-----Original Message----- From: David Farber [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2010 6:01 AM To: ip Subject: [IP] Top Test Scores From Shanghai Stun Educators
Begin forwarded message: From: Dewayne Hendricks <[email protected]> Date: December 8, 2010 2:04:57 AM EST To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <[email protected]> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Top Test Scores From Shanghai Stun Educators Reply-To: [email protected] December 7, 2010 Top Test Scores From Shanghai Stun Educators By SAM DILLON <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html> With China's debut in international standardized testing, students in Shanghai have surprised experts by outscoring their counterparts in dozens of other countries, in reading as well as in math and science, according to the results of a respected exam. American officials and Europeans involved in administering the test in about 65 countries acknowledged that the scores from Shanghai - an industrial powerhouse with some 20 million residents and scores of modern universities that is a magnet for the best students in the country - are by no means representative of all of China. About 5,100 15-year-olds in Shanghai were chosen as a representative cross-section of students in that city. In the United States, a similar number of students from across the country were selected as a representative sample for the test. Experts noted the obvious difficulty of using a standardized test to compare countries and cities of vastly different sizes. Even so, they said the stellar academic performance of students in Shanghai was noteworthy, and another sign of China's rapid modernization. The results also appeared to reflect the culture of education there, including greater emphasis on teacher training and more time spent on studying rather than extracurricular activities like sports. "Wow, I'm kind of stunned, I'm thinking Sputnik," said Chester E. Finn Jr., who served in President Ronald Reagan's Department of Education, referring to the groundbreaking Soviet satellite launching. Mr. Finn, who has visited schools all across China, said, "I've seen how relentless the Chinese are at accomplishing goals, and if they can do this in Shanghai in 2009, they can do it in 10 cities in 2019, and in 50 cities by 2029." The test, the Program for International Student Assessment, known as PISA, was given to 15-year-old students by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group that includes the world's major industrial powers. The results are to be released officially on Tuesday, but advance copies were provided to the news media a day early. "We have to see this as a wake-up call," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview on Monday. "I know skeptics will want to argue with the results, but we consider them to be accurate and reliable, and we have to see them as a challenge to get better," he added. "The United States came in 23rd or 24th in most subjects. We can quibble, or we can face the brutal truth that we're being out-educated." In math, the Shanghai students performed in a class by themselves, outperforming second-place Singapore, which has been seen as an educational superstar in recent years. The average math scores of American students put them below 30 other countries. PISA scores are on a scale, with 500 as the average. Two-thirds of students in participating countries score between 400 and 600. On the math test last year, students in Shanghai scored 600, in Singapore 562, in Germany 513, and in the United States 487. In reading, Shanghai students scored 556, ahead of second-place Korea with 539. The United States scored 500 and came in 17th, putting it on par with students in the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and several other countries. In science, Shanghai students scored 575. In second place was Finland, where the average score was 554. The United States scored 502 - in 23rd place - with a performance indistinguishable from Poland, Ireland, Norway, France and several other countries. [snip] Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://www.warpspeed.com/wordpress> ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/125975-1ee5912c Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=125975&id_secret=125975-23791a65 Unsubscribe Now: https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=125975&id_secret=125975-8f271 c78&post_id=20101209090148:DBB78718-039C-11E0-A0EE-4A68F559ED1D Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com !DSPAM:2676,4d00e777308684111073294! _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
