U.S. teachers 'most productive,' work longest hours, yet students' scores average

A Wall Street Journal blog post on Saturday about U.S. teachers being the "most productive" among major developed countries worldwide has resparked interest in a 2010 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

According to the report, U.S. teachers spend on average 1,097 hours teaching in front of a class a year, the highest number among major developed countries. New Zealand reported the next highest number of instruction hours a year at 985. The average number of instruction hours for the 27 countries surveyed was 786.

But when you include the number of hours spent outside of strictly teaching in front of the class, U.S. teachers work about 1,913 hours a year, according to the report.

This is about 250 hours more than what the average teacher in developed countries spends and is on par with the number of hours an average full-time employee in the U.S. works, The Wall Street Journal reported.

"This statistic refutes the argument that (U.S.) teachers should be paid considerably less than other workers because 'teachers only work 9 months of the year,'" the American Society Today blog posted on Saturday.

U.S. teachers are typically paid for working 36 weeks out of the year and have one of the lowest contracted weeks of the countries looked at in the report. New Zealand teachers are contracted for 39 weeks out of the year. And Denmark has one of the highest number of contracted weeks for teachers at 42 weeks a year. Danish teachers average 648 hours of instruction time a year with a total number of 1,680 hours spent working.

"Despite the amount of time that teachers spend working, student achievement in the U.S. remains average in reading and science and slightly below average in math when compared to other nations in a separate OECD report," the Journal reported. "That remains a concern as education is one of the most important ways a country can foster long-term economic growth."

The Daily Beast reported these numbers as well last week and many people commented that they believe the reason for the low scores in spite of the long hours was due to poverty and other extraneous factors that come from a society that believes in educating all.

The Atlantic Wire suggested that perhaps the discrepancy noted in The Wall Street Journal's article is due to the status and pay of U.S. teachers.

In March, New York Times Op-Ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof wrote that "If we want to compete with other countries, and chip away at poverty across America, then we need to pay teachers more so as to attract better people into the profession."