America comes in 24th

From the Diane Ravitch blog:

Economist magazine has published a major international survey of early childhood education.

The survey establishes the importance of early childhood education, which is supported by extensive research.

It says: “This Index assumes that all children, regardless of their background, legal status and ability to pay, have a right to affordable, quality preschool provision.”

Then, it ranks 45 nations by their provision of early childhood education.

The United States is #24, tied with the United Arab Emirates.

Can we expect to see editorials across the U.S. about this shockingly poor performance?

Can we expect to see a Hollywood film–documentary or fictionalized–about this shameful statistic?

Will we soon hear reformers insisting that all three- and four-year-olds should be able to participate in a high-quality program that has well-prepared and credentialed teachers and small class sizes?

Now that’s a reform movement we could all support.

http://dianeravitch.net/2012/08/31/in-this-world-ranking-we-are-24/