The PISA Scores: MICHELLE RHEE CLUCKS THAT THE SKY IS FALLING
More Mediocrity for American Education: The bad news about those mediocre new rankings of America's educational system is the complacency about fixing them
BY MICHELLE RHEE | TIME IDEAS | HTTP://TI.ME/IFWZQN
Dec. 04, 2013 :: America’s education system earned headlines this week when it showed, yet again, that compared to the rest of the world, our schools perform in the middle of the pack. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tested the math, science, and reading skills of 15 year-olds in 34 countries, and America failed to crack the top ten. Our kids finished 17th in reading, 21st in science, and 26th in math— behind countries including Estonia and Poland, and even developing countries like Vietnam.
The rankings themselves are not reason for outrage. Instead, what should be appalling to every American is the reality that tomorrow, when the PISA rankings fade from headlines, many advocates will go back to defending the current state of this nation’s public schools. They will argue, as they always do, that our education system is not broken — despite the fact that it performs at the same level as the Slovak Republic where the government spends half as much per pupil, and the GDP is 171 times smaller.
Many commentators suggested we should just ignore the results altogether, pointing out that American schools have always ranked in the middle of the global pack. That’s true. But is it a reason to not strive for more? That kind of complacency with mediocrity offends students, offends educators and offends the American spirit.
We don’t settle for 26th place in Olympic competitions. We wouldn’t be happy with a foreign high-tech company usurping Apple’s market position. And when the Soviets beat us into space with Sputnik, we rose to the occasion and put
ALEC: ADVOCACY GROUP PROPOSES RESTRICTIONS ON STUDENT DATA + smf’s 2¢
by Tom Chorneau | SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet | http://bit.ly/1bK6JGr December 5, 2013 :: (D.C.) Amid growing concerns over the security of student data as states and school districts transition to common national curriculum standards, one of the country’s leading conservative advocacy groups has proposed legislation that would limit