The first phrase makes the second less likely to be true.

On the basis of international comparisons, including comparisons with a country outside the United States I have lived in for two three-year stays, I don't think K-12 schooling in the United States offers good value added or good value for the price paid by taxpayers.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/45/48/37864432.pdf

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/12/46643496.pdf

After edit:

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/PDF/Papers/PEPG10-19_Hanushe...

Many of the comparisons of United States population subgroups to populations of other countries ignore the serious issue of underperformance of United States schools in serving students from the most advantaged subgroups. The least advantaged subgroups of United States students can't be used as an excuse for lousy performance of the whole national non-system when that non-system also underperforms for the children of college graduates and for children of "white" families and children in the wealthiest neighborhoods.