Everybody agrees that education is important. Few people agree, however, on how to measure the effectiveness of public education. ACT and SAT test results are one measure. Standardized state tests like the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) might be another.
Some people prefer to focus on inputs like per student spending or low student-teacher ratios.
Without agreed upon standards for measuring performance, it’s difficult know how you’re doing and to take corrective action to get better results.
Ultimately all of this matters because of globalization. Our students are competing internationally for jobs.
A new report may provide an informed answer to the question “How is my school district doing?” Called the Global Report Card, it is produced by the Bush Presidential Center. It allows you to look at your school district compared to those in other countries, across the nation and in your own state for math and reading performance.
Some of the findings include:
- 94 percent of American school districts have average math achievement below the 67th percentile for developed countries
- None of the 20 largest districts is above the 50th percentile in math compared with other developed countries.
- Poudre School District against the scores of 25 developed countries did okay. PSD ranked in the top 45 percentile for math and the top 32 percentile for reading.
- Against the nation, PSD is in the top 32 percentile for math and top 30 percentile for reading.
- In Colorado, PSD is in the top 36 percentile for math and top 35 percentile for reading.
What does it all mean? One conclusion would be that the American education system is lagging internationally while PSD performs favorably against national and state averages with some room for continued improvement.
You can find the Global Report Card on Poudre School District here.