State of U.S. Education May Harm Economic Growth
The statistics speak volumes: the United States is in dire need of education reform. On the 2013 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reading test, 66 percent of all U.S. fourth graders scored as below proficient. For low-income students, the number testing below proficient jumps to 80 percent. According to the nonprofit organization StudentsFirst, more than 25 percent of U.S. students fail to graduate from high school in four years and internationally, the United States placed 27th in math and 20th in science out of 34 countries. These alarming numbers forecast future drops in domestic economic productivity and declines in American trade competitiveness on a global scale (read more in The Correlation Between Education And The Economy).
What's worse, these abysmal U.S. test scores that have remained relatively stagnant since the 1970s. A glance at the academic achievement map on the website Leaders and Laggards, a state-by-state assessment of K-12 education by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, further reveals the disappointing state of the American education system. The nationwide report card based around academic achievement, post-secondary and workforce readiness and international competitiveness awarded “A” grades to only six states. The solutions may not be as clear cut as the problems, but the United States can begin education reform by taking these four steps. (See more in What country spends the most on education?)
1. Reform Begins With the Teachers
The impact of teachers on the lives of their students cannot be overstated. Studies have shown that the highest-performing teachers imbue their students with an extra five-to-six months’ worth of education (K-12) and students with effective teachers are more likely to continue onto college and beyond. Highly effective teachers can increase the earnings potential of their students by $20,000 over the students’ lifetimes and foster success across all areas of youth development. So the question is, how to attract better teachers? One suggestion is to pay teachers more. Economists Raj Chetty, John Friedman and Jonah Rockoff determined that when replacing an underperforming teacher with a so-called high value-added teacher, discounted future earnings of the entire classroom are estimated to be $270,000 (based on three years of data), while non-discounted earnings work out to be $1.4 million per class. Furthermore, according to StudentsFirst, schools need to adopt stricter policies to replace underperforming educators. Suggestions include stricter performance reviews and firing policies, greater accountability and transparency with the students and their parents and reforming or abolishing the tenure program. (Read more in Best States For Teachers.)
2. Smaller is Better
Small-classroom advocates argue that smaller class sizes lead to higher student achievement because each student gets more teacher attention and interaction and fewer distractions from other students. A smaller class also teachers can focus more on teaching and less on disciplinary issues. The Students-Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) project is study conducted over a control group of 10,000 students. It featured a reduction in class sizes from 22 to 26 students in a class to just 13 to 17 students. STAR saw substantial increases in academic performance, especially for elementary-school students, minority students,and poor students.
On the other hand, the American Center for Progress argues that most class-size studies are inconclusive. Large-scale class size reductions in California and Florida have yielded less than optimal results, perhaps as a consequence of hiring many inexperienced and less effective teachers. Furthermore, opponents argue that large-scale class size reduction is extremely expensive, not only for additional staff salaries and benefits, but also because of increased capital expenditures—smaller class sizes will mean more classrooms need to be built.
3. Minority Students, Majority Issues
The Alliance for Excellent Education released a report to all congressional candidates, urging them to invest in the nation’s economic future. In “Dropouts, Diplomas, and Dollars: U.S. High Schools and the Nation’s Economy,” the Alliance concluded that the U.S. economy could add $310 billion by 2020 if minority students graduated at the same rate as their white peers. Moreover, the study, “Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap,” found that a racial gap between minority students and their white counterparts, with minority students scoring lower in test scores and graduation rates. Shockingly, the study also found that in math and the sciences, American black and Latino eight-graders performed only on par with students in developing countries. While critics may point to a whole slew of socioeconomic factors exacerbating this racial divide, education can play a major part in reducing wage and social inequalities (read more in Is There Still Social Mobility In America?). For example, according to the Wall Street Journal, Harvard economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz found that the growing difference in the earnings of college grads and high school grads explain 60-70% of the rise in wage inequality between 1980 and 2005. Some of the solutions to address the problem of minority education include placing underprivileged children in early education pre-kindergarten programs, pairing up quality teachers with needy children (through incentives such as paying for the teacher’s college), increasing teacher accountability, presenting educational materials in a relatable way to minority students and working together with community groups to incentivize education. (For more see Standard Of Living Vs. Quality Of Life.)
4. Cultivate the STEMs
Finally, in order to ensure its competitive edge in an increasingly technological world, the
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