 |
| This sums up the Charlestown Citizens Alliance attitude toward Chariho |
As
a nation, we worry far too much about PISA scores, which rank and rate students
according to standardized tests. Many nations have higher average scores than
we do, yet we are the most powerful nation on earth–economically,
technologically, and militarily.
What
do the PISA scores mean? In his new book, “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Dragon?
Why China Has the Best (and the Worst) Education in the World,” Yong Zhao says
that the East Asian nations have the top scores because they do heavy-duty test
prep.
One thing is clear: the PISA scores do not predict the future of our
economy. They never have. Our students have never had high scores on
international tests, not since the first international test of math was
administered in 1964, and our seniors scored last among 12 nations. We went on
over the half-century since then to outcompete the other 11 nations with higher
test scores.
(Actually,
UNICEF finds that Romania has even higher child poverty than we do, but anyone
who has been to that nation would not rank the mighty, rich, and powerful U.S.
in the same league with Romania, still struggling to overcome 50 years of
Communist misrule and impoverishment). When it comes to child poverty, we are
number 1.
While we obsess over test scores, we ignore other
important indicators, for example, the proportion of children who are enrolled
in a quality preschool program. The Economist magazine published an international
survey of 45 nations,
in relation to quality and availability, and the United States ranked 24th,
tied with the United Arab Emirates. The Nordic countries led the survey with near
universal high-quality preschool.
Another number reflects our government’s failure to
invest in what works. The March of Dimes in partnership with other
organizations conducted an international
survey of the
availability of good prenatal care programs for pregnant women.
Preterm births
are the leading cause of death among newborns; it is also a significant cause
of cognitive and developmental disabilities. Of 184 nations surveyed, we ranked
131, tied with Thailand, Turkey, and Somalia.This problem could easily be
solved by just a few of our billionaire philanthropists.
So what do you think matters most? The test scores
of 15-year-old students or the health and well-being of our young children?
Might there be a connection?
Standardized tests are an accurate predictor of
family income and education. Reduce poverty, and scores will rise. Scores on
the SAT college admission test, for example, mirror students’ family
background.
Students from the poorest families score the lowest, and students
from the richest families score the highest. The gap between those at the
bottom and those at the top is 400 points. As one Wall Street Journal blogger put
it, the SAT might just
as well be known as the Student Affluence Test.
Our policymakers’ obsession with test scores is
unhealthy and counter-productive. They think the way to raise scores is to make
the standards and curriculum harder and test more.
Today, little children are
taking 8 or 9 hours of tests, and as the standards grow “harder,” the failure
rate goes higher.
We are the most over-tested nation in the world, and the benefits
accrue to testing corporations like Pearson and McGraw-Hill, not to children.
The tests themselves are a dubious measure. There are better ways to know
whether children are learning than standardized tests. Why else would our
elites send their children to schools that seldom use them?
What’s good enough
for the children of Bill Gates and Barack Obama should be good enough for other
people’s children.
We should stop obsessing about test scores and start
obsessing about the health and well-being of children and their families. The
gains would be far more valuable than a few points on a standardized test. That
is the only way we will assure children a good start in life and a fair chance
to succeed in our society.