U.S. Students and PISA: Same As It Ever Was
There’s been little or no change in the performance of U.S. students on the latest round of the international PISA assessment, with stagnant scores in reading, mathematics, and science. With other countries pulling away at the head of the pack, America saw its overall ranking slip. Just as troubling – achievement gaps persist among students by ethnicity and socioeconomic status. At the same time, the U.S. continues to vastly outspend other countries on public education. (The Atlantic’s headline summed it up nicely: “American Schools vs. the World: Expensive, Unequal, Bad at Math.”)
PISA was created by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to provide a comparable measure of public education systems around the globe. Fifteen-year-old students in 65 countries and jurisdictions are tested on their critical thinking skills and problem solving capabilities as well as their proficiency in core subjects. PISA also collects surveys from students and educators and in some places the parents, as well, which gives the OECD information about how schools operate and students’ home life.
Here’s what U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had to say about the results:
PISA was created by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to provide a comparable measure of public education systems around the globe. Fifteen-year-old students in 65 countries and jurisdictions are tested on their critical thinking skills and problem solving capabilities as well as their proficiency in core subjects. PISA also collects surveys from students and educators and in some places the parents, as well, which gives the OECD information about how schools operate and students’ home life.
Here’s what U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had to say about the results:
“While we are seeing some encouraging progress on many important measures, the United States’ performance on the 2012 PISA is a picture of