The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization that grew out of the post-WWII Marshall Plan in Europe. Today, among its other contributions, it provides a treasure trove of data on activity in developed and developing nations.
The group just came out with their latest (2011) edition of Education Indicators, with data through 2008. If you dig deep, it makes for interesting reading on the subject of primary and secondary education (think K-12).
Out of 34 developed nations, on a per pupil basis, the U.S. spends more money than all except tiny Luxembourg, Switzerland and Norway for a ranking of 4th out of 34. We beat out Austria by $1 per pupil. (See Table B1.2, Column 3).
As for achievement, what did this extra spending buy us? In science the U.S. ranked (2006 data) 36th out of 57 countries studied (see Figure 2.11a). Free spending Switzerland ranked 18th, with Norway 31st and Luxembourg 33rd.
In more recent (2009) data, in Reading, the U.S. ranked a more respectable 17th, with free spending Norway at 12th, Switzerland at 14th and Luxembourg a distant 38th out of 65 studied.
News on Math was even worse, with the U.S. dropping down to 22nd.
Keep these figures in mind the next time someone calls for more spending on Education.
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