Improving the American Education System

During a recent Study Abroad Breakfast event, UMKC students heard about opportunities to learn outside the United States.

Author says quality teachers make a difference

Listen to the full story on KCUR-FM’s website.

The latest Program for International Student Assessment exam shows that the United States lags behind dozens of other countries in student achievement.

On a recent segment of KCUR’s Central Standard, author Amanda Ripley argued that what’s interesting is not that the United States is in the middle of the pack, but rather that so many other countries have improved in the last three decades while the United States has stagnated.

But what are these countries doing that the United States is not?

That’s what Ripley investigated in her newest book The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way

The one thing that became clear to Ripley during her investigation is that teachers were the key. She said that the United States could improve our education system by making becoming a teacher more difficult.

“…Go to your education colleges, the places that train your teachers, and ask, ‘Do you have a cut score that’s above the national average on the SAT?’ Because many, many places do not and they let anybody in and then they don’t get any respect. This is a cycle that’s not impossible to disrupt,” Ripley said.

Ripley will speak at the Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12.  The event is free.

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