American Students are no Longer World-Class

American students are no longer world-class achievers.  According to a report released by CBS News, students in US schools perform near the bottom, while students in 30 other comparable nations come out almost always ahead.  Finnish and South Korean students show a marked increase in student performance.

Take Mathematics, for instance:  Finland is first, followed by South Korea, and the United States is number 25.  Now look at Science: Finland is again number one.  The US in number 21.  Ironically, the United States spends on average $34,000 more per student in K-12 education.  A large percentage of that money is, sadly, being wasted on students who never graduate high school.  The US ranks 20th in high school graduation rates, at about 75%, while Germany, Japan, Korea and the U.K. all have graduation rates near or above 90%.

Mark Schneider, a noted education consultant, commented: "The consensus is not surprising, the most important ingredient in what works is the quality of a student's teacher."  In competing countries, students attend class as often as 220 days per year.  In the US, they attend for just 180. This is an important number because research shows that teachers spend up to six weeks re-teaching what students haven't retained over long breaks (such as summer vacation).

So how can America reclaim a position near the top of the world's education rankings?  First, we must focus on developing teachers that are qualified and intuitive about what their students need.  Then, we have to stop over-spending on meaningless education-related expenses.  The task then becomes finding solutions to improve the efficacy and efficiency in delivery of education.

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