Andreas Schleicher, Education Policy Advisor of the Secretary General, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Why learning outcomes matter and what it takes to deliver world class standards
-no longer about improvement by international standards … but the best performing systems
-pace of change as reflected by countries now passing us in terms of college graduates (remained stagnant while other countries have progressed)
-so far, increase in knowledge workers has not resulted in change to type of work
know what you are looking for …
-years of schooling no longer impacts country’s growth
-but what are we measuring by “years of schooling”?
-it’s not just quantity o education but what people learn to do
-steep decline in demand for routine cognitive skills … and those are the skills easiest to reach and assess
PISA tries to assess students with novel tasks – those they haven’t seen before
-sharp increase in demand for nonroutine interactive skills
PISA shows us way behind rest of world (measure 15 year olds in science extrapolate and apply)
-not just about poor kids; suburban schools do better, but not much
-many countries do well on both equity and performance (example, Finland) – all schools perform equally well despite huge income disparity – NOT the US
-student performance on PISA strong indicator of future success; what you do in school really matters and it’s hard to undo poor education
Poland raised 25 PISA points in 6 years … what impact would that have? major economic impact (trillions of dollars); getting to Finlands level: $260 trillion
improving outcomes …
-does spending $ on education result in better education? it’s important … but more important Is systems ability o get resources where they need to go
how to spend $?
-pay teachers well (Korea)
-keep class sizes small
other than $?
-high ambitious and universal standards
-rigor, focus and coherence
-strong support
-clear standards but lots of local discretion at school level
-accountability and intervention in inverse proportion to success; schools with clear standards and local autonomy do better
-public schools often do better
-from prescribed forms of teaching to more personalized learning
implications …
-good performance is possible in short amount of time
Q&A
is US poor performance due to so much local control?
-control at school level important, but must have clear standards – need a strong national framework
is new data (after 2006) showing same trend?
-Singapore and other countries will be included
-don’t know trend yet, but predict that better systems will get better
is public policy a factor?
-yes – coherent policies are a facet of strong systems
reading data?
-data is similar, but US a bit better in reading
we don’t know what kids will need to know in the future
-that’s why PISA doesn’t test content as much as applications and extrapolations
-can students translate math an science into real world?
better systems allow teachers to develop their own curriculum based on a set of student outcomes
priorities?
-national common core
-focus on low performing schools to get resource they need
-make teaching a more attractive career – not about money, but a career path (that’s the hard part)
student engagement?
-part of the PISA measurement – very important
-need to see learning opportunities
how do high performing countries’ assessments line up with PISA?
-northern Europe, very well
-US … not much difference between TIMMS and PISA
-other countries, highly disparate: Russia, Norway
role of teacher unions?
-in many countries, unions have become true professional organizations – makes teaching more of a career path
%age of students tested ?
-most countries the same
in US, students take less science …
-highly variable across countries
Panel:
Dennis DeTurck (Penn)
-change in curriculum and outcomes beyond simple memorization -“abillity beyond the inclination to serve”
-university responsibility
Pamela Brown (CAO of Phila SD)
-data reinforces what Dr. Ackerman has been reccommending for Philadelphia
-grad rate is under 60%; only 8% of Philly grads go on to graduate from 4 year institutions
-need higher rigor in non AP / IB classes
-pockets of excellence that need to be replicated across the system for all students
-have raised the bar beyond AYP by setting performance targets measures by multiple criteria; schools at high levels are “vanguard” schools and enjoy more autonomy
-professional development linked to appraisal system
-extanding school day, week, year for many schools
Philip Hopkins (Select Greater Phila)
-companies want collaborative and nonroutine workers who know how to learn – but also with a certain level of content knowledge
-create opportunities in urban centers
-applaud common core standards; high focus on modeling -support keystone exams – important to know via a criterion referenced test how students are doing
-must keep in mind appropriate testing
-need high quality teachers; appropriate staff development
-must deal with transition costs of moving to higher standards
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