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                      <td> <h4>What International Test Scores Really Tell Us: 
                          Lessons Buried in PISA Report</h4>
                        <p><em>Guest Editorial: William J. Mathis, Goshen, Vermont, 
                          is the Managing Director of the National Education Policy 
                          Center and a former Vermont school superintendent. The 
                          views expressed are his own. </em><br>
                          <br>
                          For the twenty-seventh year, government officials have 
                          yet again been surprised, shocked and dismayed over 
                          the latest international test score rankings. Secretary 
                          of Education Arne Duncan said &#8220;We have to see 
                          this as a very serious wake-up call.&#8221; Former Reagan 
                          education official Checker Finn reported that he was 
                          &#8220;kind of stunned&#8221; by the results of the 
                          Program for International Student Achievement (PISA) 
                          results. In hyperbolic overdrive, he compared the results 
                          to Pearl Harbor and sputnik. <br>
                          <br>
                          <br>
                          The PISA tests were given to 15 year old students by 
                          the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 
                          (OECD) in 65 nations. Nine nations had higher average 
                          scores in reading, seventeen in math, and twelve in 
                          science. While ranking nations on test scores is a pretty 
                          sorry way to evaluate education systems, there is simply 
                          no reason to expect the results to have been any better 
                          than they were the last time we heard from this same 
                          chorus of surprised, shocked and dismayed pundits and 
                          politicians.<br>
                          <br>
                          <br>
                          The reason is simple. Federal and state policymakers 
                          continue to embrace reforms that have little positive 
                          effect (if not downright negative effects) while ignoring 
                          reforms that make a difference. Buried within the PISA 
                          report is an analysis of educational systems that registered 
                          high test scores. Here are some of the less-reported 
                          findings: <br>
                          <br>
                          &#8226; The best performing school systems manage to 
                          provide high-quality education to all children. <br>
                          &#8226; Students from low socio-economic backgrounds 
                          score a year behind their more affluent classmates. 
                          However, poorer students who are integrated with their 
                          more affluent classmates score strikingly higher. The 
                          difference is worth more than a year&#8217;s education.<br>
                          &#8226; In schools where students are required to repeat 
                          grades (such as with promotion requirements), the test 
                          scores are lower and the achievement gap is larger. 
                          <br>
                          &#8226; Tracking students (&#8220;ability grouping&#8221;) 
                          results in the gap becoming wider. The earlier the practice 
                          begins, the greater the gap. Poor children are more 
                          frequently shunted into the lower tracks.<br>
                          &#8226; Systems that transfer weak or disruptive students 
                          score lower on tests and on equity. One-third of the 
                          differences in national performance can be ascribed 
                          to this one factor.<br>
                          &#8226; Schools that have autonomy over curriculum, 
                          finances and assessment score higher.<br>
                          &#8226; Schools that compete for students (vouchers, 
                          charters, etc.) show no achievement score advantage.<br>
                          &#8226; Private schools do no better once family wealth 
                          factors are considered.<br>
                          &#8226; Students that attended pre-school score higher, 
                          even after more than ten years.<br>
                          <br>
                          <br>
                          As OECD Paris based official Michael Davidson said in 
                          National Public Radio comments, &#8220;One of the striking 
                          things is the impact of social background on (U.S.) 
                          success.&#8221; Twenty percent of U. S performance was 
                          attributed to social background -- which is far higher 
                          than in other nations. Davidson went on to point out 
                          that the United States just does not distribute financial 
                          resources or quality teachers equally. In a related 
                          finding, students from single parent homes score much 
                          lower in the United States than they do in other countries. 
                          The 23 point difference is almost a year&#8217;s lack 
                          of growth.<br>
                          <br>
                          <strong>Our Educational Policies</strong> &#8211; Unfortunately, 
                          federal and state policies do little to adopt these 
                          factors that other nations have found so successful. 
                          Countless finance studies show that funding across our 
                          schools is inequitable and inadequate. Federal and state 
                          governments vaguely note this concern but actions do 
                          not match the rhetoric. Our treatment of economically 
                          deprived students is to house them in segregated schools 
                          and shunt them into tracked programs.<br>
                          <br>
                          A number of &#8220;get tough&#8221; social promotion 
                          policies have been adopted in states even though we 
                          know they are harmful. Despite a clear research consensus, 
                          early education is still politically disputed. Tracking 
                          students still remains the national norm even as we 
                          know they increase the achievement gap. As the federal 
                          government (under both Republican and Democratic administrations) 
                          has become even more top-down and prescriptive, local 
                          schools become less autonomous and less like our successful 
                          international counterparts. Finally, the push for privatizing 
                          public education through charters, tuition tax credits, 
                          vouchers and the like does not result in better test 
                          scores and has the effect of increasing segregation, 
                          and the inequalities that lead to low test scores.<br>
                          <br>
                          <strong>The American Dream </strong>&#8211; The American 
                          dream is that all children have an opportunity to be 
                          successful no matter how humble their roots. Thus, the 
                          most troubling finding in the PISA results is the lack 
                          of &#8220;resilience&#8221; among our children. OECD 
                          measured resilience by looking at the scores of the 
                          least wealthy 25% of students and seeing what proportion 
                          of these students have academic scores in the top 25% 
                          of countries with similar socio-economic levels. In 
                          the highest scoring nations, 70 percent of the students 
                          are rated resilient. The U. S. figure is less than 30%. 
                          In a nation which sees the top 1% controlling more than 
                          50% of the nation&#8217;s wealth and the collapse of 
                          middle class jobs, we face the specter of building a 
                          country of social, economic and educational apartheid. 
                          Secretary Duncan calls the PISA scores a serious wake-up 
                          call for our economy and &#8220;international competitiveness.&#8221; 
                          But that is merely to misunderstand economics and global 
                          competitiveness. Due to our pursuit of ineffective and 
                          ill-focused educational and economic reforms, the rude 
                          disturbance of our slumbers is the slamming of the door 
                          on the American dream.<br>
                          <br>
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