"PISA is a three-yearly survey of 15-year-olds in the 30 OECD member countries and 35 partner countries . It assesses the extent to which students near the end of compulsory education have acquired the knowledge and skills essential in everyday life. They are tested in the domains of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy and complete a background questionnaire. For each cycle one domain is focused on more than the others. The first data collection took place in 2000, the second in 2003 and the third in 2006. The fourth cycle is in progress for 2009."
Like any statistical analysis, this study isn't perfect, but, it certainly is an eye opener. If China is able to replicate their success in Shanghai in other regions of China, the United States is going to start to fall behind in 5-10 years in terms of academic leadership of the world.
Time will tell - Shanghai might be an outlier. The United States may also get its act together when it comes to education in general.
This is a pretty decent summary:
"PISA is a three-yearly survey of 15-year-olds in the 30 OECD member countries and 35 partner countries . It assesses the extent to which students near the end of compulsory education have acquired the knowledge and skills essential in everyday life. They are tested in the domains of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy and complete a background questionnaire. For each cycle one domain is focused on more than the others. The first data collection took place in 2000, the second in 2003 and the third in 2006. The fourth cycle is in progress for 2009."
Like any statistical analysis, this study isn't perfect, but, it certainly is an eye opener. If China is able to replicate their success in Shanghai in other regions of China, the United States is going to start to fall behind in 5-10 years in terms of academic leadership of the world.
Time will tell - Shanghai might be an outlier. The United States may also get its act together when it comes to education in general.