Why American students lag behind
- Mike Honda: International Student Assessment report shows equity in education matters
- U.S. students lag because nation not committed to high-quality education for all, he says
- Honda: High-ranked nations help disadvantaged students, expect high performance
- Honda: All U.S. schools need equal financing, well-qualified teachers, adequate resources
Editor's note: Rep. Mike Honda, D-California, serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, and is a former teacher, school principal and school board member.
(CNN) -- One of the greatest lessons to be learned from the Program for International Student Assessment report released this month is that equity matters.
Others might argue that economic competitiveness is the real issue here, considering that assessments of American 15-year-olds' capabilities in reading, math and science rank low among the 34 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which performed the study.
America's performance reveals an "average" showing, with dangerous disparities: The 113-point gap in math literacy between the United States and No. 1 spot-holder Shanghai-China is the equivalent of more than two school years of schooling, a statistic
