With this being an election year for the President of the United States and the same year the much debated No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is also up for reauthorization, I figured we should take a look at how we match up to other countries.
Wherever your politics lay or what side you fall on the NCLB debate, there are a few things I would imagine we all could agree on: the state of education in this country is in need of improvement, teachers deserve more respect than they receive, etc.
According to a report by the Department of Education, all 50 states have failed to have “qualified” teachers in all classrooms. Ten states along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Ricoall face the loss of federal aid because they have not made enough effort to comply with this portion of NCLB. Most states (33) rate their teacher quality 90-99%; most of the rest rate themselves 80-89%. The report itself states that there is an issue with the reporting data. NCLB states that teachers must have a bachelor’s degree, a state license and proven competency in every subject they teach.
To compare the quality and state of education in the United States versus the other G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, and Russia), I found a recent report by the National Centerfor Education Statistics (NCES). There are some interesting findings in this report. For example, just over half (53%) of all three and four year olds in the United Statesare enrolled in a preprimary education program. This is the lowest percentage for all G8 countries where 75% or higher are enrolled in preprimary education. This does lend towards what we have known for years now, young children are able to learn and retain.
On the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 fourth-grade math assessment, students in Japan outperformed students in all of the other participating countries.
On average, formal classroom instructional time per week on math learning ranged from 3 hours in Germany to almost four hours (3.7) in Canada and the United States. Aside from these structured math hours, students in the United States spent thirty minutes a week in remedial and enrichment classes. The only other students to spend time in these secondary learning was Russia with two hours per student.
Instruction in classroom settings at school, however, is only one aspect of student learning. Learning time in out-of-school activities ranged from 35 to 42 percent of students’ total mathematics learning time in Japan, the United States, Canada, and France; it was 54 percent in the Russian Federation. U.S. 15-year-olds reported spending 2.8 hours per week on mathematics homework or other study set by teachers, less than that reported by their peers in Italy (3.5 hours per week) and the Russian Federation (5.0 hours per week).
The number of instructional weeks ranged from 33.5 in Italy to 39.7 in Germany. The United States reports 36 instructional weeks.
The United States student/teacher ration at the primary level was lower than the ration in all but one of the G-8 countries. At the secondary level, student/teacher rations changed from 10 in Russia to 16 in the United States.
The United States paid the second highest average starting salary to public school teachers at the primary level with minimum training. Only Germany reported a higher average starting salary at this education level.
The United States ranked the highest among the G-8 countries in terms of expenditure per student at the combined primary and secondary education levels as well as at the higher education level. The United States spends a full $2,100 more than Germany who spent the least ($6,500) in primary and secondary expenditures. The United States spends close to three times more ($24,100) on higher education than Italy who spent the least ($8,800).
When you look at these numbers, it raises many questions. I am sure you are questioning a number of things after reading this. I welcome an intelligent and knowledgeable discussion on how to better educate the future of our country. We are spending the most money per child and yet we are not yielding the results. Now I know there are environmental factors that this study does not really take into account. There is a portion that talks about the socioeconomic status of the parents; the United States is generally at an advantage compared to the other countries except when it comes to the lower tier, the poor.
I look forward to your comments and ideas. This is meant to spark a debate within our industry; there are no right or wrong opinions, just your opinion. I have tried to leave mine out of this and just state the facts as I found them. If you would like to view the whole 92-page report, you can view it here http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2007/2007006.pdf.
