No Country Should Be Left Behind

Why does my child’s homework keep getting harder and harder? Why are the education standards set so high? Kids should have a social life also. Shouldn’t they?

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide evaluation of 15-year-old school children’s scholastic performance, performed first in 2000 and repeated every three years.

The United States has spent much more on education than most countries but have fallen short on PISA assessments. The scores have educators wondering how to best change the education system in America. How accurate the scores are and what it all means is hard to say. Just how today’s students perform on tests today may determine the economic competitiveness of tomorrow for that country.

The 2000 ranking for reading literacy: Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, South Korea, United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Iceland, Norway, France, and the United States. (USA ranks 15th in reading literacy.)

The 2003 ranking for mathematics: Finland, South Korea, Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Iceland, Denmark, France, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Ireland, Slovakia, Norway, Luxembourg, Poland, Hungary, Spain, United States. (USA ranks 24th in mathematics.)

The 2006 ranking for science: Finland, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands, South Korea, Germany, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Hungary, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, France, Iceland, United States. (USA ranks 21st in science.)