Tom Loveless wrote an article criticizing OECD for allowing Shanghai to exclude the children of migrants from PISA testing, thus artificially boosting their scores. His article hit a hornet’s nest.

Loveless writes:

Andreas Schleicher of OECD-PISA wrote a response to my essays, as did Dr. Zhang Minxuan, President of Shanghai Normal University.  Marc Tucker, President and CEO of the National Center on Education and the Economy, joined Mr. Schleicher in publishing a third response in Education Week.  

Here he responds to the critics. 

Please read his valuable analysis of the critiques.

Here are his conclusions:

Recommendations and Conclusion

 

These convoluted explanations place PISA’s integrity at risk.

 

I now elaborate upon my previous recommendation.  The PISA Governing Board, the governing authority responsible for PISA’s adherence to basic standards of assessment, should commission an independent panel to investigate and report on the OECD-PISA’s arrangement with China.  Evidence should include: all solicitations of participation in PISA that were made to Chinese provinces–and their responses; all correspondence and agreements regarding sampling and the reporting of PISA scores, whether the agreements were made with the central government in Beijing or provincial authorities; and a full review of the substance and quality of data that were collected throughout China in 2009 and 2012.  All data previously collected should be released so that independent scholars can conduct secondary analyses and verify conclusions publicized over the past several years. 

 

In the meantime, the ever changing story of PISA’s special arrangement with China continues to cast doubt on the trustworthiness of PISA.  

 

A December 18, 2013 CNN interview featured Andreas Schleicher and two other guests.  The discussion took place in Shanghai.   Mr. Schleicher stated, “There is no question that rural schools in China do better than similar schools almost anywhere else in the world.” 

 

The secret rural data are alive again!  And, we are told, although we will never have a chance to see them, that there is no question what the data reveal.

 

The only Chinese educator on the panel objected to Mr. Schleicher’s assertion and argued that rural schools in China are under-resourced and in terrible condition.  Mr. Schleicher would not hear of it, responding, “If you are at a disadvantaged school in China, your chance to succeed is much greater than in much of the rest of the world.” 

 

Shanghai is back to being representative of China, the secret data have been resurrected, wild assertions about overcoming disadvantage in China are being promoted, and, once again, hukou and the plight of migrant children go unnoticed.

 

China has a long way to go in reforming hukou.  And the OECD has a long way to go in reforming PISA.