[xiaoselangone]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/ed...tion.html?_r=1


Top Test Scores From Shanghai Stun Educators

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.

“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.

“We have to see this as a wake-up call,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview on Monday.

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.

If Shanghai is a showcase of Chinese educational progress, America’s showcase would be Massachusetts, which has routinely scored higher than all other states on America’s main federal math test in recent years. But in a 2007 study that correlated the results of that test with the results of an international math exam, Massachusetts students scored behind Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Shanghai did not participate in the test.

[galaktiusman]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/ed...tion.html?_r=1


Top Test Scores From Shanghai Stun Educators

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.

“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.

“We have to see this as a wake-up call,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in an interview on Monday.

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.

If Shanghai is a showcase of Chinese educational progress, America’s showcase would be Massachusetts, which has routinely scored higher than all other states on America’s main federal math test in recent years. But in a 2007 study that correlated the results of that test with the results of an international math exam, Massachusetts students scored behind Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Shanghai did not participate in the test.

If a whole nation like Finland can compete with an upper elite like Shanghai thats awsome! Well done Finland!

[Aw1HhC0m]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-1...ai-excels.html


Fifteen-year-olds in Asia topped the charts on an international test, raising concern in the U.S. that the nation’s students lag in economic competitiveness.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development, which represents 34 countries, released yesterday the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment. For the first time, the triennial test broke out China’s Shanghai region -- which topped every country, in all academic categories. South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan all outpaced the U.S.

Asian countries and regions benefit from a cultural emphasis on education, investments in teacher quality and equitable funding of schools regardless of family income, Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the test for the Paris-based OECD, said in a telephone interview.

“It is striking,” Schleicher said. “These countries are improving very rapidly.”

China’s success in Shanghai stemmed from the government’s abandonment of a system of “key schools” for elites, and the institution of “a more inclusive system in which all students are expected to perform at high levels,” the OECD said in yesterday’s report.

China also raised teacher pay and standards and reduced rote learning, while giving students and local authorities more choice in curriculum.

“The brutal fact here is there are many countries that are far ahead of us and improving more rapidly than we are,” Duncan said. “This should be a massive wake-up call to the entire country.”