The 2001 Brown Center report on American education

the long version

"Although varying in content from year to year, the Brown Center Report is organized by three consistent sections. The first section uses evidence released in the previous twelve months to evaluate student achievement in America's schools. This year, we investigate the enormous gap between the U.S. and other nations in mathematics achievement and analyze, in reading achievement, the gap between the nations best and worst readers in the fourth grade." "The second section explores a theme in depth. This year's theme is the culture of the American high school. A survey of foreign exchange students was conducted to get their impressions of American high schools. Responses indicate that the culture of high schools and the low status of academic accomplishments within teen culture may present formidable obstacles to the attainment of academic excellence." "The third section analyzes achievement in urban schools. Test score data from dozens of states were collected to determine how urban school districts are doing in comparison to rural and suburban districts in the same state."--Page 4.