Hi, @roleerob,

Not well. The performance is profoundly uneven across the country. Correlation with wealth/race is quite high. That is true, for example, in my neck of the woods. School district lines are strictly enforced. In my old neighborhood there was actually a street that separated school districts. One side of the street belonged to a nationally recognized district. The other side belonged to a distressed district. Home values followed that school district line.

Edit:
I can't resist adding to this. If we want to fix our education system in the U. S. we can do a few things.

1. Get rid of schools of education. They teach nothing. When I briefly became a teacher (career change), I had to take the national qualifying test. It had three parts. One was on education, as taught in the schools of education. That test was so simple, so filled with common sense responses, that it was tragic. Teachers should be schooled in academic areas. They should be the smartest, not just people who want summers off.

2. Make teachers accountable to outcome. Pay and even job security should be linked to the success of the students. Not until that happens will teachers actually teach.

3. Throwing money at the problem won't help, unless that money buys talent. Talent in the classroom means getting results.

4. I don't think every child should be mainstreamed. If a child cannot or will not cooperate in class, there should be special schools, as there used to be. A teacher cannot teach if he/she is constantly taking up instruction time with discipline issues.

OK. I got that off my chest :))