By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
It's going to be hard to do, but the administration and some lawmakers are interested in using an international grading index for American schools. Reason: It shows how well, or poorly, U.S. students are doing compared with others around the world, a key to President Obama's effort to boost math and science stores to levels of high-performing countries. The hurdle: state and local officials who sneer at international grading benchmarks. Still, the administration has taken a keen interest in a new American Institutes for Research study that reveals the shortfalls of U.S. education compared with other countries. How bad is it? Asian students outperform ours in math. We do our best in Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Kansas, and Vermont, where fourth graders perform at B levels on the international scale. The study by the influential nonprofit provides a pathway for schools to implement the standards.
Check out our gallery of Whispers political caricatures and gallery of political cartoons.
Follow Paul and Nikki on Twitter.
Read more Washington Whispers.
















Reader Comments Read all comments (3)
Globals of HI 8:38AM October 03, 2009
leighton of NC 2:32AM August 12, 2009
auradawnveirs of CA 9:54PM July 06, 2009