UNICEF released a ranking of nations in terms of child wellness. The United States is one of the lowest ranking among the advanced nations of the world. The rankings do not include test scores. It’s important to understand that the test scores are the result of child wellness, not a cause. If we expect to improve children’s academic performance, we should focus on their well-being, which is a summary of causal factors. I have often said that when we are comparing students from different nations, we should look at child poverty, access to healthcare, food security, access to high-quality pre-K, and other indicators of child wellness, not test scores. This important report does that.
See the report here.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-students-left-behind-by-remote-learning
Shameful
But we can’t leave no child left behind. If we don’t raise all the test scores to unattainable-proficient, George W Bush will punish us with consequences! He will search for weapons of mass destruction in our schools. He will mission accomplished all over everyone’s children. And don’t you know test scores are the whole goal of, uh, testing. We have to race to the top of the test score heap and then we get, um, what do we get if we raise test scores? Nothing? We don’t even get a frickin trophy? Badges? We get badges? You mean nonexistent coins like in Mario Brothers? The video game. Huh. That’s dumb.
thanks for this one 🙂
It is unlikely that we will see the finding of the study on the six o’clock news. All we ever hear about is our low test scores that feed into the privatization scam. Number one on UNICEF”S recommendations is to reduce income inequality. Access to affordable health care and early childhood education were also high on the list of recommendations. All of these key items entail a change in national policy. These are all outside the control of parents and the schools they attend. Only by making the health and well-being of children a priority can we address our societal shortcomings. We have to be willing to make the investment in order to do it.
From the report:
Only the United States has very high income and very high inequality. Its position should be seen as the exception rather than the rule.
The US is clearly an outlier on this issue. It also reflects an atypical lack of concern for the well-being of most people and excessive attention to the producers and holders of great wealth.