School Choice or Best Systems_ What Improves Education_ - Margaret C. Wang [1]
Finally, I thank five people who carefully reviewed and made constructive substantive suggestions: Joseph Bast, president of the Heartland Institute, whose board I chair; my friend Steven Graubart; Robin LaSota of the Academic Development Institute; the Cato Institute’s Andrew Coulson; and an anonymous reviewer, all of whom informed me about relevant research that had escaped my attention. Perhaps needless to say, the remaining opinions, errors, and infelicities are solely my own.
Herbert J. Walberg Chicago, IL
1. Introduction and Overview
U.S. Schools Are Falling Behind
The United States of America is arguably the world leader in income, wealth, military power, and cultural influence. It hovers near the top of international rankings in higher education, scientific and medical discoveries, and the productivity of many of its industries. Yet U.S. schools are behind those of most other economically advanced countries in both effectiveness and efficiency.1 By the end of high school, U.S. academic achievement lags behind that of most member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development—a group that includes most of the world’s economically advanced countries.
In addition to being ineffective, American public schools are inefficient or unproductive, which is to say they get little return on taxpayers’ dollars. Their per student costs rank among the top two or three countries in recent OECD surveys and have risen substantially over the last few decades. This pattern of low and declining efficiency is at odds with most other American enterprises, in which competition has generally led to improved quality and declining (inflation-adjusted) costs.
By widely accepted standards of what educated citizens should know, U.S. students perform poorly in civics, geography, history, and other subjects. Compared to students in other countries, older American students do poorly in mathematics, science, and foreign languages. Yet American students are not behind in the earliest years of schooling. Their achievement, relative to students in other countries, declines during the years when learning is chiefly the responsibility of schools. Indeed, the “value-added” gains in reading, mathematics, and science for American students are generally among the worst of students living in affluent countries. These findings are becoming better known to the public, parents, and legislators.
The latest available data indicate that the percentage of schools “in need of improvement” under the generally low standards imposed by states and the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 has increased from 13 percent to 17 percent.2 They and sharply increasing numbers of other schools face escalating sanctions, such as having to inform parents that their children are in failing schools, being required to allow parents to transfer their children to successful schools, replacing staff, and, if failure continues, possible closure.
Despite such present and prospective sanctions, despite widespread recognition of the achievement problem, despite higher school spending, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (referred to as “the nation’s report card”) reported in February 2007 that reading achievement of American 12th grade students had declined from 1992 through 2005. Standards, instead of rising, have declined; despite the drop in students’ performance, teachers are giving them higher grades.3
Poor high school performance leads to poor college performance. According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, only 68 percent of ninth