='1360009707' post='5959637]

The american underclass is huge.

And we need them, I'm not going to serve myself those french fries!

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

[^_^ 5,021]

That's what the illegals (sorry undocumented) are going to be doing with their 2 year EADs.

Good. Maybe next time I order a double quarter pounder I won't end up with a single quarter pounder.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

And while you're at it, send over your shiny eyed geeks with the best ideas too, Google needs a larger pool to hire from so they can start paying a little less.