Global Comparisons: Math and Reading Scores
From a global perspective: How does funding affect our reading and mathematics scores?
ECI - 564 - This project was very informative. The complexity of assessment and data analysis between these three countries is extensive. Each educational system is different so naturally, it creates difficulty when trying to compare them. The United States spends a good deal more on education than Italy and Sweden do. I noticed that it was difficult to compare the amount of instructional hours of the United States to that of Sweden and Italy because each State in the United States has different requirements. The fact that each one of these three countries struggle for funding the education arena is not surprising, but the interesting argument is for what they are struggling. I was flabbergasted that Sweden was "struggling to provide free higher education for Foreigners;" the United States can not even provide cost adjusted higher education for everyone. The idea that Sweden values free education for everyone (even foreigners) is quite admirable - maybe I will send my kid to college there? The most surprising statistic I found was that while the United States spent the most money on education, next to Switzerland, we preformed barely above Italy in Mathematics and LOWER than Sweden in Mathematics. Through this project I also became familiar with The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). I had heard of them before, but I did not understand just how useful the data would be.