Yorkieabroad

Oops - sorry - just realised I resurrected a really old thread - I followed someones link in the new thread and thought I was posting there.....duh

Karrie72

Maybe this is slightly off topic but something I find good about the UK system is how publicly accountable the schools are. The ofsted reports are available on most schools website and are really detailed about each schools strengths and weakness's. I haven't seen a similar national system of rating schools here.

Yorkieabroad

I haven't found a national one either - plenty of in-state comparisons (in fact, maybe too many) but nothing national. Our School District is supposed to be a good one, but its difficult to know whether they are as good as they say they are, so its always interesting to see what incoming parents think of the schools compared to where they came from. In general, most seem to compare ours favourably to where they've come from, so maybe its not all hype. But they do seem extremely focused on the state testing - presumably because thats what determines their funding.

AmerLisa

Because curriculum isn't the same nationwide you wouldn't find such a website, although there is http://www.ed.gov/. But if you go to http://www.greatschools.org/ or to your state's education website (for example, ours is http://www.k12.wa.us/) you may find the information you want.

Michael

A large amount of testing in the US only started during the Bush administration "No Child Left Behind" program. Now both republicans and democrats consider that concept a total failure and want to change the program. Obama has made minor changes that he could do through executive order but basically the "No Child Left Behind" program is still in place since republicans won't support any program that Obama proposes.

Prior to the "No Child Left Behind" program each state decided how often testing would be performed and any consequences of the testing.

MarylandNed

The standard of education varies widely everywhere and in the end is highly dependent on the quality of the teachers. Even in the same school, things can change quickly. For example, my 4 kids all went to the same elementary school here in Maryland. Over the 13 years or so that we've been involved with the elementary school (our youngest is currently in her 5th and final year there), the standard of teaching has fluctuated wildly with staff turnover. You can find good and bad schools in both countries. You can find good and bad teachers in the same school. I attended Catholic primary school and then Catholic grammar school in Northern Ireland. I think my entire education was far superior to the one my kids received in the US.

Just over a year ago, the OECD published the results of a major education study of 65 countries. The US ranked 14th overall - the UK ranked 20th. I've also lived in Canada and I think they have a better education system there - Canada ranked 3rd overall in the OECD study.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datab...cience-reading

Also don't make the common mistake of using university rankings as an indicator of overall quality of education. Firstly, not everyone goes to university so it makes more sense to look at the general school system which everyone attends. Secondly, many universities attract top talent (researchers, teachers, students) from all over the world. So universities are not necessarily good barometers of their national education system.

MarylandNed

My school district in Maryland is supposedly one of the best in the entire country. It's one of only 6 school districts to receive the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award for performance excellence. But you can still end up with a crap teacher.

Yorkieabroad

Thats right - ours get tested basically twice a year at the moment. They are learning how to color in those little circles for the multiple choice tests really well. Shame they can't write to save their lives, but thats OK cos they're not tested on that.

Michael

School districts that rank high are because they are in affluent areas so are well funded and the kids have the genes of successful parents.

In California, the state and federal governments fund about 50% of the cost of schooling and the local governments funds the other 50%. When a school district is in a poor area, they get much more state and federal funding than a school district in an affluent area. As an example, the Palo Alto school district spends about $14,000 per year per student but Richmond school district only spends about $8,000 per year per student. The Palo Alto district gets almost no funding from the federal and state governments but the Richmond school district gets about 95% of it's funding from federal and state governments.

Yorkieabroad

Exactly - the hiring committee at our elementary generally does a great job, but every now and then, a not so good one slips in. Like my daughters 1st grade teacher. I dont envy the principal at all though, as our school population has been swinging wildly with the pace of the dedvelopment/rezoning west of Houston. 3 years ago we were below 900. Now we're at 1400. Next year we're down to 800 again. Its got to be tough to manage the staffing.

Michael

The primary complaint of the "No Child Left Behind" program by both teachers and parents is that teachers teach to pass the required tests instead of teaching students what they should learn.