When researchers control for the effect of poverty, American test scores are near the top in the world.

America's schools.

Sent to The Personal Finance Cheat Sheet, Jan. 6, 2015

Stephen Krashen

An article in The Personal Finance Cheat Sheet (http://wallstcheatsheet.com/personal-finance/the-20-worst-public-schools-in-america.html/?a=viewall#ixzz3O21gUU85) http://wallstcheatsheet.com/personal-finance/the-20-worst-public-schools-in-america.html/begins with this statement:"We often hear data about how America is performing in science, math, or reading. For instance, in 2012, the U.S. ranked 27th in math and 17th in reading in a 34-country comparison by the OECD."

Not mentioned is the fact that when researchers control for the effect of poverty, American test scores are near the top in the world.

Our unspectacular overall scores are because the United States has the second highest level of child poverty among all 34 economically advanced countries, now roughly 25 percent, compared with high-scoring Finland’s 5.4 percent.  In some American inner cities, the poverty rate is over 80%.

Poverty means poor nutrition, inadequate health care, and lack of access to books, among other things. All of these negatively affect school performance. The best teaching in the world has little effect when students are hungry, ill, and have little or nothing to read.