This image pretty much speaks for itself:
Helpful infographic about where America’s schools stack up. Click to see a larger version.
This infographic measures national performance on the 2009 Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA), which is a randomly-sampled exam taken by many of the countries of the world. What this says is that kids who don’t live in poverty are doing actually much better than some of the countries we think we have to compete with.
So, to translate, America’s schools are not failing at all. You know what IS failing? Our ability to provide economic support to our most vulnerable families, that’s what.
Any questions?
This news needs to be constantly repeated especially to the corporate reform crowd even though it’s really old news. Researchers have known for decades that poverty is the most accurate measure in determining the success of a child in school. The Coleman Report validated that in the 1960s and, yet, the argument continues to be made that teachers can uplift those poor children who are malnourished, live in low income project housing and are poorly clothed. That’s not only unfair to the poor students and the teachers who teach them, it’s illogical.