It gives a clear visual of the fact that while the US spends the most per student, our results quickly fall off the mark. I feel like people often look at this and then "blame the teacher." You hear things like "teachers get paid too much for doing too little," or "Yeah, I'd like a three month paid vacation, too!" and most often, "Cut education spending!"
One important thing missing from this infograph, however, is how and where that money is spent. I would find this much more interesting if it provided a breakdown WHERE that money is spent in each country and then relate that to student outcomes. That would be a much better indicator of how we could make policy changes for the better.
Your thoughts?
That is a very interesting infographic. Like you, I would like to see a breakdown of where the said monies is spent. I am guessing that makes a huge difference...
ReplyDeleteI would also be interested to see what tests the students took to get the average US score??
Thanks for sharing!
Katie
Mind Sparks
I wonder about the tests too. I know there is an international test that is given to some schools every year (or so) that is then used as a representation for the country as a whole. I don't know if school selection is completely random or if it is random within certain parameters to ensure that small and large, rural and urban, etc. schools are properly represented.
DeleteI would assume that the test is the same for all countries. Otherwise, the data gleaned from it would result in a poor comparison with little validity. (But it wouldn't be completely surprising if that was the case!)
-Margaret