The P.I.S.A. exam, or Programme for Internationale Assessment was put together by the O.E.C.D. (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in 1997. The first tests were administered in 2000. They test knowledge and its applications. The tests are given to students who are between 15 years and 3 months and 16 years and 2 months. They test math, reading, science, problem solving and financial literacy. They are supposed to test skills assumed to be necessary in our global economy. In addition, surveys are also given to students, parents and schools to assess demographics.
P.I.S.A. would not be my choice "yardstick" for measuring any nation's educational system for several reasons.
1. Cultural biases may be inherent in the test and in its translation. Roughly one-half million students take the test in 65 countries. According to some opinions, the very way in which students attempt to complete the exam is largely embedded in culture. In some countries, students attempt to complete every question (Holland). In other countries, students are more likely to skip questions (Germany and Austria). Students in some nations get slaughtered, so to speak, near the end of the exam.
2. The Test only measures children who attend school. It tells us nothing about vast inequalities of access to education. Although the U.S. is struggling to increase educational gains by sectors of our population, all children attend school.
3. China ranked #1 in the most recent P.I.S.A. ratings; yet, there are questions about whether or not its sample which is drawn largely from its stellar city of Shanghai (minus many children of migrant workers) is truly representative of the country.
Enter the P.I.S.A. Dragon!
4. If countries gear curriculum towards these tests, they can inflate their numbers, but at what cost? What gets tested will guide what is taught. Countries will game the system in so many ways that strike at the heart of the true purposes of education.
Some link SAT scores to IQ; some link them to college readiness. When I went to school, SAT scores told me more about which families had more disposable income to funnel into Stanley Kaplan and the desire to do so. After the initial P.I.S.A. tests were given, people knew the nature of the beast, so to speak. Now, scores may not so much evaluate application of knowledge as degree of test prep in the host nations.
5. Standardized tests fail to measure creativity, invention, ingenuity, social skills and other, ultimately non-measurable gems integral to "success" (a term whose very definition is highly debatable) in life. The test supposedly evaluates skills necessary in the global economy by reducing whole educational systems to basically three numbers. I wonder with much trepidation how much the world will lose by focusing on turning out little, standard-issue automatons of the corporate world. Is there any place left for philosophy, music, art, invention, that which cannot be quantified, but may be among the most beautiful and important aspects of life? Must we all wear gray, flannel suits?
If P.I.S.A. becomes the ultimate measure of the worth of a nation's educational system, so much of beauty and diversity will be lost. Pearson may profit, but persons will not.
No comments:
Post a Comment