Schooling in 32 industrialised countries compared in OECD report
High school teachers in the United States spend more time teaching students than their counterparts in other countries, according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). But U.S. students perform no better than the rest.
The report says U.S. teachers spend 73 percent more time teaching their classes than do teachers in other countries.
While about 12 percent of U.S. 15-year-olds exhibit "top-level literary skills," about 6 percent of U.S. students are unable to do all but the most basic work about the same as most other industrialised countries.
Mid-career U.S. teachers earn an average of $40,037 ranking eighth among 27 countries with comparable data.
About 24 percent of American 15-year-olds say students don't listen to their teachers average when compared to other countries.
However, well-financed suburban schools in America are producing excellent students, the researchers found.
On average, U.S. students share computers with four other students compared with 13 students on a computer in other OECD countries. Perhaps that's why U.S. students report they are more comfortable with computers than their foreign counterparts say they are.
Source: Gregg Toppo (Associated Press), Students Are Getting More Face Time, But Results Are Only Average, USA Today, October 30, 2002; Education at a Glance OECD Indicators 2002, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
For OECD report http://www.oecd.org/els/education/eag2002
For more International Comparisons in Education http://www.ncpa.org/iss/edu/
FMF Policy Bulletin \7 November 2002
Publish date: 13 November 2002
Views: 353
The views expressed in the article are the author’s and are not necessarily shared by the members of the Foundation. This article may be republished without prior consent but with acknowledgement to the author.