Posted on 12/06/2013 1:28:40 PM PST by xzins
New international test scores show American students lagging behind in math and performing about average in science and reading.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development tests 15-year-olds around the world every three years as part of the Program for International Student Assessment. Half a million students in 65 countries participated in the most recent test, administered in 2012.
The top average scores in each subject came from Shanghai, China's largest city and also from Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the results a "picture of educational stagnation."
However, critics of the current education reform movement say the scores are no reason for alarm.
"The test is only taken by about 6,000 kids in a country and the testing populations vary widely," Dr. Christopher Tienken, assistant professor for education at Seton Hall University, said.
"In Singapore you won't find a lot of students with special needs or second language learners in school by age 15, let alone in the testing population," he said.
"The testing populations are very, very selective in some of these countries," he added. "Now in America, we educate everybody. It's part of our American exceptionalism and our commitment to liberty and justice for all. And so our testing pool includes all different kinds of students."
Over the years, education reform proponents have used PISA test results and others to argue that the United States is losing its ability to compete globally.
But test critics like Tienken contend that standardized tests like PISA don't evaluate creativity or innovation and can't predict how a new generation will perform in the work force.
"We top the ranks in creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship around the world," he said. "So there's a negative correlation between how you score on PISA and your creativity and innovation."
Tienken and other critics of the current reform movement say poor tests results fuel the need to demonstrate crisis, which spurs growth in education funding.
"The current school reform narrative is that American schools are failing. Therefore we need to change things," Tienken said. "Changing things in education results in good business for those companies that are involved in education reform."
The current reform movement has focused on standardization via Common Core, a set of national education standards for K-12. So far, 45 states have adopted the standards but many states are now debating them.
Supporters say Common Core provides a way to ensure that all states are providing an appropriate level of education. Critics argue that the standards drive testing and curriculum and strip local control of schools.
They need to create a crisis, so they don't tell that our nation tests all 15 year olds, and other nations test only those in still in school...the college bound crowd.
That would be like testing ONLY our A&B students.
But wait. Our government is responsible for our education. These numbers must be off.
yes, democrat voters are that dumb. they trust government
in the U.S., government schools don’t work because government/socialism doesn’t work
The sample questions from the math test are really easy. I woudl have aced them in the fifth grade.
If they make it seem like our kids are failing, then they can sell all kinds of social engineering via education spending and programs.
The truth is that we should only count our A&B students when comparing our results with other nations.
If they just tested white kids without special needs, the scores would be much much higher but probably not the highest
But they have good self-esteem, that’s all that matters.
Just test the kids from intact homes - a mother, father, etc.
The programs right on track...............
See #2 & #6.
When living in Germany, I saw it first hand. Most kids are channeled into trades rather than college bound. They do NOT test these trade-bound kids against our kids. They test their college-bound kids against our kids. We test ALL of ours. That makes it look like a crisis.
And liberals never let a crisis go to waste.
Let's put the blame where it belongs.
Kids are kids are kids and I believe, barring some genetic anomolies, that a child is first, trainable, second, teachable with the discipline of being trained.
My grandson likes to pay dames .. (play games) and only this last year did I get my daughter and son in law to recognize he had a speech impediment and it wasn't cute.
So NOW he's being trained.
They get tested here because, in America, those kids can grow up to be Senators.
most graduates from the detroit ( and many other cities) government schools are illiterate
government schools don’t work . are you saying they do or that you trust government?
The schools work fine if you know their true purpose. They exist solely to provide employment for adults.
We will test our Asian kids to their Asian kids any day.
Was there a demographic breakdown for the United States scores?
That set of tests doesn't control for the amount of freedom of access in an education system - which favors low-freedom(Europe/Asia) over high-freedom(United States) systems. In addition, PISA doesn't deal well when the government cherry-picks students (with respect to China).
The main purpose of PISA is to attack the United States, not to make an objective measurement.
“Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong.”
My guess is in at 3 of those places, one would not wish to suffer the consequences of coming to school unprepared or acting up while there.
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