Schools with discipline and safety problems are not conducive to high achievement, results from international math, reading, and science tests show.
The results come from the “2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study,” or PIRLS in reading, administered to 4th graders, and the “Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study,” or TIMSS, in math and science, administered to both 4th and 8th graders.
In mathematics, science, and reading, test administrators found that students who attended schools with disorderly environments, and who reported more frequent bullying, had much lower achievement than their counterparts in safe, orderly schools. The good news: 61 percent of students attended schools with very few discipline or safety problems.