Analysis of Kindergarteners Shows Wide Differences in School Readiness

Despite an increase in programs to level the playing field  to give disadvantaged children opportunities for preschool education, there is still a strong relationship between socio-economic factors and how well American children fare when entering kindergarten. In fact, new research shows that 44% of children enter kindergarten with one or more risk factors based on their home environment. These risk factors are incrementally associated with lower school readiness scores for children than those with no such circumstances.

The findings are part of the Kindergartners’ Skills at School Entry report (http://www.sesameworkshop.org/wp_install/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Kindergarten-Skills-Report-2014.pdf) released by Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street. The report, commissioned by the Workshop and written byMathematica Policy Research Inc., provides an analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 focusing on the school readiness and abilities of beginning kindergartners.

The analysis examined four risk factors that have been associated with children’s development and school achievement: single parent households, mothers with less than a high school education, households with incomes below the federal poverty line and non-English speaking households. High-risk children (those with all four risk factors) were found to be almost a year behind their peers with no risk factors in their reading and math abilities.

The researchers also created composite readiness scores based on teacher ratings of children’s academic and social skills. Based on the researchers’ calculation, less than one-third of children were rated by teachers as “in-progress” or better on both reading and math skills.

“These nationally representative data show that at risk children start kindergarten well behind their more advantaged peers,” notes Jerry West, senior fellow at Mathematica and director of the study. “The evidence points to an opportunity to better support their healthy development before they enter kindergarten.”

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Characteristics of the Few High School Graduates Who Don't Go To College

In recent years, there’s been a focus among states to establish standards that prepare students for college and careers. All too often, however, the discussion surrounding these standards largely focuses on college, and even more narrowly, four-year institutions. As a result, many have called for resources to be redirected to those high school students who have no intention of continuing their studies at college, let alone a four-year university. Thus, the thinking goes, high schools that are single-minded in preparing students for college, potentially alienate a swath of students who have no desire for post-secondary education in their future. 

But is such conventional wisdom accurate? Is college a distant thought for many high school graduates? Is a high school diploma the last educational milestone for a large number of graduating seniors?

Not quite. 

A Startling Discovery

In this analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Education Longitudinal Study (ELS, 2002), The Center for Public Education found that only one in five students drawn from this nationally representative sample of 15,000 did not enroll in college immediately  upon graduating from high school. 

Put another way, eight of out of every 10 students in the Class of 2004 made a beeline for college after receiving their diploma--- a rate that rose as more time, and perhaps job opportunities, passed. 

Eight years after graduating from high school, a mere 12 percent of the graduates from the Class of 2004 had not gone on to either a two- or four-year college. 

More info about non-college enrollees:

A Deeper Look

Non-College Goers Tended to be Male

 

About Half (46%) Have Parents Whose Highest Level of Education Was a High School Diploma

 

They Took Fewer Academic Courses While in High School Than Their College-Going Peers

 

They Spent Less Time on Homework Than Their College-Going Peers

 

Charter school results: not positive in reading, not significant for high school math, only very small effect sizes for elementary and middle school math

A recent meta-analysis of charter-school effects overstates its own findings, according to a new review published today.
 
Francesca López, an education professor at the University of Arizona, reviewed A Meta-Analysis of the Literature on the Effect of Charter Schools on Student Achievement for the Think Twice think tank review project. The review is published by the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education.
 
The report was published in August by the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington. The report, by Julian R. Betts and Y. Emily Tang, draws on data from 52 studies to conclude that charters benefited students, particularly in math.
 
“This conclusion is overstated,” writes López in her review. The actual results, she points out, were not positive in reading, not significant for high school math, and yielded only very small effect sizes for elementary and middle school math.
 
The reviewer also explains that the authors wrongly equate studies of students chosen for charter schools in a lottery with studies that rely on random assignment. Because schools that use lotteries do so because they’re particularly popular, those studies aren’t appropriate for making broad comparisons between charter and traditional public schools, López writes.
 
The review identifies other flaws as well, including the report’s assertion of a positive trend in the effects of charter schools, even though the data show no change in those effects; its exaggeration of the magnitude of some effects; and its claim of positive effects even when they are not statistically significant. Taken together, she says, those flaws “render the report of little value for informing policy and practice.”
 
“The report does a solid job describing the methodological limitations of the studies reviewed, then seemingly forgets those limits in the analysis,” López concludes.

Meeting the Challenge of Combating Chronic Absenteeism

"Meeting the Challenge of Combating Chronic Absenteeism: Impact of the NYC Mayor’s Interagency Task Force on Chronic Absenteeism and School Attendance and Its Implications for Other Cities”

What is this study about?

The study examined the impact of the strategies developed by an interagency task force in New York City to combat chronic absenteeism in public schools. The strategies involved efforts both inside and outside of schools and aimed to improve coordination between city agencies and schools, offered a mentoring program for students (Success Mentors), and used data to identify and monitor chronically absent students, as well as students at risk of being chronically absent.

Researchers assessed the impacts of the strategies after each year of participation in the interventions. Researchers also assessed the impact of the strategies among students who were eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and students who were in temporary shelters. In addition, the study included an analysis of Success Mentors that compared students who participated in the Success Mentors program to students who did not.

What did the study find?

None of the analyses presented in this study meet WWC standards, and therefore, the study findings are not presented in this WWC report.

Citation

Balfanz, R., & Byrnes, V. (2013). Meeting the challenge of combating chronic absenteeism: Impact of the NYC Mayor’s Interagency Task Force on chronic absenteeism and school attendance and its implications for other cities. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University School of Education.

After-school exercise program enhances cognition in 7-, 8- and 9-year-olds

A nine-month-long, randomized controlled trial involving 221 prepubescent children found that those who engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for at least 60 minutes a day after school saw substantial improvements in their ability to pay attention, avoid distraction and switch between cognitive tasks, researchers report in the journal Pediatrics.

Half of the study subjects were randomly assigned to the after-school program and the rest were placed on a wait list. All participants underwent cognitive testing and brain imaging before and after the intervention.

"Those in the exercise group received a structured intervention that was designed for the way kids like to move," said University of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Charles Hillman, who led the study. "They performed short bouts of exercise interspersed with rest over a two-hour period."

The intervention, called FITKids, was based on the CATCH exercise program, a research-based health promotion initiative that was initially funded by the National Institutes of Health and now is used by schools and health departments across the U.S.

The children in the FITKids exercise group wore heart-rate monitors and pedometers during the intervention.
"
On average, kids' heart rates corresponded with a moderate-to-vigorous level of exercise intensity, and they averaged about 4,500 steps during the two-hour intervention," Hillman said. The children were active about 70 minutes per day.

As expected, fitness increased most in the intervention group over the course of the study.
"We saw about a six percent increase in fitness in children in the FITKids intervention group," Hillman said. Fitness improved less than one percent in the wait-list control group, he said.

Children in the exercise group also demonstrated substantial increases in "attentional inhibition," a measure of their ability to block out distractions and focus on the task at hand. And they improved in "cognitive flexibility," which involves switching between intellectual tasks while maintaining speed and accuracy. Children in the wait-list control group saw minimal improvements in these measures, in line with what would be expected as a result of normal maturation over the nine months, Hillman said.

"Kids in the intervention group improved two-fold compared to the wait-list kids in terms of their accuracy on cognitive tasks," he said. "And we found widespread changes in brain function, which relate to the allocation of attention during cognitive tasks and cognitive processing speed. These changes were significantly greater than those exhibited by the wait-list kids.

"Interestingly, the improvements observed in the FITKids intervention were correlated with their attendance rate, such that greater attendance was related to greater change in brain function and cognitive performance," Hillman said.

The study did not distinguish improvements that were the result of increased fitness from those that might stem from the social interactions, stimulation and engagement the children in the intervention group experienced, Hillman said.

"Other research at Georgia Regents University led by Catherine Davis has actually used social and game-playing as their control group, and showed that the cognitive effects of their physical activity intervention are above-and-beyond those that are gained just through social interactions," he said.

The FITKids program is designed to get children socially engaged in exercise, which is part of what makes it an effective intervention, Hillman said.

"The fact is that kids are social beings; they perform physical activity in a social environment," he said. "A big reason why kids participate in a structured sports environment is because they find it fun and they make new friends. And this intervention was designed to meet those needs as well."

Intervention Needed for High School Latino Students in Preparing for College

Several factors contribute to a disproportionately lower Latino participation in college education. Foremost among those factors are policies that encourage quick job placement over career development, lack of understanding of the benefits of a college degree, lower expectations for Latino students, poor financial planning, and lack of guidance. 

A review of the literature shows that the strong work ethic imbued by Latino culture correlates with negative outcomes in college enrollment and completion. Therefore, intervention is required to create positive outcomes. 

Using Upward Bound as a model for intervention, several types of intervention and their effects are suggested and examine

The scarring effects of primary-grade retention?

New study finds that primary-grade retention reduces the odds of completing high school by about 60 percent in matched samples of retained and non-retained students

An article released by Social Forces titled, "The Scarring Effects of Primary-Grade Retention? A Study of Cumulative Advantage in the Educational Career" by Megan Andrew explores the effect of scarring in the educational career in the case of primary-grade retention. Just as is the case for labor-market careers, events early in the educational career can leave lasting scars. Through the study, Andrew finds that primary-grade retention has lasting effects on educational attainments well after a student is initially retained: Retaining a child in early primary school reduces his or her odds of high school completion by about 60 percent in propensity score matching and sibling fixed-effects models.


These results suggest that the scarring effects of primary-grade retention operate mainly at high school completion—despite previous findings to the contrary. Based on the research here, grade retention in primary school leaves lasting scars on students' educational careers, lowering the odds of completing a high school credential with the best hopes for recovery relatively early in the educational career. Given the advent, maturation, and extension of a high-stakes environment in US education, it is important to understand the implications of potential triggering events in the educational career often tied to singular indicators of ability.


Megan Andrew is an assistant professor of sociology in the Center for Research on Educational Opportunities at the University of Notre Dame. Her primary research interests lie in the intergenerational and social psychological sources of young adults' educational and health attainments. She has previously published on educational decision-making and expectation formation, intergenerational health selection and financial transfers, and partial proportional odds models. She is currently working on dynastic education models and peer influence in decision-making.

College Enrollment Declines for Second Year in a Row, Census Bureau Reports

College enrollment declined by close to half a million (463,000) between 2012 and 2013, marking the second year in a row that a drop of this magnitude has occurred. The cumulative two-year drop of 930,000 was larger than any college enrollment drop before the recent recession, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics from the Current Population Survey released today. The Census Bureau began collecting data on college enrollment in this survey in 1966.

      As the nation’s students and teachers return to the classroom, the Census Bureau has published School Enrollment in the United States: 2013, detailing national-level statistics on the characteristics of students, from nursery school to graduate school. The data were collected in the October School Enrollment Supplement to the 2013 Current Population Survey.

      “The drop-off in total college enrollment the last two years follows a period of expansion: between 2006 and 2011, college enrollment grew by 3.2 million,” said Kurt Bauman, chief of the Census Bureau’s Education and Social Stratification Branch. “This level of growth exceeded the total enrollment increase of the previous 10 years combined (2.0 million from 1996 to 2006).”

      According to the new statistics, the drop in enrollment was equally divided between older and younger students.  Enrollment of students 21 and younger fell by 261,000;  the enrollment of students older than 25 fell by 247,000, not statistically different from the change in enrollment of students 21 and younger. Overall, 40 percent of those 18 to 24 were enrolled in college in fall 2013, after having reached 42 percent in 2011.

      A large part of the decline took place in two-year colleges (known often as community or junior colleges). Such schools experienced a 10 percent decline in enrollment from 2012 to 2013, while enrollment at four-year colleges grew slightly (1 percent).

       Hispanic college enrollment stopped its growth in 2013 after seeming to defy the overall downward trend in 2012. A larger share of Hispanic college students attend two-year schools than Asians, blacks or non-Hispanic whites, and these schools saw a sharper decline than four-year schools.

      “By looking at these statistics over time, researchers can look for trends about how business cycles affect college enrollment,” Bauman said.

      Hispanic college enrollment did not grow between 2012 and 2013, after having increased by 1 million during the previous five years (2007 to 2012). Black college enrollment also did not grow after a climb of 500,000 in the previous five years. College enrollment of Asians increased by 340,000 from 2007 to 2012, but also did not grow between 2012 and 2013.

       The tables provide information by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, family income, type of college, employment status, nativity, foreign-born parentage, attendance status (full or part time), control of school (public or private) and vocational course enrollment. They explore issues such as nursery school and kindergarten enrollment, the likelihood of being enrolled below modal grade and the percentage of young adults enrolled in college. Historical tables are also provided.

       Other highlights include:

All levels

• In 2013, 78 million people, or 25.9 percent of the population 3 years or older, were enrolled in school.
• Students who were born in another country or whose parents were foreign-born made up 25.8 percent of all those enrolled in school at all levels in 2013.
• Across all levels of enrollment, non-Hispanic whites made up 54.0 percent of students. Hispanics were 21.8 percent, blacks 15.2 percent and Asians 5.6 percent. 
• The number of blacks enrolled in school at all levels increased by 3.6 percent from 2003 to 2013. The increase was 32.1 percent for Asians and 42.3 for Hispanics over the same period.

Precollege

• In 2013, there were 4.3 million students enrolled in private elementary and high schools (kindergarten through high school), down from 4.6 million in 2012. Public school enrollment did not rise over the period.
• In 2013, non-Hispanic white children comprised 52.7 percent of elementary school students (grades 1-8), down from 59.1 percent in 2003. Non-Hispanic white students made up 47 percent of kindergarten students in 2013, compared with 60 percent a decade earlier.

College

• In 2013, there were 19.5 million college students, including 5.3 million in two-year colleges, 10.5 million in four-year colleges and 3.7 million in graduate school. 
• At the college level, 58.2 percent of students were non-Hispanic white. Hispanics comprised 16.5 percent, blacks 14.7 percent and Asians 8.1 percent.

In time for the re-opening of the nation’s schools, the Census Bureau released an innovative new tool:Census PoP Quiz. Teachers can use this interactive mobile app in their classrooms to introduce students, in an interactive format, to demographic statistics about each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

High School Students Receiving Instruction Focused on “Deeper Learning” Do Better in Math and English and Have Higher Graduation Rates than Their Peers

Students at high schools focusing on deeper learning had higher scores on standardized tests in mathematics and English, and higher graduation rates than their peers, according to a study by the American Institutes for Research (AIR).

In conducting the Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes, AIR researchers found positive effects on students from a wide range of deeper learning approaches.

Deeper learning involves using strategies and resources aimed at helping students master core academic content – like reading, mathematics and science – while developing the ability to think critically and to work effectively with others. AIR’s research team examined a set of selected high schools associated with 10 established deeper learning networks.  The schools were identified as being moderate or high implementers of deeper learning practices.

The study included a survey of 1,762 students in 22 schools in California and New York. The schools serve a diverse and traditionally underserved group of students, including substantial populations of students living in poverty and, in some cases, large populations of English language learners.

In high schools focusing on deeper learning:

• Students – regardless of their prior levels of academic achievement – attained higher scores than their peers on standardized tests in such subjects as English Language Arts, reading, mathematics and science and were more likely to graduate from high school on time.
• Students reported higher levels of collaborative skills, academic engagement, motivation to learn and self-efficacy compared with their counterparts in comparison schools.
• Graduates were more likely to enroll in four-year colleges or universities. Overall there was no significant effect on the likelihood of students attending postsecondary institutions.
• There were positive effects on students at each deeper learning school, and no statistically significant evidence that the students trailed behind their peers in any areas.

Online Research and Comprehension: Rethinking the Reading Achievement Gap

Is there an achievement gap for online reading ability based on income inequality that is separate from the achievement gap in traditional, offline reading? This possibility was examined in this study of students in two pseudonymous school districts: West Town (economically advantaged) and East Town (economically challenged; N = 256). 

Performance-based assessments were used within a simulation of the Internet developed as part of a larger project. Seventh graders completed two online research and comprehension assessments, which evaluated four skill areas (locate, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate) and two knowledge domains in science. Students also completed an assessment of prior domain knowledge and a short Internet use questionnaire. Standardized state reading and writing test scores served as measures of offline literacy skills. 

Results indicated that there was a significant achievement gap favoring West Town students in offline reading scores, offline writing scores, and online research and comprehension scores. A significant gap persisted for online research and comprehension after we conditioned on pretest differences in offline reading, offline writing, and prior knowledge scores. 

The results of the questionnaire indicated that West Town students had greater access to the Internet at home and were required to use the Internet more in school. These results suggest that a separate and independent achievement gap existed for online reading, based on income inequality. Current estimates of this gap, which rely solely on measures of offline reading, may underrepresent the true nature of the U.S. reading achievement gap in an online age. Policy implications are explored.

New Report Finds Latino Children Gaining Ground in Education

America’s Hispanic Children--Gaining Ground Looking Forward, issued by Child Trends Hispanic Institute includes the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau and documents key areas in which Latino children are finding greater success, especially in education, health and elsewhere, while also examining key challenges. 

The report paints a complex picture of the 17.5 million Hispanic children, the largest racial/ethnic minority group of children in the United States. With more than 22 statistical charts, it provides a comprehensive portrait of Hispanic children across six areas: demographics, economics, family, education, health, and media use.  

Some key findings from the report include:

• The percentage of Hispanic eighth graders achieving at or above the “proficient” level in math (an important predictor of high school completion) has increased from 8 percent in 2000 to 21 percent in 2014
• Latino children’s participation in center-based early care and education programs has increased by one-third since 2007
• Hispanics are more likely to be born at a healthy weight and more likely to be breastfed relative to other racial/ethnic minority groups.

Lack of sleep increases risk of failure in school

A new Swedish study shows that adolescents who suffer from sleep disturbance or habitual short sleep duration are less likely to succeed academically compared to those who enjoy a good night's sleep. The results have recently been published in the journal Sleep Medicine.

In a new study involving more than 20,000 adolescents aged between 12 and 19 from Uppsala County, researchers from Uppsala University demonstrate that reports of sleep disturbance and habitual short sleep duration (less than 7 hours per day) increased the risk of failure in school.

The study was led by researcher Christian Benedict and doctoral student Olga Titova at the Department of Neuroscience. The results suggest that sleep may play an important role for adolescents' performance at school.

"Another important finding of our study is that around 30 percent of the adolescents reported regular sleep problems. Similar observations have been made in other adolescent cohorts, indicating that sleep problems among adolescents have reached an epidemic level in our modern societies", says Christian Benedict.

“Brain Breaks” increase activity, educational performance in elementary schools

A recent Oregon survey about an exercise DVD that adds short breaks of physical activity into the daily routine of elementary school students found it had a high level of popularity with both students and teachers, and offered clear advantages for overly sedentary educational programs.

Called “Brain Breaks,” the DVD was developed and produced by the Healthy Youth Program of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, and is available nationally.

Brain Breaks leads children in 5-7 minute segments of physical activity, demonstrated by OSU students and elementary school children from Corvallis, Oregon. The short periods of exercise aim to improve the physical health, mental awareness and educational success of children.

“We’re increasingly recognizing the importance of physical activity for children even as the academic demands placed on them are cutting into the traditional programs of recess and physical education,” said Gerd Bobe, an assistant professor in the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences, an expert in public health nutrition and behavior, and principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute.

“Kids need to move, they can’t just sit all day long,” Bobe said. “Given the time constraints and multiple demands that schools are facing, we really believe the concept of short activity breaks, right in the classroom, is the way to go.”

Oregon law, for instance, mandates that by 2017 elementary schools will be required to have 30 minutes a day of physical education classes, in addition to recess periods. But a survey conducted by the Healthy Youth Program found that 92 percent of Oregon public elementary schools currently do not meet this standard. And sometimes, Bobe said, elimination of recess is used as a disciplinary tool, potentially taking activity away from those students who may need it the most.

Brain Breaks was created to bring more activity back into classrooms, especially when it may be most useful – in the afternoon after lunch, for instance, when attention spans and concentration tend to waver. Research has shown that physical activity can increase academic performance, student focus and classroom behavior, Bobe said.

The program offers a variety of segments, including six based on stretching and relaxation, five on endurance, and one on strength, with imaginative concepts such as “space adventures” and “crazy kangaroos.” No equipment is needed, other than a chair for the strength segment, and all activities can be done in a classroom setting. An abstract of the work has been published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

A recent survey of the Healthy Youth Program that was sent to participating Oregon school districts found that:

• Almost all teachers said the program was appropriate for their classes and well-understood by the class;

• More than 90 percent of teachers said the exercise segments had the right length, and that students were more focused after using the program;

• All of the segments were popular with more than 80 percent of students, but the stretching and relaxation activities had the highest approval, at 95 percent, and were also most frequently used by teachers;

• About three-fourths of the teachers were using the program two to three times per week, and more than 90 percent plan to continue its use.

“Longer periods of exercise have a place, but research shows that these short programs can be very valuable as well,” Bobe said. “They can increase oxygen consumption, range of motion, endurance, and get kids in the habit of being more active. A little bit of exercise can go a long way.”

A second edition of the DVD is being developed, Bobe said. More information on the DVD is available online at http://bit.ly/1o6rcHk, including a video trailer and how to buy a copy.

“This survey shows a program that’s working and is valuable,” Bobe said. “We hope it becomes popular across the nation.”

Fear of failure hurts educational achievement - high standards create fear

An early established fear of failure at school can influence students' motivation to learn and negatively affect their attitude to learning.

This is the finding of a study by Dr. Michou, (Bilkent University, Turkey), Dr. Vansteenkiste (Ghent University, Belgium), Dr. Mouratidis (Hacettepe University, Turkey) and Dr. Lens (University of Leuven, Belgium) that will soon be published in theBritish Journal of Educational Psychology.

Over 1,000 students undertook questionnaires relating to their motivation to learn and learning strategies they use (606 high school student and 435 university students).

The analysis found that irrespective of the goal students adopt (such as 'my aim is to completely master the material presented in this class' or 'my aim is to avoid doing worse than other students') those who had developed a fear of failure at an early age were more likely to adopt the goal to validate their ego rather than for their own personal interest and development, and were less likely to use effective learning strategies but more likely to cheat.

Dr. Michou said: "These findings suggest two important points for children's optimal learning. First, teachers and parents have to be more sensitive on how they evaluate young children's competence. Very high standards and criticism result in increased levels of fear of failure.

"Second, teachers and parents have to be more sensitive to the rational they provide to children to adopt a goal or engage in an activity. Suggesting children to improve their skills for their own enjoyment and development is much more beneficial than suggesting them to improve their skills in order to prove themselves. Future research would benefit from examining these ideas through longitudinal and experimental studies."

"The Efficiency Index" Makes No Sense

A recent report purporting to score and rank national education systems on efficiency has drawn extensive media attention in both Europe and North America. But a new review published today explains that the report has serious problems and generates extreme conclusions and unrealistic policy proposals.
 
Professor Clive Belfield reviewed The Efficiency Index, written by Peter Dolton, Olivier Marcenaro-Gutiérrez, and Adam Still and published by GEMS Education Solutions, based in London, England. Belfield’s review is published today by the Think Twice think tank review project of the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education.
 
Belfield is an economist at Queens College in New York whose research focuses on resource allocation and cost-effectiveness.
 
The Efficiency Index ranks 30 countries on their educational system “efficiency” through a model that compares national test scores, national teacher wage rates, and pupil-teacher ratios. The test scores used are from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
 
“Looking across the 30 countries, the model predicts that, in order to get a 5% increase in PISA scores, teacher wages would have to go up by 14% or class sizes would have to go down by 13 students per class,” Belfield writes. “But the optimal wages and class sizes for any given country may sometimes demand an increase or decrease in one or the other factor.”
 
Based on its model, the report identifies those wage levels and class sizes that are optimally efficient for each country. Those optimal levels, Belfield notes, are sometimes surprisingly extreme. Switzerland, for example, would have to cut wages nearly in half to achieve its “optimal” teacher salary, while Indonesia would have to triple teacher wages. “For four countries, the optimal class size is estimated at fewer than two students per teacher,” Belfield writes.
 
Such anomalies expose the weaknesses in each of the study’s three key elements, Belfield says: “the output measure is questionable, the input measures are unclear, and the econometric method by which they are correlated does not have a straightforward economic interpretation.”
 
Consequently, the report does nothing more than “satisfy an apparent keenness for reports that rank countries – and especially for reports that castigate low-rank countries,” Belfield writes – but it fails, he concludes, to advance an understanding on how to make education more efficient.