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Thursday, December 5th, 2019

‘It Just Isn’t Working’: PISA Test Scores Cast Doubt on U.S. Education Efforts

Author:     Dana Goldstein
Source:     The New York Times
Publication Date:     Dec. 3, 2019
 Link: ‘It Just Isn’t Working’: PISA Test Scores Cast Doubt on U.S. Education Efforts
Stephan:   I have been watching the American public education trend for years now hoping something would change the equation and stop its downward spiral. . But it didn't, and it hasn't. In a world growing ever more technological where the education level of a country's population is going to be a major determinant in that nation's prosperity and wellbeing, as this article outlines, we are moving into crisis.

The achievement gap in reading between high and low performers in the United States is widening.
Credit…Megan Jelinger/Agence France-Presse /Getty

The performance of American teenagers in reading and math has been stagnant since 2000, according to the latest results of a rigorous international exam, despite a decades-long effort to raise standards and help students compete with peers across the globe.

And the achievement gap in reading between high and low performers is widening. Although the top quarter of American students have improved their performance on the exam since 2012, the bottom 10th percentile lost ground, according to an analysis by the National Center for Education Statistics, a federal agency.

The disappointing results from the exam, the Program for International Student Assessment, were announced on Tuesday and follow those from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, an American test that recently showed that two-thirds of children were not proficient readers.

Over all, American 15-year-olds who took the PISA test scored slightly above students from peer nations in reading […]

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2 Comments

    • Stephan Schwartz on Thursday, December 5, 2019 at 12:33 pm

      Ken —
      I agree. All test scores should be viewed skeptically, including those of the U.S.. However, when you see many different studies patterns begin to emerge, and that is what I look for. Go to Academia.edu or Explorejournal.com and search for my paper, “Why America Doesn’t Like its Children” (which can be freely downloaded) to get a more detailed take on my views. — Stephan