Australia states it will never match the schools of Finland. (click here) Supposedly Australian teachers are allowed to tell the truth.
This is what happens when schools are driven by test results and nonsensical measurements of success. The students lose. Almost worse than that, the teachers are not trusted.
September 2011
By LynNell Hancock
...This tale of a single rescued child (click here) hints at some of the reasons for the tiny Nordic nation’s staggering record of education success, a phenomenon that has inspired, baffled and even irked many of America’s parents and educators. Finnish schooling became an unlikely hot topic after the 2010 documentary film Waiting for “Superman” contrasted it with America’s troubled public schools.
...We've just finished writing reports, making sure that we have reached "outcomes" that are incomprehensible to parents and students but fulfil a bureaucratic need for accountability. Instead of giving our students marks or, God forbid, rankings, we have disguised their results in generalities so their parents are saved from facing the truth about their children's real progress.
We aren't allowed to tell it how it is. Even though we've been drowning in a sea of paperwork we've done our best to come up for air and actually teach our students. We've tried to give them one-on-one tutelage but the size of our classes has made this impossible....
This is what happens when schools are driven by test results and nonsensical measurements of success. The students lose. Almost worse than that, the teachers are not trusted.
September 2011
By LynNell Hancock
...This tale of a single rescued child (click here) hints at some of the reasons for the tiny Nordic nation’s staggering record of education success, a phenomenon that has inspired, baffled and even irked many of America’s parents and educators. Finnish schooling became an unlikely hot topic after the 2010 documentary film Waiting for “Superman” contrasted it with America’s troubled public schools.
“Whatever it takes” is an attitude that drives not just Kirkkojarvi’s 30 teachers, but most of Finland’s 62,000 educators in 3,500 schools from Lapland to Turku—professionals selected from the top 10 percent of the nation’s graduates to earn a required master’s degree in education. Many schools are small enough so that teachers know every student. If one method fails, teachers consult with colleagues to try something else. They seem to relish the challenges. Nearly 30 percent of Finland’s children receive some kind of special help during their first nine years of school. The school where Louhivuori teaches served 240 first through ninth graders last year; and in contrast with Finland’s reputation for ethnic homogeneity, more than half of its 150 elementary-level students are immigrants—from Somalia, Iraq, Russia, Bangladesh, Estonia and Ethiopia, among other nations. “Children from wealthy families with lots of education can be taught by stupid teachers,” Louhivuori said, smiling. “We try to catch the weak students. It’s deep in our thinking....
PISA
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) (click here) is an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students' reading, mathematics, and science literacy every three years. First conducted in 2000, the major domain of study rotates between mathematics, science, and reading in each cycle. PISA also includes measures of general or cross-curricular competencies, such as collaborative problem solving. By design, PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have acquired as they near the end of compulsory schooling. PISA is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of industrialized countries, and is conducted in the United States by NCES. Data collection for the most recent assessment was completed in Fall 2015....
American students aren't even making baseline.
December 3, 2013
By Julia Ryan
...On average, 13 percent of students (click here) scored at the highest or second highest level on the PISA test, making them “top performers.” Fifty-five percent of students in Shanghai-China were considered top performers, while only nine percent of American students were.
One in four U.S. students did not reach the PISA baseline level 2 of mathematics proficiency. At this level, “students begin to demonstrate the skills that will enable them to participate effectively and productively in life,” according to the PISA report.
Even the top students in the United States are behind: This year, the PISA report offered regional scores for Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Florida. Massachusetts, which is a high-achieving U.S. state and which averaged above the national PISA score, is still two years of formal schooling behind Shanghai....
American children can't compete in the real world. Just a reminder as to what matters.
September 3, 2015
By Scott Jaschik
SAT scores dropped significantly (click here) for the class of college-bound seniors this year. All three sections saw declines -- and the numbers were down for male and female students alike.
At the same time, SAT scores showed continued patterns in which white and Asian students, on average, receive higher scores than do black and Latino students. And, as has been the case for years, students from wealthier families score better than do those from disadvantaged families. These and other figures -- including new data on Advanced Placement participation -- are being released today by the College Board.
Over all, scores dropped two points on critical reading, two points on mathematics and three points on writing. The seven-point decline across all three sections compares to a one-point decline the prior year, and no change the year before that....
Stop blaming the teachers and their unions and look at the funding.
This graph is dated, 2004.
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Education at a Glance, 2004.
This graph shows that on secondary education (per student) the United States spends more than 17 other nations.
The USA relies too much on testing and does not trust their teachers to do their jobs. Teaching to the test is making thing far worse. The testing companies are cronies.
March 30, 2015
By Valerie Strauss
...The four corporations (click here) that dominate the U.S. standardized testing market spend millions of dollars lobbying state and federal officials — as well as sometimes hiring them — to persuade them to favor policies that include mandated student assessments, helping to fuel a nearly $2 billion annual testing business, a new analysis shows.
The analysis, done by the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit liberal watchdog and advocacy agency based in Wisconsin that tracks corporate influence on public policy, says that four companies — Pearson Education, ETS (Educational Testing Service), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw-Hill— collectively spent more than $20 million lobbying in states and on Capitol Hill from 2009 to 2014....
It is time to do away with this disaster and return respect to teachers.
PISA
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) (click here) is an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students' reading, mathematics, and science literacy every three years. First conducted in 2000, the major domain of study rotates between mathematics, science, and reading in each cycle. PISA also includes measures of general or cross-curricular competencies, such as collaborative problem solving. By design, PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have acquired as they near the end of compulsory schooling. PISA is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of industrialized countries, and is conducted in the United States by NCES. Data collection for the most recent assessment was completed in Fall 2015....
American students aren't even making baseline.
December 3, 2013
By Julia Ryan
...On average, 13 percent of students (click here) scored at the highest or second highest level on the PISA test, making them “top performers.” Fifty-five percent of students in Shanghai-China were considered top performers, while only nine percent of American students were.
One in four U.S. students did not reach the PISA baseline level 2 of mathematics proficiency. At this level, “students begin to demonstrate the skills that will enable them to participate effectively and productively in life,” according to the PISA report.
Even the top students in the United States are behind: This year, the PISA report offered regional scores for Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Florida. Massachusetts, which is a high-achieving U.S. state and which averaged above the national PISA score, is still two years of formal schooling behind Shanghai....
American children can't compete in the real world. Just a reminder as to what matters.
September 3, 2015
By Scott Jaschik
SAT scores dropped significantly (click here) for the class of college-bound seniors this year. All three sections saw declines -- and the numbers were down for male and female students alike.
At the same time, SAT scores showed continued patterns in which white and Asian students, on average, receive higher scores than do black and Latino students. And, as has been the case for years, students from wealthier families score better than do those from disadvantaged families. These and other figures -- including new data on Advanced Placement participation -- are being released today by the College Board.
Over all, scores dropped two points on critical reading, two points on mathematics and three points on writing. The seven-point decline across all three sections compares to a one-point decline the prior year, and no change the year before that....
Stop blaming the teachers and their unions and look at the funding.This graph is dated, 2004.
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Education at a Glance, 2004.
This graph shows that on secondary education (per student) the United States spends more than 17 other nations.
The USA relies too much on testing and does not trust their teachers to do their jobs. Teaching to the test is making thing far worse. The testing companies are cronies.
March 30, 2015
By Valerie Strauss
...The four corporations (click here) that dominate the U.S. standardized testing market spend millions of dollars lobbying state and federal officials — as well as sometimes hiring them — to persuade them to favor policies that include mandated student assessments, helping to fuel a nearly $2 billion annual testing business, a new analysis shows.
The analysis, done by the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit liberal watchdog and advocacy agency based in Wisconsin that tracks corporate influence on public policy, says that four companies — Pearson Education, ETS (Educational Testing Service), Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and McGraw-Hill— collectively spent more than $20 million lobbying in states and on Capitol Hill from 2009 to 2014....
It is time to do away with this disaster and return respect to teachers.
