Supersize My Education? Not in Singapore
Is more education—more hours and days, more years and degrees—the cure for what ails us?
Best Practices Are the Worst
Picking the anecdotes you want to believe
Picking the anecdotes you want to believe: A book review of Marc Tucker’s “Surpassing Shanghai”
When the Best is Mediocre
Developed countries far outperform our most affluent suburbs
Developed countries far outperform our most affluent suburbs
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View the Global Report Card
View the Methodological Appendix
What We’re Watching: The Other Achievement Gap
Are America’s highest achieving students being left behind? Watch the Thomas B. Fordham Institute’s webinar “The Other Achievement Gap”
Top U.S. School Districts Trail the Global Competition
Jay Greene discusses his Global Report Card, which reveals that even the most elite suburban U.S. school districts produce results that are mediocre when compared to those of international peers
Students in Affluent School Districts Post Mediocre Results
Podcast: Jay Greene discusses his new study, which examines student achievement in virtually every school district in the United States and compares the performance of U.S. districts with the performance of students in 25 developed countries.
Teachers Unions Here and There
I don’t always agree with Marc Tucker but he knows a heckuva lot about how other countries organize their education systems; and it turns out that knowledge extends to how their teacher unions have evolved, what roles the unions play, and how their bargaining processes work. The differences set forth in his exceptionally interesting new [...]
Merit Pay International
Countries with performance pay for teachers score higher on PISA tests
Countries with performance pay for teachers score higher on PISA tests
Feeling Too Good About Our Schools
Each time international tests of student achievement are released, there is a parade of glib commentators explaining why we should not pay much attention to the generally poor performance of U.S. students.
Sputnik for the 21st Century
On Pearl Harbor Day 2010, the United States (and much of the rest of the world) was attacked by China.
Teaching Math to the Talented
Which countries—and states—are producing high-achieving students?
Which countries—and states—are producing high-achieving students?
Money Talks – But Does It Educate?
This is American education’s sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. Or is it $64 million? Billion? Or, how about $26 billion? That’s the number moving through the Capitol at the moment.
International Benchmarking May Not Be a Good Bet for States
In August, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a new report summarizing the performance of U.S. students on international tests. There is always great excitement when the “league tables” from international tests are published. Now states are starting to get into the game as well, signing up to participate in PISA and TIMSS [...]
Don’t Think Too Highly of Yourself
A few years ago, in the 2006 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well Are American Students Learning? researchers found a correlation that went against 40 years of prevailing wisdom in education circles.
Reward Less, Get Less
Student performance gaps are easily explained
Student performance gaps are easily explained
School Choice International
Higher private school share boosts national test scores
Higher private school share boosts national test scores
Scaling Up in Chile
Larger networks of schools produce higher student achievement
Larger networks of schools produce higher student achievement
Today’s Education-Industrial Complex
Why aren’t schools an issue in the 2008 election?
Why aren’t schools an issue in the 2008 election?
Education and Economic Growth
It's not just going to school, but learning something while there that matters
It’s not just going to school, but learning something while there that matters
Why Students in Some Countries Do Better
International evidence on the importance of education policy
International evidence on the importance of education policy
Private Schools for the Poor
Education Where no one Expects It
The accepted wisdom is that private schools serve the privileged; everyone else, especially the poor, requires public school. The poor, so this logic goes, need government assistance if they are to get a good education, which helps explain why, in the United States, many school choice enthusiasts believe that the only way the poor can [...]
