Most of the major inventions designed to improve our modern way of life have been invented or perfected by Americans (electricity, steam turbine, corn flakes, light bulbs, telecommunications, modern-day radio, television, the transistor, the microchip, the computer, and the Internet). The U.S. System of advanced education and research has kept us in the position of technology leader for the last century. However, our primary and secondary education programs are falling behind. Every three years, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development tests fifteen-year-olds in math, science, reading and problem solving skills (Program for International Student Assessment). In the 2003 tests, the United States fell to 26th in math and to 20th in science among 32 nations. Even when the comparison is limited to the top tier of students, when compared with top students elsewhere in the world, America’s best math students ranked no better than 25th out of 30 countries.

UPDATED

A sharp eyed reader spotted the 2006 PISA test results which we did not find when we drafted the orginal post. These results are consistent with the 2000 and 2003 results and do not show significant improvement.

In 2006, the results show the average combined science literacy scale score for U.S. students to be lower than the OECD average. U. S. students placed 29 out of 57 countries in science literacy and 35 out of 57 in math literacy.

In 2006, When comparing the performance of the highest achieving students—those at the 90th percentile—U.S. students scored lower (593) than the OECD average (615) on the mathematics literacy scale. Twenty-nine jurisdictions (23 OECD jurisdictions and 6 non-OECD jurisdictions) had students at the 90th percentile with higher scores than the United States on the mathematics literacy scale.

In 2006, When comparing the performance of the highest achieving students—those at the 90th percentile—there was no measurable difference between the average score of U.S. students (628) compared to the OECD average (622) on the combined science literacy scale. Twelve jurisdictions (9 OECD jurisdictions and 3 non-OECD jurisdictions) had students at the 90th percentile with higher scores than the United States on the combined science literacy scale.
]]> http://perotcharts.com/2008/06/u-s-students-lagging-in-math-and-science-oecd-pisa-tests-2000-2003/feed/ 33 http://perotcharts.com/2008/05/funding-sources-for-us-public-elementary-and-secondary-schools/ http://perotcharts.com/2008/05/funding-sources-for-us-public-elementary-and-secondary-schools/#comments Thu, 22 May 2008 08:10:09 +0000 PerotCharts http://perotcharts.com/?p=59

Public elementary and secondary education in the United States consumed almost $521 billion during the school year that ended in 2006. This amount represented approximately 4% of the gross domestic product for the year, and it exceeded non-military discretionary spending of the federal government (all of the money spent on the activities of the federal government other than entitlements, the military and interest on the debt) during the year.

Given the test results shown in the preceding four charts, should we conclude that the United States does not spend enough money on public education? If not, how much is enough?

(Continued from Mathematics Literacy Chart)

PISA 2003 found that just under 20% of 15-year-olds in OECD countries are “reflective, communicative problem solvers” able to tackle difficult tasks. The students who score in the top category (Level 3) are not only able to analyze a situation and make decisions, they are also capable of managing multiple conditions simultaneously. They can think about the underlying relationships in a problem, solve it systematically, check their work and communicate the results. In Japan and Hong Kong over a third of students place within the top level.

(Continued from Science Literacy Chart)

The emphasis of the PISA 2000 survey had been on reading, whereas the focus of the PISA 2003 assessment was on mathematics. This was not a test of students’ ability simply to perform mathematical operations, but rather an assessment of how well they could recognize, formulate and tackle mathematical problems in the context of real life. Fifteen-year-olds were chosen as a means of assessing the overall performance of school systems in educating students nearing the end of their compulsory education. The mathematics section consisted of 85 questions of varying levels of difficulty. Usually several tasks were posed about a single situation described in text or a diagram. Scores were awarded based upon the difficulty of the task that each student could reliably perform.

(Continued on Problem Solving Ability Chart)

(Continued from Reading Literacy Chart)

The data for the four charts measuring the literacy and problem-solving ability of 15-year-olds around the world were derived from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) sponsored by the OECD. Over a quarter of a million students in 41 countries took part in a test that assessed skills in mathematics, reading, science and problem solving. All 30 OECD member countries participated, as well as 11 partner countries, including Hong Kong and the Russian Federation. Together with the first assessment in 2000, the two surveys represent a total of one-third of the world’s population and almost 90% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product.

(Continued on Mathematics Literacy Chart)

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization of thirty countries each of which accepts the principles of representative democracy and a free market economy. The countries include:

The OECD headquarters staff in Paris collects data, monitors trends, and analyzes economic developments. It also researches social changes and evolving patterns in trade, environment, agriculture, technology, taxation and other areas. The OECD is known as a premier statistical agency as a result of comprehensive techniques used to gather and analyze data.

(Continued on Science Literacy Chart)

Since 1981, the amount spent on elementary and secondary education (K through 12) in the United States has risen from just over $100 billion to almost $600 billion in 2007. This is slightly more than the total of Social Security payments ($581 billion) in the same year. These institutions are funded by federal, state and local taxes, as well as private tuition. Although expenditures have increased almost 600% during the past 27 years, expenditures as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product have fluctuated within a narrow band of 3.9% to 4.7% of GDP. The chart indicates that for the school year ended in 2007, expenditures totaled approximately $599 billion, which represented 4.5% of GDP for the year.