President Trump signed an executive order on March 20 to defund the Department of Education. He sought to justify the order by saying it returns educational decisions to the states (states never lost control over education) and that United States public education students rank at the bottom.

Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation President, said, “Why pour money into a failing system? Student achievement stagnates, and America falls further behind.”

Americans have heard variations of this opinion for years. President Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, used this sentiment in 2013 when school districts vied for Race to the Top federal grant money. Politicians use international student rankings for catchy headlines, making it easier to cut budgets or change education policies. They accept without questioning the origin, methodology, or validity of the rankings.

These proclamations about the supposed poor performance of American students refer to the OECD’s (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) PISA (Program for International Student Achievement) test to rank students from over 39 countries every three years since 2000. Andreas Schleicher, OECD Education director, whose motto is “use data to build better schools,” partnered with Pearson Inc. and started testing students, releasing rankings, and gathering socio-economic data.

OECD is a nonpartisan group that supports global free market economies focusing on short-term gainful employment and economic growth. It receives 18% of its budget from the United States and has an opaque decision-making process. OECD claims that “common sense” shows that higher student scores in language, mathematics, and science tests bring a country greater economic prosperity in the future.

After a quarter of a century of tests, the rankings are mainly used by politicians to remove long-term education reforms and help Pearson educational services sell tutoring and educational materials to help raise standardized test scores.

By 2015, educators from Norway, Germany, and the United States found that the OECD had little educational expertise and that the test rankings did not reflect a country’s global economic success. OECD holds an extensive worldwide socio-economic database, but the PISA remains the most problematic data point, making the rankings the least reliable part of their repository.

The rankings are easy to access and have influenced national educational policies worldwide. This shift from long-term education reforms to “teach to the test” short-term gains escalated the rise of standardized testing despite its little overall proven educational value.

This focus leaves little time for less tangible topics such as civics, morals, and artistic development. Less time to learn problem-solving and lifelong learning skills and address generational and social challenges that give students resiliency in the fast-changing world we live in today with evolving job markets and skill requirements.  It has also lowered teacher status and professional respect.

Comparing students internationally is complicated and rarely transparent. In 2019, the University of Oslo’s Dr. Svein Sjøberg found participating countries had vastly different education systems. Germany divides students into vocational and academic pathways by age 11. Only 56% of Vietnamese 15-year-olds attend school. China only allows students from the Shanghai region to participate, and different US states volunteered to participate in some test years. These are only one of many issues that lead scholars to question what standardized tests really reflect concerning student achievement.

Using the OECD socio-economic data comparing the US with the equitable economic countries of France, Germany, Canada, and Japan, find that the US educates a greater number of lower economic income students, and readjusting the score for socio-economic equity (considering income, wealth, mother’s education level, occupational prestige, and the number of books in the home) shows US students ranking higher in reading and science.

The overall US trend shows growth in reading and science and a decline in math skills. This does not necessarily reflect economic success since this year, California passed Japan to become the 4th largest economy in the world, only surpassed by the United States, China, and Germany.

Federal education funds provide 4% -6% of each Fullerton school district’s budgets and the money allows the districts to supplement education equity for students with disabilities, funds low-income students with nutrition access (free breakfast, lunch, and dinner on weekends and summer), and also provides testing and college application fees, tutoring services, and afterschool programs.

The Department of Education oversees college student loans and enforces federal laws concerning children with disabilities, low-income, homeless students, and English language learners, making sure that all states follow laws ensuring equitable educational access.

Public education has a lot of room for improvement, and after 25 years of promoting standardized testing, it is time to reevaluate what tangible and intangible education subjects and services truly help students succeed. Instead of using misleading statistics to spread misunderstanding about public education, channeling that energy into greater respect for education professionals and using funds to provide safe academic settings and continue serving as community support systems for families in need of nutritional support, transportation, special education services, and mental and physical health services can only enrich and help support all our students and community’s well-being.