12 Economic Facts About K-12 

Out of the twelve, I want to address three of them.

“Overall, the United States spends about 3 percent of its total expenditures on research and development, with that figure reaching as high as 23 percent in pharmaceuticals. In education, however, only 0.2 percent of expenditures are spent on research and development.”

Overall, there seems to be no interest in questioning century-old practices and studying research that points to potential success. Improving education means slashing budgets, increasing class sizes, and spending millions of dollars on new tests. Stupid.

"On average, students in a class with a higher 'value-added teacher' (measurement of a teacher’s impact on students’ test scores) for just one year experience the following benefits: The net present value of their lifetime earnings is nearly $6,400 greater."

At first, I was impressed with that number. Can you imagine $6,400 more a year? That would be awesome! But... that's not what it says. That's lifetime. Not so impressive.

“Publicly funded but more autonomous than traditional public schools, charter schools have greater space to innovate. While not all charter schools are successful, some have shown remarkable results and could offer guidance for public school systems.”

I'd like to edit that last sentence: While not all public schools are successful, some have shown remarkable results and could offer guidance for other public school systems.