Bill Gates on the State of U.S. Education, the Global Economy, Investment in Math and Science (2007)

Most states and districts in the 1990s adopted Outcome-Based Education (OBE) in some form or another. A state would create a committee to adopt standards, and choose a quantitative instrument to assess whether the students knew the required content or could perform the required tasks. The standards-based National Education Goals (Goals 2000) were set by the U.S. Congress in the 1990s. Many of these goals were based on the principles of outcomes-based education, and not all of the goals were attained by the year 2000 as was intended. The standards-based reform movement culminated in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which as of 2009 is still an active nation-wide mandate in the United States. OBE reforms usually had other disputed methods, such as constructivist mathematics and whole language, added onto them.[dubious -- discuss] Some proponents[who?] advocated replacing the traditional high school diploma with a Certificate of Initial Mastery. Other reform movements were school-to-work, which would require all students except those in a university track to spend substantial class time on a job site. See also Uncommon Schools. In the first decade of the 21st century, several issues are salient in debates over further education reform:[6] Longer school day or school year After-school tutoring Charter schools, school choice, or school vouchers Smaller class sizes[7] Improved teacher quality Improved training Higher credential standards Generally higher pay to attract more qualified applicants Performance bonuses ("merit pay") Firing low-performing teachers Internet and computer access in schools Track and reduce drop-out rate Track and reduce absenteeism English-only vs. bilingual education Mainstreaming special education students Content of curriculum standards and textbooks Funding, neglected infrastructure, and adequacy of educational supplies Student rights According to a 2005 report from the OECD, the United States is tied for first place with Switzerland when it comes to annual spending per student on its public schools, with each of those two countries spending more than $11,000 (in U.S. currency).[8] Despite this high level of funding, U.S. public schools lag behind the schools of other rich countries in the areas of reading, math, and science.[9] A further analysis of developed countries shows no correlation between per student spending and student performance, suggesting that there are other factors influencing education. Top performers include Singapore, Finland and Korea, all with relatively low spending on education, while high spenders including Norway and Luxembourg have relatively low performance.[10] One possible factor, is the distribution of the funding. In the US, schools in wealthy areas tend to be over-funded while schools in poorer areas tend to be underfunded.[11] These differences in spending between schools or districts may accentuate inequalities, if they result in the best teachers moving to teach in the most wealthy areas.[12] It has also been shown that the socioeconomic situation of the students family has the most influence in determining success; suggesting that even if increased funds in a low income area increase performance, they may still perform worse than their peers from wealthier districts. Starting in the early 1980s, a series of analyses by Eric Hanushek indicated that the amount spent on schools bore little relationship to student learning.[13] This controversial argument, which focused attention on how money was spent instead of how much was spent, led to lengthy scholarly exchanges.[14] In part the arguments fed into the class size debates and other discussions of "input policies."[15] It also moved reform efforts towards issues of school accountability (including No Child Left Behind) and the use of merit pay and other incentives. There have been studies that show smaller class sizes[16] and newer buildings [17] (both of which require higher funding to implement) lead to academic improvements. It should also be noted that many of the reform ideas that stray from the traditional format require greater funding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_reform