rich get richer

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

  Socioeconomics affect U.S. scores more than those of other nations on
  international exam.

  In continuing coverage from previous briefings, Education Week (12/7,
  Cavanagh) reported that an analysis of the 2006 Program for International
  Student Assessment (PISA) results released last week showed that "American
  students' academic achievement was...more likely to be affected by their
  wealth or poverty and family background than was their peers' in
  higher-scoring nations." In fact, "an estimated 18 percent of the variation
  in Americans' science scores were related to students' socioeconomic
  circumstances, as measured by the PISA." On average, in other industrialized
  nations, 14 percent of the variation in scores could be attributed to
  socioeconomic factors. In "several of the highest-performing countries in
  science, such as Finland and Canada," socioeconomic factors accounted for as
  little as 8 percent of the variation in test scores. Andreas Schleicher, the
  head of the indicators and analysis division of the Organization for Economic
  Cooperation and Development, which released the analysis, noted that
  "contrary to popular impressions, some top-performing countries with
  relatively homogeneous racial and ethnic compositions serve students from
  fairly diverse economic backgrounds," but many of those nations work to
  lessen "the impact of socioeconomic background."

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