PISA and Scientific Education  A Review of “The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way”, by Amanda Ripley, 2013.

 By Cindy Deal  

In the mid-1980’s, Andrew Schleicher was studying physics at one of Germany’s most elite universities, the University of Hamburg. He spent his free time drifting into lectures in other fields, that he had no intention of taking, the way other people drifted into watching television shows. His father, an education professor there at the university, had always spoken about education as a sort of mystical art, like yoga; but Schleicher preferred physics, believing there was nothing scientific about education. But when he wandered into a course with Thomas Neville Postlethwaite, who called himself an “educational scientist,” Schleicher began to imagine other possibilities. He wondered what could happen if one could compare international kids, controlling for race and poverty and so forth.  

Postlethwaite was part of an obscure group of researchers trying to analyze soft subjects in a hard way. The two of them began to collaborate and eventually created the first international reading test. The other international tests that had come before PISA did not quantify their preparedness for life. The results of the first Program for International Student Assessment test were ready by December 4, 2001. This test does not evaluate what kids had memorized, nor what the teachers had drilled into them in the classroom. PISA reveals the countries that were teaching students to think for themselves.

Ripley, a journalist who has written acclaimed articles about children’s learning, does a deep dive into which of these factors affect education throughout the world: parenting styles, teacher education, race, economic status, and government spending. The purpose of the book is to highlight the variety of rigor in schools throughout the United States and across the world. She does this largely through the eyes of American exchange students in foreign countries, as well as analyzing data. Her research question is this: why the rigor in educational superpowers? One simple answer is that for their teacher education program, these countries accepted only students in the top third of their high school class. At this low point in our nation’s educational history, I would like to revisit some of her ideas.

While the book is almost ten years old, the information is crucial in today’s environment and should be considered seriously in our national debate about education. Although “The Smartest Kids in the World'' was written in 2013, with the Critical Race Theory wars going on now, it is timely. Slaves were brought to this country in 1619, but many of the Founders of our country were opposed to slavery. There is a false dichotomy between the views sometimes known as 1619 and 1776, both because the truth is most likely in the middle and because indoctrination is in opposition to teaching kids to think on their own. If our goal as a nation is to be at the top of the world economically and educationally, it is counterproductive for us to spend so much of our energy on these debates. I realize there are strong feelings on each side and the fight is not over, but let’s keep in mind as well the importance of rigor.

In fact, the country’s scores on the test have a direct correlation to their economic development. Countries who do not do as well on this test will be less able to develop and maintain the industries which will bring true prosperity to the country. There is much conversation today about income inequality, but without a rigorous education, too many Americans will be relegated to doing low-skilled, low wage jobs unattractive to workers in other countries, if those jobs are available at all. A strong economy theoretically lifts all boats.

Ripley’s conclusion is that everything depended upon the actions of teachers’ preparation for their classes, devotion to teaching, respect for students, the parents’ coaching, and students finding their own rigor in some cases. While she was in Finland, Ripley started to think more and more that the American diversity narrative, blaming our mediocrity on the students’ backgrounds and neighborhoods, was toxic.

One of the ways a more rigorous curriculum is successfully being put into practice in the US is through earned honors programs. These course adaptations teach the same deep analysis and reasoning skills which are taught in accelerated and advanced placement courses, gifted programs and International Baccalaureate. Many high school students do not choose high level classes because they feel uncomfortable in the social culture of those classes, for whatever reason. “For the past decade we’ve tried to integrate black students, lower-income students, special ed students into these stand-alone honors classes, and they’re telling us, ‘We feel like we don’t belong. We feel like we’re the only student like us in these classrooms and we feel isolated,’” school board member Savion Castro in Madison, Wisconsin said.(Parents, students question ‘one size fits all’ push in Madison for earned honors, Elizabeth Beyer | Wisconsin State Journal, May 23, 2021) Earned honors allows students to challenge themselves academically in a more comfortable classroom environment, voluntarily tackling more challenging assignments.

I teach a college class called Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills for the Medical College Admissions Test. Without a doubt, the MCAT tests similar types of skills that PISA does, and I find many of the students enter and even graduate from college without having learned those skills. They must spend time learning them in order to be accepted into medical school.

Ripley also addresses tracking or ability grouping, although I do not believe that all gifted programs should be abolished. There have been incredible results from some of our top magnet schools throughout the country. However, statistically speaking, tracking had the tendency to diminish learning, boosting inequality anywhere it was tried. By warehousing disadvantaged kids within the same schools, the US made hard problems harder. We need to raise the expectations of what all kids could accomplish.

Expectations of teachers have a monumental effect on the achievement of students. Since the 1960s, many studies have shown that when researchers tested a class, telling teachers that certain of the students would thrive academically during the coming months, teachers acted differently toward the chosen kids. The teachers would nod and smile more often, giving those kids more time to answer questions as well as more specific feedback. But in fact, the kids were chosen at random. The designated students outperformed the others. The word gifted alone implied innate talent hard work could not change. This, however, is not true. I myself had a well-behaved and mature twelfth grade student a few years ago who was getting an A in my language arts class. “Miss Cindy,” she said. “I am bad at math. I am getting an F.” I told her that her problem was her attitude, and she proceeded to get an A in her math class. Now this case has an unusually positive result, but the principle of expectations still applies to most students. I tell students this all the time. “If each time you do a math problem, you tell yourself in advance that you are bad at math, that is not going to help you.” As a digital immigrant, I need to remind myself often of the exact same thing with technology. Too many American students say they are bad at math, instead of persevering conscientiously through until they improve.

I am a firm believer in intensive phonics, and many children need this. Also, they love it. Since intensive phonics is logical, helpful in learning how to pronounce words, and makes sense, my students are generally pretty thrilled about the process and actually being able to read. I see too many students, even fourth through eighth grade, who are unable to sound out words, not having been trained in this essential skill. Also, American third and fourth graders should be learning their multiplication tables- adding, subtracting and multiplying, and using their brains instead of looking at the multiplication chart. I have noticed in meeting immigrants or teaching online to overseas students that other countries, including Venezuela, insist on children memorizing the multiplication tables. The last academic subject I would like to bring up is writing. Being able to structure an essay, develop and support an argument with strong evidence, and clearly communicate their ideas are all essential skills for students. Students at Success Academy, one of the top charter schools in America, spend 1 ½ per day reading and discussing books and 1 ½ hours per day on writing.

It is clear to me that school choice also factors into the equation. There are some excellent charter schools across the country, including in areas with underperforming schools, run by Eva Moscowitz of Success Academy, and others run by dedicated educators as well. Voucher systems and school choice can be helpful, and these excellent schools should not be hindered in order to pander to and for politicians to collect campaign contributions from the teachers’ unions. Nel Noddings, my professor at the Stanford university education school told me in 1981, “Teachers unions are ruining education in this country.” Here in Minneapolis, the public schools are bleeding students to other districts, private schools, homeschooling and charter schools. However, the educational superpower of Finland also has a strong union. The difference lies in the quality and preparation of the teachers.

Ripley concludes by saying that America doesn’t take education as seriously as other countries do, and that American parents aren’t demanding the rigor and hard work needed to compete in the automated, global economy of today. Sports are more important to American parents than academics. She also feels that American students were being misled in that failure did not lead to obvious consequences. Too often students were graded on effort alone, although with formative and summative grading, this has since changed somewhat. If summative assignments, testing what students have learned, are not given enough weight, this problem can occur.

Parents acting as voters and consumers need to demand change in order to dramatically improve the U.S. education system. Ideally, Congress would pass legislation restricting education school admission for students preparing to be teachers to those from the top third of their high school class. Older applicants would be held to a similar standard. Education schools wanting to admit other qualified students would need to get permission from the U.S. Department of Education. Perhaps 2022 is the year to accomplish this goal. Is the power of the teachers’ unions waning? Yes, I believe so. To that extent? Probably not. According to Ripley’s observations, we would need to hit rock bottom as did Poland, South Korea, and Finland. In addition, and in the midst of fighting the culture wars in the schools, we would need to unite around the goal of rigorous thinking, hard work and preparation for the PISA, or at least the rigorous learning it tests.

Ripley has inspired me as a teacher, helping me to expand my previously not well articulated educational philosophy, and motivating me to continue to put it into practice.

Cindy Deal is a retired homeschooling mother, having taught her children at home for 18 years, has taught in public and Catholic schools and tutored for over 30 years, now teaching first grade through college students and has made observations in her role as a substitute teacher. She lives with her husband in Bloomington, MN and is the mother of five children and the grandmother of a new baby girl.

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