Education in America

There was a study conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington that provides a new measure of expected human capital consisting of the following components: 

• Educational Attainment Adjustment
• Educational Attainment and Learning Adjustment
• Educational Attainment, Learning, and Functional Health Adjustment

Based on that study, in 1990, the US was ranked 6th, and today we are ranked 27th globally. 

A Personal Global Education Index study involved 470,000 fifteen-year-old students from around the world. They were administered tests in math, science, and reading, similar to the SAT or ACT exams. Based on that study, the US was ranked 14th in the world. China received the highest scores, followed by Korea, Finland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands.

We have not increased spending on public schools K through 12 for thirty years. From 1990 to 2019, our average annual increase in spending was only 2.2%. That does not even cover the cost of inflation. What happened to no child left behind?

According to US Datalab, in 2018, colleges received $1.068 trillion in revenue from Federal and Non-Federal funding.

Below are examples of Federal Grants to Colleges or Universities in 2018:

• Harvard – $179.5 million
• Columbia University – $165.1 million
• Michigan State – $119.5 million

Below are examples of Federal Contract Investments to Colleges in 2018:

• California Institute of Technology – $2.41 billion
• University of California – Berkley – $992.2 million
• Stanford University – $939.9 million