They are spending the money in the wrong places. Smaller class sizes would be better than paying school superintendents huge salaries.
“We did a comprehensive study examining half a century of educational spending and academic outcomes in the United States”
“We”, as in the business that promotes online learning as an alternative to traditional education, with no identified data source links in their study to examine?
Don’t get me wrong, I think online learning platforms are valuable (hell, I even work for an e-learning platform), but this “dataisbeautiful” source seems to lack a lot of data.
Article claims a ‘study’ was done, are they referring to this blog post as the ‘study’?
There is no reference to any data sources in this blog, let alone a peer reviewed study.
Ties in nice with the Are we getting dumber or Is our general IQ dropping. More spend, more education, flatlined learning. Because we are actually getting dumber. Maybe.
The lack of legitimacy of the “study” notwithstanding, I would be interested in a thoughtful breakdown of where money is actually being spent. Of the top of my head I can think of a lot of factors. For example, a lot of money is being spent because schools have been shunted with an increased burden of childcare. Demand for childcare has increased because of more women in the workforce as well as much much greater recognition of developmental disorders that require greater levels of care and supervision, and rather than handle these issues we’ve collectively foisted these duties upon the school system. I’d also be willing to bet we spend more on school sports. Other likely culprits include the rise of charter schools, the expansion of anti-intellectualism in America, and an accompanying repudiation of meritocracy in schools, as well as a bit of a good old boy system where local politics and influence peddling often decides the selection of administrators, athletic directors, and superintendents that often get inflated salaries for positions that probably aren’t necessary to exist at all.
The solution wouldn’t be to turn away from education as it exists, but simply to expect more of ourselves and our students. Stop celebrating ignorance, and start rewarding diligence and intellect.
There’s a LOT of legitimate concerns about the US education system and how efficiently our taxpayers dollars are being spent.. but this data does nothing to validate those concerns. While I was not able to find a straightforward answer on how these results are calculated it certainly appears as though these tests are modified and normalized over time. I certainly find it exceedingly unlikely the exact same test has been conducted for 50+ years. Since the tests are changing over time this decade by decade plot is comparing apples to oranges and therefore has no value.
The issue with US schooling is teaching to test, and not teaching to learn. Kids need to also be able to have what they learn be applied to real life examples. Smaller class sizes could make this more personal to target where that child needs help.
I am sure in the future as birth rates decline we will see smaller classes and better education.
That’s because all of the extra money is going to securing schools against mass shootings, not to teachers.
The problem with standardized tests as longitudinal indicators of relative intelligence and knowledge is that the tests change over time. And when they change, they are usually made more difficult. A test that everyone passes isn’t a very good test.
Nevermind the fact that others have noted that the article cites no sources.
This has nothing to do with spending specific. It’s about assessment. While it’s true, like with everything, too much money goes to the top. What is really happening here is that as student performance is changing admins and state education depts raise and lower the assessment standards. So everything looks flat because there is no standard assessment through time. The grades, testing, metrics, etc all float to match where the students are at. An “average” student in 1970 is not the same and an average student is 2020.
This is not beautiful data. This is just an advertisement.
Sorry, but they teach so much more now. High School AP junior year Calc is the same Oppenhiemer took as a college Freshman and only passed because he had a friend taking notes. My 1970’s Math Textbook is full of useless stuff. Oxford. Has wrong prime numbers and theory. They just CHANGE the correct answers. When they dropped Pluto, the NEXT YEAR they included the old correct # of planets on tests. !! They do it with oceans. Continents. Etc You can read your big brother or sisters books, tests, but get questions wrong. My three kids are 4 years apart and it drove me crazy. We would watch a PBS show , New, and the next year he would get it WRONG on a standardized test. They had ALL THREE answers to choose from. The Math textbooks have the WRONG info in them. 2017. I was like ” that IS NOT how you solve that. The answer is NOT THAT. ” He is getting a doctorate in Math, his brother is a Physicist…the third one gets marked wrong for giving the real answer.
There are far more students now than then. Another ploy to criticize public education.
More money and less results the glory of the department of education in a nutshell
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They are spending the money in the wrong places. Smaller class sizes would be better than paying school superintendents huge salaries.
“We did a comprehensive study examining half a century of educational spending and academic outcomes in the United States”
“We”, as in the business that promotes online learning as an alternative to traditional education, with no identified data source links in their study to examine?
Don’t get me wrong, I think online learning platforms are valuable (hell, I even work for an e-learning platform), but this “dataisbeautiful” source seems to lack a lot of data.
Article claims a ‘study’ was done, are they referring to this blog post as the ‘study’?
There is no reference to any data sources in this blog, let alone a peer reviewed study.
Ties in nice with the Are we getting dumber or Is our general IQ dropping. More spend, more education, flatlined learning. Because we are actually getting dumber. Maybe.
The lack of legitimacy of the “study” notwithstanding, I would be interested in a thoughtful breakdown of where money is actually being spent. Of the top of my head I can think of a lot of factors. For example, a lot of money is being spent because schools have been shunted with an increased burden of childcare. Demand for childcare has increased because of more women in the workforce as well as much much greater recognition of developmental disorders that require greater levels of care and supervision, and rather than handle these issues we’ve collectively foisted these duties upon the school system. I’d also be willing to bet we spend more on school sports. Other likely culprits include the rise of charter schools, the expansion of anti-intellectualism in America, and an accompanying repudiation of meritocracy in schools, as well as a bit of a good old boy system where local politics and influence peddling often decides the selection of administrators, athletic directors, and superintendents that often get inflated salaries for positions that probably aren’t necessary to exist at all.
The solution wouldn’t be to turn away from education as it exists, but simply to expect more of ourselves and our students. Stop celebrating ignorance, and start rewarding diligence and intellect.
There’s a LOT of legitimate concerns about the US education system and how efficiently our taxpayers dollars are being spent.. but this data does nothing to validate those concerns. While I was not able to find a straightforward answer on how these results are calculated it certainly appears as though these tests are modified and normalized over time. I certainly find it exceedingly unlikely the exact same test has been conducted for 50+ years. Since the tests are changing over time this decade by decade plot is comparing apples to oranges and therefore has no value.
The issue with US schooling is teaching to test, and not teaching to learn. Kids need to also be able to have what they learn be applied to real life examples. Smaller class sizes could make this more personal to target where that child needs help.
I am sure in the future as birth rates decline we will see smaller classes and better education.
That’s because all of the extra money is going to securing schools against mass shootings, not to teachers.
The problem with standardized tests as longitudinal indicators of relative intelligence and knowledge is that the tests change over time. And when they change, they are usually made more difficult. A test that everyone passes isn’t a very good test.
Nevermind the fact that others have noted that the article cites no sources.
This has nothing to do with spending specific. It’s about assessment. While it’s true, like with everything, too much money goes to the top. What is really happening here is that as student performance is changing admins and state education depts raise and lower the assessment standards. So everything looks flat because there is no standard assessment through time. The grades, testing, metrics, etc all float to match where the students are at. An “average” student in 1970 is not the same and an average student is 2020.
This is not beautiful data. This is just an advertisement.
Sorry, but they teach so much more now. High School AP junior year Calc is the same Oppenhiemer took as a college Freshman and only passed because he had a friend taking notes.
My 1970’s Math Textbook is full of useless stuff. Oxford. Has wrong prime numbers and theory.
They just CHANGE the correct answers.
When they dropped Pluto, the NEXT YEAR they included the old correct # of planets on tests. !! They do it with oceans. Continents. Etc
You can read your big brother or sisters books, tests, but get questions wrong. My three kids are 4 years apart and it drove me crazy. We would watch a PBS show , New, and the next year he would get it WRONG on a standardized test. They had ALL THREE answers to choose from.
The Math textbooks have the WRONG info in them. 2017. I was like ” that IS NOT how you solve that. The answer is NOT THAT. ”
He is getting a doctorate in Math, his brother is a Physicist…the third one gets marked wrong for giving the real answer.
There are far more students now than then. Another ploy to criticize public education.
More money and less results the glory of the department of education in a nutshell