In the past these types of results have been explained away by differences in who gets tested and the types of tests administered. However, this article shows that the PISA not only is a more accurate measure of critical thinking and reasoning, but she goes on to break down the comparisons state by state. Please take the time to look at the interactive graph that is included with the article. The conclusions are troubling to me as an educator and I would welcome your thoughts on how it relates to you as students.
When finished reading her piece, please offer your comments and we will also discuss in class.
An interesting correlation is how high Asian countries are. Since their curriculum often is compared to America's they always can try to outperform. This means that the Asian countries are leaping ahead when it comes to math while the U.S. is lagging behind. This trend is bad for America not only because it means that less Americans will receive jobs in the future, but also that America will drop out of the global picture entirely when it comes to business. We will be so outperformed that when companies look for cheap labor, they go to America because of how mediocre we will be in comparison.
ReplyDeleteOn the article, they had an option to click on graphs, and compare are states to other states and countries. Countries that I would not believe to be higher (like Korea) actually leave us in the dust with more than triple our Math rate for all students. It is sad to see that the United States a supposed "leader" has such a lower standard of education. I mean Massachusetts(the highest of our states) barely ranks in the top 20). Something I found interesting, was that all of the ideas we think improve may education, like smaller classes, more money etc. etc., may in fact not elp as much as we originally thought.
ReplyDeleteNow all these statistics are great but the thing is that for a truly exceptional student to excel in those countries might show some interesting numbers. So the thing is that if a great student were to try to excel in other countries would it be easier or harder. if someone truly tries are they better off here or somewhere else. Some of these countries that are better then us might be worse do to the fact that they force everyone on the same level.
ReplyDeleteI feel as if our school board and other Colorado school leaders should view these results. I believe we should implement those things WE KNOW already work. Like the tests that allow teachers to teach at specific schools and tests to approve graduation; there are methods that are showing better educated kids. We should keep searching and trying to find those specific things that make us students just "get it." School boards should look at where we stand to other schools and take from what we see and drop the past ways that led to us dropping lower on the scale. Some of the things it said, like the "Smart kids can do it on there own" is somewhat frightening when looking at it like so. If we dont keep looking for those things to help educate kids, then those so called "smart kids" will be left behind along with the kids not getting it. Its sort of sad.
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ReplyDeleteTo me all of these facts and figures and different ways of looking at the problem, have not done anything so far to solve the problem. I think that maybe now that we see that the student in America really aren't educated well, we should look into the reason why, instead of worrying where the US ranks. Maybe the US needs to come up with a different education system, or a different method of approaching education.
ReplyDeleteI love how the world competes. We compete in business, athletics and especially education. America was once considered the greatest country on Earth, great opportunities, fantastic education, this status I don't think we can really give credit to anymore. Education in particular it is sad to see that not even a single state in the U.S can be considered highly ranked in schooling. An no matter how much money is out into making schools better there is no difference to show for it. We can't blame the immigrants either. I think Americans simply need to change their living style. Because honestly we are just lazy.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article I came to wonder why is the United States lagging so far behind competing countries? The facts don't budge; our "best educated" state is Massachusetts, and even the students there don't compete with the "best educated" countries today. Is it a lack of motivation that continues to lead us farther and farther from the finish line? I don't believe that it's a lack of supplies that does so, since we have doubled our spending and results have barely improved. There is so much information and so many articles proving that America is falling behind in the education industry, but seemingly with no answers. How are we ever going to catch up to countries like China and India if nobody can find the means we need to do so?
ReplyDeleteWell, this article has proven to be alarming in how it reveals that even though the U.S. is ahead in the world today, unless changes are made, this won't last very long. However, as I was reading I was wondering how man students in each country were average? Meaning how well is each country educating ALL of their students, not just the top performers. It seems to me that all of this data only focuses on the best and the brightest when in reality, it is the average students that make the difference because they are the majority. Nevertheless, I agree that America's teaching system needs to be revised. I agree that we must make the extra effort to truly push kids to their fullest potential, not simply allow them to coast through school.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing, going off of Jazz, is that yes, we should identify the things that work in education and apply them. As the article mentioned, the only state that performs well does so only because of its strict quality checks that are performed on teachers at regular intervals.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting. These comparisons are based on standardized tests but that may not be the most accurate way to compare the U.S.A. to other countries. We need to look at the curriculums that are used in our schools versus those of other countries. Our curriculum expects less of students than is expected in other countries. Students that receive "A's" here may receive "C's" in a foreign curriculum. I think another part of the problem is that kids don't take these standardized tests seriously. If you were to ask a group of kids, probably only like half of them actually care about these tests and put effort into them. I don't think a lot of kids realize how important these tests actually are.
ReplyDeleteWell, its not really that surprising to me. Yes, it is still somewhat shocking and worrying, but I almost knew beforehand that that was the case. The problem is, the possible effectiveness of the United States in the future is being decided right now. This problem must be fixed as soon as possible. Further, the fact that they compared other countries to individual states really brought it home to me. A survey comparing all of the U.S is more general, seemingly less likely to affect me in tiny Manitou Springs. The use of each state really worries me. It was a very interesting article.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that other countries are out preforming the US by such great amounts is alarming. I think it is one of many fingers all pointing to an undeniable fact. The US is dying as a world power. Money isn't our only issue in international affairs. Obama is completely correct when he says that other countries will outcompete us in the future. In my opinion the US needs to compact itself and fix problems within the country before we meddle with others. The first step has already been taken. Massachusetts is moving in the right direction and the sooner we all can take after them, the better.
ReplyDeleteI am thoroughly depressed now. It is almost as if we are not given an equal opportunity to learn because of restrictions of the knowledge of teachers. However, at the same time, it makes me feel as if it is our fault as much as the government. The part that struck me the most was about Mississippi being equal to places like Serbia. This isn't something I've ever heard before and it is horrible to hear. The entire idea that we are so incredibly behind in our education and yet we are still able to call ourselves one of the greatest world powers is craziness. Sadly, I am officially convinced that China and other countries that scored so much higher than us will simply take over. I really hope it doesn't happen in my lifetime because that could mean very limited opportunities for us average American graduates.
ReplyDeleteThese studies say that the U.S. is lagging behind in education, badly. I believe this is true to a certain extent, but overall his study has some major wholes. First of all, by taking only 4th and 8th graders, he misses out on the upperclassman high school student's component, that the students which scored lower, will have dropped out. I believe that this would level the playing field, which leans towards countries without mandatory education due to the fact that only the smartest will go to school. The second, and more potent reason, is that our elementary, secondary, and high schools are set up differently, and better prepare American students for college, where we have a reasonable advantage over many of those nations. Why else would people from all over the world make it their goal to go to university in the U.S.?
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting. I cannot believe how low we are but at the same time I could defiantly believe it. The countries that are so much higher than we are on this list are countries who don't HAVE to go to school. We are almost forced to go to school and so therefore many students are not motivated to provide a good future for themselves because they don't have that much responsibility. Countries like China and Japan that are high on the list know what it's like to work hard making minimum wage. Now I'm not saying Americans are not working hard because I believe they are but our generation takes advantage of the education system we do have.
ReplyDeleteI think its quite sad how far behind the United States is. The more disappointing part is the reason that we fell behind. It is because we have lowered our standards. When I read this article I enjoy how Massachusetts requires more from a person wanting to become a teacher. Even though they are further ahead than the rest of us, the requirements must be raised. I think we need a better sense of competition. "Look how well Asian countries are doing, lets try and beat them!"
ReplyDeleteThe article was a bit on the alarming side. I knew that the United States as a whole was not near as advanced as Asian countries or European countries, but not that much. It was even more alarming to me that when they broke it down to states. I also made excuses that it could be a certain state bringing down the average for our test scores, but when I looked at the chart, it showed each state singly. This was even more shocking to see some of our biggest "best" states not even in the top twenty. I think that every state should have the same demands as Massachusetts. That way, not only would our country look less embarassing, but there would be a massive chain reaction of greatness, making our country look like a great one, not a lazy one. Or, we should change the way we do education. Reading this, I know that a change is needed.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like plenty of people are willing to complain about the problems in or education system, or to analyze why it's filing, but what really needs to be done to fix it? What if teachers here had to be tested? What if it wasn't automatically assumed that kids are dumb and school will fix that? What if we were all pushed to get farther? Not just the honors classes or the IB kids. If we were given a chance and some incentive to do well, we would, and that seems pretty simple to me. What can MSHS do this year to improve the school without increasing the budget, and without cleaning out the staff? And how can we spread improvements to other schools.
ReplyDeleteI do not find any of these statistics surprising. I am constantly bombarded with the fact that the United States achieves less than other countries. I did find it interesting however, that they decided to compare each state individually instead of as a how. This makes logical sense since there will always be outliers. it was obvious that the states on the east coast scored relatively higher than the other states. I think this makes sense because those states have had a longer time to build up and refine their education system over the years, whereas other states have not. This also makes sense in comparing the United States to other countries. We have not been around as long as other countries have.
ReplyDeleteWell, I am depressed now. Thank you, Barton. I think that want made me so shocked is the fact that I thought that since America is one of the bigger wold powers, we would have sufficient test scores and be somewhere up at the top of many other countries. I found it even worse that so many of our states have low percentages of students performing at the advanced level of mathematics. I am also shocked that Massachuettes is our "best" state for test scores and it is number 17 compared to other countries. What baffled me the most is that our middle school teachers tests and scored so much lowe r thatn teachers in Taiwan and Singapore. I am so concerned about our country right now...
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