A big part of why Finland does well is probably demographics -- it is fairly homogeneous, white, and affluent. Outside the Boston public schools, the same could be said of Massachusetts -- and "TIMSS Results Place Massachusetts Among World Leaders in Math and Science"
http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=4457 .
I don't want to make this into something it's not, but I don't think there was a need to put white in there at all. I do agree in the content by which I think you meant it, that there is basically one culture, making it easier to teach to the masses. But the same can be said for schools in Japan (non-white), where obviously there's a higher degree of education than in the US. When there are many different cultures in the classroom, it can be difficult to do so (and/or the way children are raised amongs those cultures varies as well); however, I feel that alone is still an excuse to accept less than the best for US Education...
As a mother of biracial children and wife of an extremely bright black man (he does not like the label African American - he is American), I took offense a little...
Carry on.
Race has little to do with it. Nor does homogeneity.
It is the quality of the values of that culture and how those values are reinforced by parents, friends, and the adults the kids interact with - and then how those values are depicted in society and within the the peer group of the kid - that have a bearing on the outcome.
There are a number of excellent schools that exist in the worst demographics in the US with a great number of ethnic groups. These schools do very, very well. They have high expectations for the students, parents, and teachers, and everyone is held accountable. The same goes for many private schools that reach out to minority and poor students. They achieve the same excellent results.
The difference is accountability for teachers, administrators, parents, and students. If we removed the worst teachers and shut down the worst schools every three years, then that would be a start.
