Why Is Kiddie PISA a Thing
Every so often the OECD throws a big fat standardized test (the PISA) at fifteen-year-olds from a bunch of nations that have different cultures and speak different languages and then use the results to stack rank those nations, leading to a paroxysm of pearl clutching and teeth gnashing over the results. And it's always good for some trauma because as long as the test has existed, the United States has ranked, to be generous, in the mediocre middle.
What could possibly make the whole PISA business even better?
How about giving a computer-based PISA to five year olds!
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| That'll be quite enough of that, you little slacker. |
Over in the UK they're about to attempt a 300-student pilot of this extraordinarily hare-brained idea. And the US is supposedly also in on this, though Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium (among others) have said they will not be participating. Other reports are that the OECD is looking for three to six countries to play along.
The pilot will involve around 300 children, and uses games and stories on tablet computers to map pupils’ early capabilities – which will then be linked to educational performance at 15 through the international PISA tests given to teenagers across the globe every four years.
Is there some good reason to do this? Officials have tried to make a case for it.
Researchers say the study will give countries an in-depth insight into children’s learning at a critical age enabling them to share best practice.
The Early Learning and Child Well-being Study will be run on 3,000 students internationally in CURMUDGUCATION: Why Is Kiddie PISA a Thing: