How big is America’s school system?
Nearly 55 million children attend schools in the United States, taught by about 3.5 million teachers. About 89 percent of students from kindergarten through the 12th grade attend public schools, the rest private or religious ones. 2. How can we judge the quality of U.S. schools? There are several important benchmark tests, administered to students in many countries. In the United States, testing companies make assumptions about what students at different grade levels will learn, in part by examining textbooks that are widely used across the nation. Thanks to these tests and the similarity of textbooks, there is already something akin to a national curriculum in science, mathematics, reading, and history. Some children will do poorly on tests simply because the curriculum in their classroom, their school, or even their country did not include the material that was tested. The tests send a signal to educators about what is usually taught, as well as what was taught poorly and therefore n
