PISA Scores: The failure of ®eform, testing, or keeping score?” U.S. STUDENTS AVERAGE AROUND AVERAGE …AGAIN
“A decade of top-down, test-based schooling created by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top — focused on hyper-testing students, sanctioning teachers and closing schools — has failed to improve the quality of American public education.”- Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers
U.S. students lag around average on international science, math and reading test
BY LYNDSEY LAYTON, THE WASHINGTON POST, HTTP://WAPO.ST/1ESHK2Q
December 2 | Updated: Tuesday, December 3, 2:00 AM :: Scores in math, reading and science posted by 15-year-olds in the United States were flat while their counterparts elsewhere — particularly in Shanghai, Singapore and other Asian provinces or countries — soared ahead, according to results of a well-regarded international exam released Tuesday.While U.S. teenagers scored slightly above average in reading, their scores were average in science and below average in math, compared to 64 other countries and economies that participated in the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which was administered last fall. That pattern has not changed much since PISA was first administered in 2000.
“Our scores are stagnant. We’re not seeing any improvement for our 15-year-olds,” said Jack Buckley, commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. “But our ranking is flipping because a lot of these other countries are improving.”
The test scores offer fresh evidence for those who argue that the United States is losing ground to competitors in the global market and others who say a decade’s worth of school reform has done little to improve educational outcomes.
“While the intentions may have been good, a decade of top-down, test-based schooling created by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top — focused on hyper-testing students, sanctioning teachers and closing schools — has failed to improve the quality of American public education,” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a statement. The AFT released a video on Monday in which it implored the public not to blame teachers, the unions, parents or students for poor PISA results.
Graphic: How U.S. students compare internationally
The students from the United States posted mostly average scores compared to a selection of top performers from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, a study comparing math, reading and science proficiency of 15-year-olds from 65 countries and economies.