Uh-oh! Another study has appeared warning that we are falling behind other nations on international standardized tests.
The National Assessment Governing Board released the results of a study comparing the performance of U.S. states to nations that participated in the 2011 TIMSS.
Students in most US states were above the international average but the nations known for their test-taking culture dominated the results. That is, the top performing nations were Singapore, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Japan.
The usual hand-wringers were wringing their hands about how awful we were, how terribly we compare to those at the top.
The reporters from the New York Times and the Washington Post tried to reach me but I was at an all-day event in Vermont-New Hampshire and did not see their messages.
If I had responded, I would have said this: International test scores do not predict the economic future. Once a nation is above a basic threshold of literacy, the numbers reflect how good that nation is at test-taking. They are meaningless as economic predictors.
In 1964, when the first international test was offered in two grades to twelve nations, we came in last and next to last in the two grades but went on to have a stronger economy in the next half century than the other 11 nations that were tested.
In 1983, a federal report called “A Nation at Risk” warned that our international test scores were a symbol of a “rising tide of mediocrity” and that we were losing our major industries to Japan and Germany because of our terrible schools. As it happened, we lost our automobile industry to Japan not because of our schools or test scores but because of our short-sighted auto executives, who did not anticipate the demand for fuel-efficient cars.
Meanwhile, despite those test scores, our country continued to grow its economy, to be the most militarily powerful and technologically innovative nation in the world, and Japan went into a prolonged period of economic stagnation.
In the latest round of international test scores, Japan outscored us. So what? Singapore, Korea, and the other Asian tigers have cultures that put incredible pressure on young people to get high test scores.
The Washington Post had a sensible comment by someone who studies labor markets:
“Hal Salzman, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University, said hand-wringing over international tests is misguided.
“What’s really peculiar about the whole test-score hysteria is that they use it as a proxy for the U.S. ‘competitiveness and innovation’ as though we don’t have actual measurements,” said Salzman, an expert in science and engineering labor markets and the globalization of innovation. “The country continues to lead on innovation, economic performance and all the results that these things are supposed to indicate.”
There are more than enough strong math and science students in U.S. classrooms to fill future jobs in this country, he said.
“It doesn’t mean we don’t want to improve education,” Salzman said. “But the fear that’s driving it is unfounded. The problem we have is not at the top or at the middle. It’s at the bottom. That’s what gets lost in averages and rankings.”
Professor Salzman is right.
The international test scores are poor economic barometers.
What matters most in the decades ahead is the extent to which we cultivate creativity, ingenuity, curiosity, innovation, and thinking differently. These qualities have been the genius of American culture. These traits are not measured by standardized tests.
The students who learn to select the correct box on a multiple-choice question are not the inventors and innovators of the future. They are the clerks of the future.
The 1964 statistic is very compelling! If only Tom Friedman and the NYTimes editorial board would read this.
Our concern is not how students perform on standardized test. As educators, our concern is the negative impact these tests are having on our students ability to problem solve and critical think across all disciplines. We are concerned about the shift of importance from teaching the soft skills e.g. creative thinking, conflict resolution, problem solving, teamwork in favor of test prep and remediation.
Diane,
Brace yourself for another round of media-driven angst and hand-wringing when OECD Pisa announce their results of the 2012 tests. Andreas Schleicher and his unaccountable gang of flawed test statisticians will persist in passing off their rankings as valid when random numbers would be more accurate.
When will parents be advised to refuse consent for Pisa’s useless tests?
Thank you for this! We need to be prepared for another deluge of drivel.
I have shared articles and other commentary in the past regarding international test scores and what they do and do not indicate about our children and our country. This post by Diane Ravitch capsulizes much of that making it a great piece to share with others. I have added a PDF version for your sharing convenience.
Happy day to all,
D
“New Democrats” have been setting education policies that will produce nothing more than a larger under-class of low-paid workers that can service the 1%. They seem to be working in collusion with right-wing politicians and corporate cronies in this endeavor. Because they did all they could to bail out and protect the wealthy who were responsible for the economic crash, and they have done nothing to help working people, they appear to be responsible for the continued evisceration of the middle class as well.
Voters have become very discouraged, are growing enraged and rumblings can be heard from all walks of life –to the point where Progressive and Tea Party citizens have been finding common ground. If today’s politicians do not change course immediately on education, economic and social policies, and demonstrate that they truly serve the masses, not their wealthy corporate sponsors, soon they will be unable to deny that a revolution is being waged by everyday people from both ends of the political spectrum, who still have democracy and the strength of numbers on their side –which does not bode well for their political futures.
I believe that there has been a backlash against public education coming from “red states” for over 40 years. Even though the party affiliation has changed for many, there has been a constant push back against changing the school culture to include all people, all faiths, all races, all abilities, all attitudes. This has been seen as a “liberal agenda” that those people fear. It rocks their world view and they don’t want their kids to be “indoctrinated” by the “liberals”. Home schooling took off. But as public schools attempted to find middle ground, others felt there was a watered down curriculum offered, standing for “nothing”. Home schooling again.
I think the charter movement is an attempt to use the word “rigor” to justify returning to a 1950s school culture that is exclusive rather than inclusive. Add technology and data mining and you get this “verifiable” testing insanity.
If you think about it, people, such as Gates, were not interested in learning by following the rules of the educational system. They opted out, did their own thing, rebelled against a system to which they didn’t enjoy or choose. They went out on their own and found out how to make millions at the expense of others. Since money buys an audience, they have found ways to turn schools into a product, not a service.
As long as this patriarchal driven business mindset is allowed to thrive, most services will be devalued, dehumanized, robotized and turned over to “efficiency” models. We are in the process of using Six Sigma rules to drive employment down.
Until we take a look at what is different today than in our most prosperous years in America, we will continue the decline. Since the nurturing aspects of teaching the whole child are viewed as soft and harmful by those who value monetary profit over human creativity, we are seeing these deplorable changes.
I don’t see much compromise.
Most politicians are unwilling to compromise on ANYTHING right now, while citizens from polar groups have been joining forces. This is particularly the case in regard to the infraction of the federal government on states’ rights, including the imposition of the Common Core, incessant testing and the sharing of private student data with private vendors.
People can see through all the smoke and mirrors and intensely dislike being scammed and having their children used as sacrificial lambs by politicians who pray at the alter of the almighty dollar. That is likely to result in the voting booth demise of politicians from both parties who have been supporting all of this.
True. There is no compromising today. However, the fact remains that in the 1960s social changes began that weren’t seen as necessary in certain parts of the country. People who are insulated from the mult-culturalism that makes up a huge part of cities and the coasts do not see the need for the changes that took place. That’s why they focus on things like the Pledge and prayer in school and Creationism and the ant-science/anti-climate change. Often they get their directives on what should be taught from their churches. So, they object loudly, hence the “states rights” issues arise. This is polarizing people. I have lost so many friends because they want to condemn me for thinking that ALL Americans have the right to learn, not just those who are of the previously accepted “ruling class”. It doesn’t negate my beliefs or my caring about the same things they care about, but they think it does. I accept that they believe what they believe, but I simply extend that opportunity to others who have the same rights … or should.
I don’t think there is any way to divorce the school issues from the political issues of today, or of any era, really. It is just that today we have some really unpredicted alliances because public education IS at the crux of societal stability.
Private rights are well and good as long as they don’t HURT other people. I will never believe that the wealthy are hurt by supporting those less fortunate. Cynical as it seems, people don’t get wealthy just from hard work. If they did, teachers would be millionaires. Yet, their work isn’t appreciated.
I don’t know where this is going to lead or where it will end. I just hope it is resolved before too many children are irreparably harmed. These students need EMPLOYMENT now.
Instead of infusing public education with dollars for tech, how about the corporations infuse the middle class with JOBS?
It seems that people who have benefited from privilege are least likely to be able relate to those who have not, Many of the people you described sound like those who adhere to the rugged individualist, raise yourself by your bootstraps mentality. They tend to take credit themselves for their successes, while failing to recognize their advantages and how so few of the folks who have no boots are able to achieve the same in our world.
My hope is that more of those people are touched by the middle class downturn, so they can finally feel what life is like for those who struggle with poverty through no fault of their own. Hopefully, they will come to terms with the fact that this is due to the inequitable distribution of wealth in this country, political protections for the ruling class and a general lack of concern by our government for the masses who have access to a diminishing number of jobs with livable wages –even for highly educated people with multiple college degrees and decades of experience, such as myself.
I am curios about your statement “make millions at the expense of others”. You don’t see any social gain to the IT revolution that allows an individual like Dr. Ravitch to lead a movement where millions view and comment on what is posted?
To answer the question posted:
NOTHING!
When comparing non-existence with non-existence one ends up with non-existence.
“. . . to be the most militarily powerful. . .”
Which will be the source of our countries eventual downfall, sooner than most can imagine.
http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/10/measuring-americas-decline-in-three-charts.html
Not sure what the point was of passing along more mainstream media propaganda promoting the failing schools shock doctrine, especially an article that cannot be disputed since commenting wasn’t enabled.
Not once did the article mention that amongst all the countries listed, the US is #1 in child poverty, which brings our national average down, and that our poverty rate has been increasing: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/15/obama-economy-one-4-kids-poverty-despite-us-gains/
If the pundits really cared, they wouldn’t be doing what they be doing. The politicians and CEO’s live in a bubble they have created for themselves.
The good thing about bubbles is that they are short-lived and bound to either burst or whither away…
I was only saying that this is more information that is being reported and against our schools. If you have read any other posts I have made, I support our public schools. I like to read the negative and positive info that is put out there to see why people get negative impressions of our educational delivery system.
Many of us have been reading the negative reports for 30 years, ever since the 1983 “A Nation at Risk” shock doctrine, which propelled this era of education “reform,” and really don’t need to see more propaganda posted here, thank you.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Texas Education.
An edited and augmented version of a comment I made yesterday:
Diane’s posting has this stunning display of good sense—
[beginning of quote] “What’s really peculiar about the whole test-score hysteria is that they use it as a proxy for the U.S. ‘competitiveness and innovation’ as though we don’t have actual measurements,” said Salzman, an expert in science and engineering labor markets and the globalization of innovation. “The country continues to lead on innovation, economic performance and all the results that these things are supposed to indicate.” [end of quote]
One of the most peculiar aspects of the “A Nation at Risk” crowd [including a number of recent iterations] is that if education is the fundamental cornerstone, pillar and foundation of all that the United States of America has been, is and will be—
Then the defeat of the Soviet Union and its “evil empire” must have meant that educators and public schools in the USA were—to at least a 98% “satisfactory” certainty [thank you, Bill Gates!]—absolutely cage busting achievement gap crushing success stories for not just the twentieth century but for centuries to come.
And let’s not forget to credit educators and public schools for winning the economic ‘war’ of the 1980s with Japan either.
Need I go on?
If education and educators and public schools carry all the burden of responsibility and blame, then they should get all the credit and acclaim, right?
The incoherence of the edufrauds is almost beyond belief.
But somehow they pull off the impossible…
🙂
Thank you, Diane. This is indeed a GREAT post. I truly think that this country has an identity problem.
Something has bothered me about the PISA results for a long time — even taking them at face value. First, in math and science we seem to be pretty mediocre. So mediocre in fact that Exxon/Mobil has launched a national TV campaign to encourage us to pull up our socks.
BUT according to OECD’s own reports (OECD sells PISA to the world) the United States produces 25% of all the high-achieving science students in the world. (Reading results are similar; in math, we produce, I think, about 13% of all the high achieving students in the PISA world). To the extent that education is a competitive problem, that would seem to give us a good head start on our competitive challenges, wouldn’t you think?
Still, how could both of those things be simultaneously true? Mediocre performance on average, but 25% of the world’s high flyers?
Well, it turns out that “international average” isn’t an international average of all the students who took the test at all. What is reported as an “international average” on all these international assessments is an average of the national averages, according to experts from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) at last Spring’s AERA conference in San Francisco. IEA is responsible for TIMSS and PIRLS and has been in the international assessment business far longer than OECD. What this means is that the results for Ireland’s 700,000-odd students in PISA have the exact same weight in calculating the international average as the results for the United States 54 million students.
So, it’s not a surprise that, depending on the PISA test, 36 to 47 American states exceed PISA’s “international average,” according to this latest NCES study. PISA’s “international average” is a fiction. What is a surprise is that the doom-and-gloom crowd in the United States seems to have so much trouble accepting this empirical evidence; instead of celebrating it, they go out of their way to explain it away.
Even one of the local radio stations in my city was talking about the “low” test scores this morning on its 99 second news update. I just groaned and thought, “Here we go, again”.
CT …thanks for your kind words of authority.
Is this the same international test that ranked Austria and Luxembourg near the bottom?
Hold on! As a critic of standardized testing, and none of us being able to put much a dent in stopping it, I ask, do we keep reporting on it or do we fight against all of standardized testing including international comparisons? The NGB of the Nation’s Report Card is supposed to be a respected organization, yet they seem alarmed because our highest scorers aren’t competing. In Diane’s “Reign of Error” she indicates that “in schools with little poverty, the scores were equal to those of Shanghai and signiicantly better than those of high scoring ……and Australia”. Is this still true? If so we all should arm ourselves with data to rebut or as the students would say “dis” any comment or harangue as irrelevant and untrue when apples and apples are compared..
There’s another dimension to this, which is that the US averages obscure what’s going on:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2013/10/american-education-isnt-mediocre-its-deeply-unequal/7354/
There’s another dimension to this, which using the US averages obscures:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2013/10/american-education-isnt-mediocre-its-deeply-unequal/7354/