Opinion: Never mind the doomsayers; U.S. schools are doing fine

WASHINGTON - The usual hand-wringing accompanied the Education Department's release late last year of statistics on how U.S. students performed on international tests. How will the United States compete in the global economy, went the lament, when our students lag behind the likes of Singapore and Hong Kong in math and science? American fourth-graders ranked 12th in the world on one international math test, and eighth-graders were 14th. Is this further evidence of the failure of the nation's schools?

Not exactly. In fact, a closer look at how our kids perform against the international "competition" suggests that this story line may contain more than a few myths:

This is true only if you cherry-pick the results. University of Pennsylvania researchers Erling Boe and Sujie Shin looked at six major international tests in reading, math, science and civics conducted from 1991 through 2001. Their conclusion: Americans are above average when compared with 22 other industrialized nations. In civics, no nation scored significantly higher than the United States; in reading, only 13 percent did. Even in math and science - the two subjects considered "vital" to future technological competitiveness - the United States fell in roughly the middle of the pack.

Actually, American students are mostly improving, or at worst holding their own. As the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study shows, America's eighth-graders improved their math and science scores in 1995, 1999 and 2003. Only students in Hong Kong, Latvia and Lithuania - three relatively tiny and homogenous entities - improved more than the United States did. Unfortunately, news accounts focus on the relative position of American students (are we No. 1 or No. 12?) rather than on their absolute performance (did they improve, regardless of what others did?).

This myth has been bandied around since at least the turn of the 19th century by business leaders who blame schools for inadequately preparing workers. It's part of the never-ending notion that U.S. schools are in crisis.

Education researcher Gerald Bracey cites a March 1957 cover story in Life magazine - at the height of post-Sputnik paranoia over Soviet scientific prowess - that contrasts the stern, rigorous education of a Moscow teenager with the carefree lifestyle of a Chicago youth. The cover headline: "Crisis in Education." In the 1980s, when Japan seemed to be an unstoppable economic juggernaut, the seminal policy manifesto "A Nation at Risk" warned that deficiencies in high school graduates "come at a time when the demand for highly skilled workers in new fields is accelerating rapidly."

Despite these doomsday cases, the United States survived and, by many measures, bested the competition.

This canard was given a boost by the recent World Economic Forum survey of international economies. Typically this annual survey ranks the U.S. economy as the most competitive in the world, but last year it put the United States in sixth place. But the drop had nothing to do with school performance. Rather, the forum cited U.S. trade and budget deficits, a low savings rate, tax cuts and the government's increased spending on defense and homeland security.

Another recent survey, by the Council on Competitiveness, found that over the past two decades the U.S. economy grew faster than that of any other advanced nation, and generated a third of the world's economic growth. Yet this performance followed a period in which the authors of "A Nation at Risk" were warning that a "rising tide of (educational) mediocrity ... threatens our very future as a nation." That was in 1983. Those high school mediocrities are now turning 40, and presumably have been playing a part in helping the U.S. economy grow "faster than any other advanced economy" over the past two decades.

A dynamic economy is much more than the sum of its test scores. It's part of a culture that rewards innovation and risk-taking, and values unconventional problem-solving. Much of this is nurtured in our schools, even if it can't be quantified on a test.

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Comments on this article

by Robert	02/27/07 05:26 PM
This article bounces all over the board - we measure students, yet want to blame schools if everyone ( only in America) does not succceded. has everyone forgotton the bell curve, not all of us are Steven Hawkings - is there room for improvement - yes

by Gary	02/23/07 10:00 AM
Comparisons are meaningless. Do our future citizens have the cognitive skills to maintain the American way of life, to seek what is good, reject the bad and know the difference between the two? They do so little real thinking in school.

by Thomas	01/29/07 01:44 PM
The Challenge for the Future is not how our students doing compared to others. The Challenge is how through creative thought processes and adapability they will be able to cope with change? Reflect on your owne adapability; cell phone, computers etc.

by Marie	01/29/07 12:05 PM
Having taught for 28 years, the decline of students' attendance is alarming! We can't teach them if they aren't here. 20 absences per semester (90 days)isn't unusual. Do the rankings take attendance into account? Wake up parents! School's a priority!

by Peggy	01/29/07 11:51 AM
I agree with John regarding the comparison of test scores of ALL our students to the scores of only the "university-bound" of the other countries. The public needs to be aware of this.

by Bill	01/29/07 10:32 AM
To Michael's 1/26 comment, the Post piece appears to be by Paul Farhi, a columnist. Same piece in full was in the Delaware News Journal, Sunday Perspective Section, Jan. 28

by Chris	01/28/07 04:46 PM
Improvement comes from using strengths to address deficits. There are clear weaknesses, and great strengths. The cup is definitely half full. Let's fill it to the top. That's the essence of education. Otherwise, why bother with the future?

by Karen	01/27/07 11:51 AM
If only this information were more widely-spread! If the US public felt compelled to consider its schools as honorable, respectable institutions, the self-fullfilling prophecy would kick in and we'd see even better results.

by Janet	01/26/07 07:19 PM
So we are supposed to judge our kids not on test scores but on "absolute performance"? Nonsense! If there has been any improvement in education, it has been due to the accountability of NCLB and the reforms it requires.

by AJ	01/26/07 11:28 AM
As a teacher with 15 years of experience, I know that we're expecting more of students every year. Sadly, when we're saddled w/ bad ideas like NCLB, it's like slamming into a brick wall: push the best students forward while dumbing it down for others

by Michael	01/26/07 10:59 AM
When was this in the Washington Post. I can't seem to find the original article and who authored it.

by Lynn	01/26/07 10:29 AM
Finally the mainstream media has reported the truth about our schools. Now maybe we can focus on issues that truly place our nation at risk such as ill advised military operations and the increasing gab between the rich and the poor.

by Judith	01/26/07 07:50 AM
I wonder if the media's search for headlines is part of the problem. I was responsible for coordinating the civics study cited here. When we released our strong US results, we couldn't get reporters interested. They wanted a bad-news headline.

by Linda	01/25/07 01:04 PM
Good to read these comments by people who will not be fooled. I was in the trenches and have seen the dumbing down of schools take place--year after year. I was a good Science teacher for 17 years until forced out by a Religous Right Administration.

by Michelle	01/24/07 07:14 PM
Unfortunately, as we become more test-driven, innovation, risk-taking, and unconventional problem solving are being mercilessly squeezed out of our schools. Unless the NCLB test-data driven environment is significantly changed, forget "dynamic econ!"

by Kirk	01/24/07 12:52 PM
utter hooey. why does the Times feel compelled to publish apologia from the gatekeepers of power like the Wash Post?

by john	01/24/07 12:17 PM
Also remember that when we compare ourselves to other countries it is not apples to apples. Many of the "high performing" countries choose the students who get educated. We educate every student who walks through the door regardless of ability.

by murph	01/24/07 10:46 AM
Besides the fact that this article is pretty underwhelming in its defense of U.S. education, I can't figure out who wrote it. It says it's from the Washington Post but I can't find it on it's site. murshap@comcast.net

by eric	01/24/07 10:43 AM
You really have to hand it to the Washington Post to turn an obvious crisis (for anyone paying attention to things like facts) into some sort of conspiracy. "Even if it can't be quantified" means you have a faith based appraoched to this. Incredible

by kevin	01/24/07 10:24 AM
1. We are the strongest and wealthiest nation on earth, anything less than number one is un acceptable. 2. Who else was polled? 3.Wrong, there will be a ton of service workers for the oil rich countries.4. No, bad judgement has.

by Sarah	01/24/07 09:34 AM
I've always maintained that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with our public schools. Discipline and responsibility could be stressed more but that is a problem that could be overcome with a parental attitude change.

by Jeanne	01/24/07 08:37 AM
This is selective analysis at best. There are literally hundreds of indicators that demonstrate US students know much less than they should and much less than their counterparts abroad. Check out the report by CER at www.edreform.com.