International Education Rankings: A Comparative Analysis of America vs. the Rest of the World

While researching for my Junior Theme, I stumbled across an article from 2011 which ranked the education systems of the world (the article originally compares the UK to the rest of the world). The results are based on a test given to 470,000 15-year-olds from all over the globe which include numeracy, literacy and science portions. The top ten nations rank as follows:
1. China
2. South Korea
3. Finland
4. Hong Kong
5. Singapore
6. Canada 
7. New Zealand
8. Japan
9. Australia
10. Netherlands




To the dismay of many, the US ranked 17th.

But how is it possible that the "greatest country in the world" could rank a mere 17th on a global education scale? Could it be a lack of funding on local, state and/or federal levels? Poor teaching? Poor study skills by the students? Or could it be an over-emphasis on testing instead of in-depth lessons which thoroughly teach students the material? Could it be that the government is simply throwing money into the system, praying for test scores to go up?

In my paper, I will be searching for answers to this multi-billion dollar question. I'll look at why the Department of Education determines how much money to give to schools based on standardized testing, if it works, and what are some possible solutions to this failing system which has been concerning millions of Americans for the past three decades.