'Achievement Gap' Is International Problem, UNICEF Analysis Says

By Rhea R. Borja

A new report from UNICEF offers an international look at the "achievement gap."

Children in South Korea, Canada, and Finland have a better chance of getting a good education and a lower chance of falling behind than do students in the United States, Germany, and Italy, according to the report by the United Nations Children's Fund.

Released last month, the study —written by UNICEF's Innocenti Research Center in Florence, Italy—seeks to give a "big picture" analysis of educational performance in 24 of the world's industrialized nations. It notes that student achievement is linked closely...