A new report from the National Superintendents Roundtable and the Horace Mann League challenges the conventional wisdom that American students fare poorly in international comparisons of academic achievement.
In their report, The Iceberg Effect: School Performance in Context, the organizations examined six dimensions related to student performance – equity, social stress, support for families, support for schools, student outcomes, and system outcomes – in Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
“To my knowledge, this study is the first international comparison to look beyond test scores,” said Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr., Superintendent of Schools in Shaker Heights and a member of the National Superintendents Roundtable. “It reveals important differences among nations on factors that have a direct impact on students’ well-being and achievement.” Hutchings, a member of the Roundtable, was interviewed for a video accompanying the release of the report.
The study found that the U.S. remains the wealthiest with the most highly educated workforce, based on the number of years of school completed and the proportion of adults with high school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees.
Despite these relatively high educational levels, the United States reflects higher levels of economic inequality and social stress than the other nations in the study. Measures included rates of childhood poverty, income inequality and violence. For example, the childhood poverty rate is five times greater in the U.S. than in Finland, a country whose schools are frequently held up as models of success.
“This report helps present a fuller picture of what we need to do as educators and as a society to ensure that every American student is equipped to compete in the global economy,” Hutchings said.
Visit the Roundtable's website for the full report, a summary, and the video.