Excerpted from the North Carolina Family Policy Center Newsletter:
The United States spends more per student on public and private education than other industrialized countries but gets average results on student performance, according to an international report released September 16. The report, published by the OECD, reviewed education spending and performance in 30 industrialized countries. According to the findings, 15-year-olds in the U.S. scored average in subjects such as math, reading and science; and the U.S. high school graduation rate in 2001 was below the international average. While the performance of American students is average compared to other countries, U.S. spending on education is not. In fact, the OECD report shows the U.S. spends more per pupil for elementary and secondary education than other industrialized countries and spends the most on higher education.
“In this day and age, average simply isn’t good enough,” U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige said. “This report documents how little we receive in return for our national investment.”
Wow. Is it possible that more money isn’t the panacea we hoped for?
