Tom Loveless, a scholar at the Brookings Institution, has spent many years analyzing testing data. He is active in the study of international testing.
He has deciphered the secrets of Shanghai’s remarkably high test scores.
For one thing, China as a whole does not take the PISA test. Shanghai is a city, not the nation. It is a huge city, to be sure, but it is not typical of the nation. Other provinces take PISA, but China has an unusual arrangement with the OECD (which administers the tests) by which the Chinese government is allowed to review the test scores and decide which provinces will release their scores.
Loveless writes:
How dissimilar is Shanghai to the rest of China? Shanghai’s population of 23-24 million people makes it about 1.7 percent of China’s estimated 1.35 billion people. Shanghai is a Province-level municipality and has historically attracted the nation’s elites. About 84 percent of Shanghai high school graduates go to college, compared to 24 percent nationally. Shanghai’s per capita GDP is more than twice that of China as a whole. And Shanghai’s parents invest heavily in their children’s education outside of school. According to deputy principal and director of the International Division at Peking University High School, Jiang Xuegin:
Shanghai parents will annually spend on average of 6,000 yuan on English and math tutors and 9,600 yuan on weekend activities, such as tennis and piano. During the high school years, annual tutoring costs shoot up to 30,000 yuan and the cost of activities doubles to 19,200 yuan.
The typical Chinese worker cannot afford such vast sums. Consider this: at the high school level, the total expenses for tutoring and weekend activities in Shanghai exceed what the average Chinese worker makes in a year (about 42,000 yuan or $6,861).
Further, Shanghai does not allow the children of migrants to attend its high schools.
The hukou system prevents children of migrants–numbering at least 500,000 by the government’s own count and probably many more than that–from attending Shanghai’s high schools. Many are forced back to rural villages to attend school.
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So in other words, Shanghai is not unlike exclusive enclaves in this country. If we compare apples to apples, how statistically different are our students’ scores from theirs?
exactly the right question, Emmy!
The moneyed moguls who want our nation to become more like China should be careful what they wish for.
Sure looks like this is Bill Gates’ detailed Vision of his Final Solution for American Public Education. He has endless $$ and influence/power to pull it off. How much more Data do we need what his mission is? What do we know about Shanghai’s teacher ed programs, methods, research and selective students, students w/ disabilities….?
Frightening to look at the 4th Reich. We should ask Bill to write his MEIN KAMPH!
Just how old are kids when they enter high school, compared to US kids?
Just so you know, the PISA test is for 15 year olds regardless of what the countries call that grade – so your question has no bearing on the PISA results.
The average IQ in Japan and Korea is about 107-108. Although we don’t have as much data on Han IQ as we have for the Japanese and Koreans the Han are genetically pretty similar to Japanese and Korean so it is probable that the average IQ of the Han is fairly similar to that of the Japanese and Koreans. 105 will probably do as a rough estimate of the average IQ of the Han and that estimate is consistent with the available data.
Shanghai is an urban area and throughout the world urban areas tend to have higher average IQ’s than the average for the populations of which they are composed. So 110 is a reasonable estimate of the average IQ in Shanghai.
In comparison the average world-wide IQ is about 90. So the Shanghai population is more than one standard deviation above the world average. There are probably few places in the world with large populations which have an average IQ higher than Shanghai. Hong Kong or Singapore or Tokyo possibly. The IQ level of the Shanghai population is adequate to explain their high educational performance without any need to invoke other factors.
Ron Poirier – Don’t worry. There is zero chance of the US becoming like China. We are genetically very different from the Han. On the other hand China has had one of the most advanced cultures in the world since the time of the Shang so there are a lot worse things that could happen to us than becoming like China.
What is the legitimacy of using IQ as an explanatory device?
IQ = phrenology = standardized test scores = blood letting = eugenics = inquisition = illogical and irrational thinking.
Forgot to put: = economics
I can answer that for you. I Q tests are in some regards similar to the standardized tests. Those with a propensity to do well on I Q tests typically do well on other tests of similar structure. They are tuned in to the biases documented in the critiques of Termin and others, and are able to see the world as the test developers envision it.
I disagree on one thing with you. Smart or not, there is NOTHING worse than living in a totalitarian, communist state where there is no real freedom except what the leaders decide to give one each day.
“We are genetically very different from the Han.”
You clearly do not know much about genetics.
As a scholar of the Holocaust, your comments sound an awful lot like Social Darwinism and eugenics. Appalling.
I mean that for Jim, not the other comments above.
Jim, are you insinuating that smart people choose socialism?
The average Cajun/Acadian IQ is above 110, but some people say that is because we are related to Ashkenazi Jews, who also exhibit higher IQ scores on average. Very few people are aware of the fact that the Jews themselves are descended from time traveling Acadian werewolves. If you want evidence of this, I can provide it.
I cannot agree, in most cases, IQ doesn’t means anything, hardworking does. I always tell me daughter that almost all children are equally smart, what makes difference is your effort. you can see this from my post below.
I have answered my own question, if this site is reliable:
http://www.ncee.org/programs-affiliates/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/shanghai-china/shanghai-china-instructional-systems/
The chart shows that Shanghai’s high schools are tracked and entrance is by exam. I presume that pupils who don’t enter academic high schools do not participate in PISA, is this right?
Now, If they have 9 years of primary school, then they enter high school in what would be the equivalent of 10th grade here. That is, at age fifteen as opposed to our fourteen. Their high school is three years and going to high school is not mandatory. This is the same as Finland, but not the same as in this country. (One assumes that they count birthdays the same way we do — but you can’t really be 100 percent sure of this. It would be nice to know. I know they don’t in some European countries)
On the face of it, it looks like they are testing a self-selected, elite group, at least of the older students. This is not necessarily the case in other countries, such as the USA.
Do the “reformers” who post here, such as Mr. Bill Duncan recommend that we change the ages and make high school optional? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing necessarily, but inquiring minds would like to know.
My error — I meant to say “make high school optional, and primary school a year longer” not “make primary school optional”.
Now, it appears that although high school attendance is optional that nevertheless virtually everyone who is eligible attends high school. However, the fact that it is not mandatory means that students who don’t conform for one reason or another can be more easily kicked out than in the USA, I presume.
I taught a male high school student from Shanghai. He was in the 9th grade when I worked with him. This student is bright, bright and can connect the dots. Well…..he wrote a couple of pieces about how he hated going to school in Shanghai. He told me that one of his grandparents was a teacher in Shanghai and the academic pressure was horrid, no joy.
Here is aTRUE story he told me. When it rained or was super, super cold, this student would go outside to get soaking wet and chillded hoping he would get sick and wouldn’t have to go to school. And YES, his parents spent a lot of money for tuition. The threats, the punishments, the bribes did not help. Finally, this student just wouldn’t go to school for one whole year. He went on strike; the family was worried sick about him. He is not compliant and can think for himself.
I was impressed at how much this student appreciated his ESL teachers. He even wrote a piece of appreciation for his ESL teachers, because his American teachers were able to teach him English without any threats or making him feel badly plus his teachers did not even speak his mother tongue and yet were able to teach him English. He loved to going to school in America….LESS TESTS and MEMORIZATION of disparte facts were what he liked about going to school in this country.
I wonder how he would feel going to school in this country now given all the common standards and testing. This former student from Shanghai who is now a college graduate does not like being standardized or tested and by the way…is doing very well. BTW, this person is beyond COMMON…thank goodness.
A perfect example of the tragic inequality we should never emulate. Wake up, America!
Same way it is here. Advantaged children have access to better schools and a more education oriented home life so it is easier to do better in school.
Bait and switch. Sleight of hand. In our era: “Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.” [Mark Twain]
“When comparing groups, make sure the groups are comparable.” Gerald Bracey in his last, 2009 book, READING EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH: HOW TO AVOID GETTING STATISTICALLY SNOOKER, p. 31.
This is what edufrauds do today. But what about before cage busting achievement crushing torturing of numbers?
“In earlier times, they had no statistics, so they had to fall back on lies.” [Stephen Leacock]
😎
twinkie1cat – A personal friend of mine just returned from Hong Kong where she was born to attend her high school reunion. So from talking with her I know a little about life there under the current regime. Of course China is not now and will never be a utopia. However things are not all that terrible by any means. Most of her friends from her childhood are living reasonably comfortable lives. There is no governmental terror at the present time.
In the US few of us have any significant influence on government. Our political freedoms are largely unimportant in our real lives. There are many places in this world where life is much worst than living in Hong Kong. Almost any place in Africa or Detroit for example.
I see from searching google that the PISA test takers are supposed to be 15 and three months old regardless of grade level. That leaves the question of whether they count the years in the same way. And also whether they are high school students (more advanced) , in China, for example, having undergone an entrance exam (China) or self selected on an academic track (Finland) and thus pre-selected in some way. I assume the testers would control for all that but would like to be reassured.
I assume it is true that the math curriculum is more advanced in these countries, though the special school in the US like Hunter and Stuyvesant in NY also have more advanced curriculums than average for the states. Of course, a country like China is bound to have many more highly gifted students, simply because it has such a larger population — and it would also have a larger low performing cohort, for the same reason.
Jim says some strange things! I pity any poor people who are condemned to live in Detroit (or Africa, for that matter).
It doesn’t say that it was China, it was PRC – Shanghai, which has a population more than lots of countries in the table. So put simply, your answer to the titled question is basically people from Shanghai are cheating and they spent too much money in buying the top ranking. Please, do some homework before publish something sensible on website.
Old Teacher – You are correct about the relationship between IQ tests and standardized tests such as the SAT. The SAT and many other such tests are basically disguised IQ tests.
Louisiana Purchase – Let me reassure you that I have no intention of wiping out the State of Louisiana although I sometimes suspect that would be an improvement.
Ron Porier – If you are anything like a typical Cajun I can understand why the prospect of the US turning into China horrifies you.
Jim, can you elaborate on that?
Ron – It’s a long way from Confucius to Laissez les bon temps rouler.
Shows what you know. Confucius was a party animal.
Wiping out the State of Louisiana does have eugenic appeal now that I think about it. Probably the quickest way to raise average US PISA scores.
Ron – Don’t invite Confucius to any of your Cajun parties. He’d be a party pooper even if he wasn’t dead.
Ron – If I had a Cajun friend I needed to give a Christmas present to would a copy of the Analects be a good idea or a waste of money?
Jim, if Jews are (as my substantial research indicates) descended from time travelling Acadian werewolves, then it might be a good idea simply because Jews seem to like Chinese food. On the other hand, it’s sort of coals to Newcastle bringing philosophy to les Acadie.
Come to think of it:
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of SoHo in the rain
He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fooks
For to get a big dish of beef chow mein
Well I’ll be. You may be on to something there, Jim.
Ron – “Can you elaborate on that?”
In my extensive life experiences with both Cajuns and East Asians I find hard to imagine two peoples so different.
In what ways?
From a former Shanghai student’s view, Shanghai’s system is truly different from other Chinese provinces. But this does not help students in Shanghai get a higher score than those at a similar school level in China. Because in a lot of schools, it’s the teachers who functions like parents in Shanghai.
As a Chinese native living more than 50% of time in US during the last 20 years, I’m not at all surprised by the result.
lemme talk a little bit about China style. I’m not judging which is better, China of US – it’s just different ways of living, it’s just plain facts.
Two facts are unbelievable for normal US people in terms of the education of kids in China, and as I knew, somewhat similar in Japan and Korea.
First, you can never imagine how crazy the Chinese parents go for the next generation education. A statistic in Beijing two years ago showed that the average cost for each kid for before-college education is roughly 800K RMB – equal to 120K USD. Suppose the kid goes to college at the age of 18, so is about 7K USD every year. You known the average household incoming in Beijing? It’s about 16K USD. This is a simple math, people spend 45% of their income to kid education. Bear in mind that not all families has only one child, in my daughter’s class, it’s about 1.4 per family. Well, this number might have been boosted up by some rich people, but it’s not unusual at all. My sister, who lives in a small town in a not-so-poor area, spends even up to 60% sometimes.
The parents just get insane to send their child to a better school. It cost about 15K~30K USD to get a kid into a good primary school if you are not living in the school district, just to bribe the school. Well, “bribe” might be a heavy word, you “voluntarily donate” that money to school since the state policy forbid tuition overcharge. 15K is a huge number considering the average family income.
Second, it’s purely hardworking and fierce competitions. I still remember my high school days. The school did not have weekends, I got one half-day break each week and one weekend every four weeks. Every day, I got up 6:00 am, followed by a running of 3K meters, and then one hour so called “early reading”, then the breakfast. And after a whole day’s class, at around 5:00pm, there was another 3K meter running. After dinner, there was another two-hour “night reading”. The students were then forced to go to sleep at 9:15 sharp, by cutting off the dome electricity.
Thanks God nowadays the education admonition forbids such hell-style training. No after-hour classes are allowed, and no more than half-hour homework are allowed for kids lower than 5th grade. Actually, three school heads were fired for doing so in my hometown last year. But that’s not a relief for the kids – the competition is still there. The teachers do not leave required homework now, but instead, leave the same amount of “optional” one which no parents take it optional. Many kids spend all their after school time on homework of all kind, literature, math, English, running, sit-ups, craft, class projects, presentations, etc. when the sweet weekend finally arrive, they have to go to after-school classes, not offered by school now, but instead by commercial education companies – the most popular schools are advance math, English, piano, Karate, dancing. You see, this is so called “the same herbal tea boiled by different water”, no policies could relieve one slight piece from the kids’ shoulders.
The competition arrives from the national college entry exam (so called “Gaokao”). You have to pass the line to go to a college. The good part is that this provides an equal opportunity to everyone, rich or poor. No matter which family you are born from, you have this chance to change your life. The bad part is that this is the only chance. In the remote poor rural area, “no college, no future” is what everyone believes, which now is becoming “no good college, no future”. And the fact is, China has so many kids, and not too many universities. The “Gaokao” is said to be like a huge troop trying to pass a river by a single-log bridge. You get on the bridge, you go to college, otherwise you just fall.
Gaokao is the ultimate goal of all students and the single most important thing before you graduate from high school. The kid’s future, the parents’ hope, the teacher’s performance and salary, the school’s reputation are all connected to this. In China, nobody knows about PISA, and nobody cares about PISA, Gaokao is everything.
The per capita GDP of Shanghai is $13,400 or about the half of that in Mississippi $33,000 the poorest in the United States