Transcript Global Competence as New Literacy: Why, What, and How

Global Competence as New Literacy:
Why, What, and How
Yong Zhao, Ph. D
University Distinguished Professor
Director, US-China Center for Research on Educational
Excellence
College of Education
Executive Director, Confucius Institute
Michigan State University
[email protected]
Why
As electrically contracted, the globe is no more
than a village.
Marshall McLuhan, 1964
“Honey,” I confided, “I think the world is flat.”
Thomas Friedman, 2005
1492: about 3 months
2009: about 13 hours
1858: 17 hours
Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace and good will toward men.
2009: less than 1 minute
1927: $65 (about $1,000)
3 minute phone call
2009: about $0.02
By almost any economically relevant metric, distances
have shrunk considerably in recent decades.
[T]he shrinking globe has been a major source of the
powerful wave of worldwide economic integration
and increased economic interdependence that we
are currently experiencing. But the full implications of
these developments for all aspects of our lives will not
be known for many years.
Death of Distance
--Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the U. S. Federal
Reserve 2006
It’s a Big Job to Make the Mini:
Global Supply Chain
Yao Ming and Herbert Hoover:
Global Trade of Talents
Framework for 21st Century Learning
(Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2007)
• Core Subjects (English, reading or language arts, World
languages, Arts, Mathematics, Economics, Science, Geography,
History, Government and Civics) and 21st Century Themes
(Global awareness, Financial, economic, business and
entrepreneurial literacy, Civic literacy, Health literacy)
• Learning and Innovation Skills (Creativity and Innovation Skills,
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills, Communication and
Collaboration Skills)
• Information, Media and Technology Skills (Information Literacy,
Media Literacy, ICT Literacy)
• Life and Career Skills (Flexibility & Adaptability, Initiative & SelfDirection, Social & Cross-Cultural Skills, Productivity &
Accountability, Leadership & Responsibility)
The European Parliament and the Council of
European Union (2006)
key competences necessary for personal fulfillment, active citizenship,
social cohesion and employability in a knowledge society
• 1) Communication in the mother tongue;
• 2) Communication in foreign languages;
• 3) Mathematical competence and basic competences in
science and technology;
• 4) Digital competence;
• 5) Learning to learn;
• 6) Social and civic competences;
• 7) Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; and
• 8) Cultural awareness and expression.
• critical thinking, creativity, initiative, problem solving, risk
assessment, decision taking, and constructive management
of feelings are important across all domains.
“Foremost amongst these “global competencies” are
the abilities to communicate effectively across
linguistic and cultural boundaries, to see and
understand the world from a perspective other than
one’s own, and to understand and appreciate the
diversity of societies and cultures. Students need to
appreciate the interdependence of nations in a global
economy and to know how to adapt their work to a
variety of cultures” (University of Wisconsin-Global
Competence Task Force, 2008, p.3).
I define Global Competency as the knowledge and
skills that help people understand the flat world in
which they live, the skills to integrate across
disciplinary domains to comprehend global affairs
and events and to create possibilities to address
them. Global competencies are also the attitudinal
and ethical dispositions that make it possible to
interact peacefully, respectfully and productively with
fellow human beings from diverse geographies
(Reimers, Forthcoming).
According to Howard Gardner, pre-collegiate education need to
encompass the following skills, abilities and understandings:
• Understanding the global system
• Knowledge of other cultures and
traditions, which should be an end in itself
and a means to interact with others civilly
and productively
• Knowledge of and respect for one’s own
cultural traditions
• Fostering of hybrid or blended identities
• Fostering of tolerance and appreciation
across racial, linguistic, national, and
cultural boundaries
Global Competences
• Culture Intelligence (CQ)
–
–
–
–
Skills
Attitudes
Perspectives
Values/identity
–
–
–
–
Global economics
Global problems
Interdependence
Human Conflicts
• Knowledge of the Globe
• Languages and cultures
How
Political Changes
• Definition of what’s good education
– Issue of equity
• Accept the transformation
• Accept Global Competence as basic
literacy
Institutional Changes
Unique qualities
Creativity, passion
R-directed thinking skills
Global Competences
Global products
Global resources
Schools as Global Enterprises
Global market
Global staffing
Instructional and Curricular
Changes
• Courses
• Connections
• Integration
ASCD in September
http://internationaled.org
Over 10 million jobs lost due to automation in last 10 years
Outsourcing
Automation
A New Hope
The eBay Phenomenon:
Expanded Market
Virtual marriage & 2nd Life:
Socializing virtually
Anshe Chung has become the first online personality to achieve a net worth exceeding
one million US dollars from profits entirely earned inside a virtual world.
--Business Week, May, 2006
Gold-farming and digital produce:
Digital farmers market
Real-money trade of virtual items (RMT)
“I estimate the total worldwide RMT volume to reach 2,090M”
Virtual Economy Research Network:
http://virtual-economy.org/blog/how_big_is_the_rmt_market_anyw
YouTube and podcasting:
Everybody a Broadcaster
Daniel H. Pink (2005). A Whole New Mind: Moving from the
Information Age to the Conceptual Age. New York: Penguin.
Information Age:
L-Directed Thinking
–
–
–
–
–
Sequential
Literal
Functional
Textual
Analytic
Asia
Automation
Abundance
Conceptual Age:
R-Directed Thinking
Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
Can a computer do it faster?
Is what I am offering in demand in an age of abundance?
–
–
–
–
–
Simultaneous
Metaphorical
Aesthetic
Contextual
Synthetic
Essential Aptitudes in the
Conceptual Age
• Design
• Story
• Symphony
• Empathy
• Play
• Meaning
Across all the proposals…
• Assumption #1: We must cultivate skills and knowledge that are
not available at a cheaper price in other countries or that can be
rendered useless by machines.
• Assumption #2: Creativity, interpreted as both ability and passion
to make new things and adapt to new situations, is essential.
• Assumption #3: New skills and knowledge are needed for living in
the global world and the virtual world.
• Assumption #4: Cognitive skills such as problem solving skills and
critical thinking skills are more important than memorization of
knowledge.
• Assumption #5: Emotional intelligence or the ability and capacity
to understand and manage emotions of self and others are
important.
Feasibility
• Individual differences
– Nature
– Nurture
• The limitation of schooling
– Time
– Influence outside schools
Therefore we need to move into niche areas where they will not
be able to completely replace us for quite some time.
---Lee Kuan Yew, 2007
In the global economy, our student’s careers are global.
Where can they find employment depends on their niche
talents.
The Strengths Movement
Your Child's Strengths, Discover Them, Develop Them, Use
Them, by Jenifer Fox, M-Ed. (Viking, 2008)
http://www.strengthsmovement.com/
What American schools need to
add?
• Culture Intelligence (CQ)
• Knowledge of the Globe
• Foreign languages and cultures
• Understanding of interdependence
Digital Competencies
• Living in the digital world
– Consumers
– Citizens
– Community leaders
• Making a living in the digital world
– Digital workers
– Global workers
• (Re)Creating the digital world
– Innovators
– Entrepreneurs
[USA 2008]
Five Steps Toward Building Globally Competitive Education Systems (National
Governors Association & Council of Chief State School Officers)
Action 1: Upgrade state standards by adopting a common core of internationally
benchmarked standards in math and language arts for grades K-12 to ensure that
students are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to be globally
competitive.
Action 2: Leverage states’ collective influence to ensure that textbooks, digital media,
curricula, and assessments are aligned to internationally benchmarked standards and
draw on lessons from high-performing nations and states.
Action 3: Revise state policies for recruiting, preparing, developing, and supporting
teachers and school leaders to reflect the human capital practices of top-performing
nations and states around the world.
Action 4: Hold schools and systems accountable through monitoring, interventions, and
support to ensure consistently high performance, drawing upon international best
practices.
Action 5: Measure state-level education performance globally by examining student
achievement and attainment in an international context to ensure that, over time,
students are receiving the education they need to compete in the 21st century economy.
[USA 2009] President Obama:
In a 21st-century world where jobs can be shipped wherever there's an Internet
connection, where a child born in Dallas is now competing with a child in New Delhi,
where your best job qualification is not what you do, but what you know -- education is
no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success, it's a prerequisite for success.
…
And yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we've let our
grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations
outpace us. Let me give you a few statistics. In 8th grade math, we've fallen to 9th place.
Singapore's middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one. Just a third of our 13- and
14-year-olds can read as well as they should.
…
Now, this is an area where we are being outpaced by other nations. It's not that their kids
are any smarter than ours -- it's that they are being smarter about how to educate their
children. They're spending less time teaching things that don't matter, and more time
teaching things that do. They're preparing their students not only for high school or
college, but for a career. We are not. Our curriculum for 8th graders is two full years
behind top performing countries.
…
So let's challenge our states -- let's challenge our states to adopt world-class standards
that will bring our curriculums to the 21st century.
Achievement Gaps
Inside photos showed
Alexei doing
complicated
experiments in
physics and
chemistry and
reading aloud from
Sister Carrie.
1958
USSR
Stephen, by contrast,
retreated from a
geometry problem on
the blackboard and
the caption advised,
"Stephen amused
class with wisecracks
about his
ineptitude." Seated
at a typewriter in
typing class, Stephen
tells us "I type about
one word a minute."
Our Nation is at risk. Our
once unchallenged
preeminence in commerce,
industry, science, and
technological innovation is
being overtaken by
competitors throughout the
world.
the educational
foundations of our society
are presently being eroded
by a rising tide of
mediocrity that threatens
our very future as a Nation
and a people.
We are raising a new
generation of Americans
that is scientifically and
technologically illiterate.
1983 Japan
1995 TIMSS Grade 8 Mathematics Performance
Nations with Average Scores
Significantly Higher than the US
Nation
Singapore
Korea
Japan
Hong Kong
Belgium (Fl)
Czech Republic
Slovak Republic
Switzerland
(Netherlands)
(Slovenia)
(Bulgaria)
(Austria)
France
Hungary
Russian Fed.
(Australia)
Ireland
Canada
(Belgium (Fr))
Sweden
Average
643
607
605
588
565
564
547
545
541
541
540
539
538
537
535
530
527
527
526
519
Nations with Average Scores Not
Significantly Different than the US
Nation
Average
Thailand
522
Israel
522
(Germany)
509
New Zealand
508
England
506
Norway
503
(Denmark)
502
United States
500
(Scotland)
498
Latvia (LSS)
493
Spain
487
Iceland
487
(Greece)
484
(Romania)
482
Nations with Average Scores Significantly
Lower than the US
Nation
Average
Lithuania
477
Cyprus
474
Portugal
454
Iran, Islamic Republic
428
(Kuwait)
392
(Columbia)
385
South Africa
354
1995
Singapore
Two Million Minutes, vividly reveals that American students are no longer “at risk” of falling
behind -- they are now clearly behind even Third World students in India and China, in addition to
being in 24th place among developed countries.
By comparing how these students prioritize their time (approximately four years or “two million
minutes” of high school), the film demonstrates that the typical student in the U.S. spends much
less time on his/her education and gives less thought to future career opportunities than his/her
global peers in India and China.
--2 million minutes
Source: http://www.2mminutes.com/pressblog6.html
2007 China India
But…
2007-2008 Global Competitiveness Index
140
120
100
United States
80
Japan
Korea
60
China
India
40
Russia
20
0
United
States
Japan
Korea
China
India
Russia
http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gcr_2007/gcr2007_rankings.pdf
Why?
Achievement Gaps
The First International Mathematics Study
(FIMS)
• Year data collected: 1964
• Target Population: 13 year olds
• Participating Countries: Australia, Belgium,
England, Finland, France, Germany (FRG), Israel,
Japan, Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, United
States.
• US finished second to last (Sweden)
Jefferson told us where to look
to see if a nation is a success.
He did not say to look at test
scores. Instead, he said to look
at “life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.”
--Keith Baker (2007)
40 years later: Wealth
FIMS scores in 1964 correlate at r =
-0.48 with 2002 PPP-GDP. In short,
the higher a nation’s test score 40
years ago, the worse its economic
performance on this measure of
national wealth.
40 years later: Rate of Growth
The nations that scored better than the U.S. in
1964 had an average economic growth rate for
the decade 1992-2002 of 2.5%; the growth rate
for the U.S. during that decade was 3.3%. The
average economic growth rate for the decade
1992-2002 correlates with FIMS at r = -0.24.
Like the generation of wealth, the rate of
economic growth for nations improved as
test scores dropped.
40 years later: Productivity
There is no relationship between
FIMS scores and hourly output, r = -
.03. In 2004, the average hourly output of
those nations that outscored the U.S. in
1964 was 3.4% lower than U.S.
productivity, though the three nations with
higher hourly output all had higher test
scores than the U.S.
40 years later: Quality of Life
The average rank on the Quality of Life Index for
nations that scored above the U.S. on FIMS was
10.8. The U.S. ranked seventh (lower numbers
FIMS scores correlated with
Quality of Life at r = -0.57.
are better).
40 years later: Democracy
On the Economy Intelligence Unit’s Index
of Democracy, those nations that
scored below the median on FIMS
have a higher average rank on
achieving democracy (9.8) than do
the nations that scored above the
median (18). Once again, the U.S.
scored higher on attaining democracy than
did nations with higher 1964 test scores.
40 years later: Livability
An alternative to the Quality of Life Index,
the Most Livable Countries Index, shows
that six of the nine countries that
scored higher on FIMS than the
U.S. are worse places to live.
Livability correlates with FIMS scores at r
= -.49.
40 years later: Creativity
The number of patents issued in 2004 is one
indicator of how creative the generation of
students tested in 1964 turned out to be. The
average number of patents per
million people for the nations with
FIMS scores higher than the U.S. is
127. America clobbered the world on
creativity, with 326 patents per
million people. However, FIMS scores do
correlate with the number of patents issued: r =
.13 with the U.S. and r= .49 without the U.S.
Baker, Keith (2007).Are International Tests Worth
Anything? Kappan, October, 2007
World Population Distribution
Toy Exports
Royalties and License Fees Exports
What Matters?
Diversity of talents
Creativity
Entrepreneurship
Passion
Not everything that can be counted
counts, and not everything that counts
can be counted.
--Albert Einstein
Schools have not necessarily much to do with education.
- Winston Churchill
The only time my education was interrupted was when I
was in school. - George Bernard Shaw
What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut
ditch of a free, meandering brook. - Henry David
Thoreau
My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so
she kept me out of school. - Margaret Mead
What American schools can offer?
(at least BN)
• School Talent Shows
–
–
–
–
Value individual talents
Inspires passion and responsibility
Tolerate deviation
Cultivate entrepreneurship
• Children are pop-corn
– Respect individual differences
– Have faith in every child
– Second, third, fourth chances
New Challenges
Personalization
Foundation
Foundation
Personalized Learning:
the drive to tailor education to individual need, interest and aptitude so as to
fulfill every young person’s potential (Department for Education and Skills
(UK), 2004)
Nine Gateways
(Hargreaves, 2004)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Curriculum: More choices
learning to learn: Love and ability to learn
workforce development: PD
assessment for learning: Formative
school organisation and design: Structural
changes
new technologies
student voice: What do I want?
advice and guidance
mentoring: Personal relationships
http://www.clusterweb.org.uk/docs/HargreavesPersonalisedLearning.pdf
Four Deeps
• Deep
• Deep
• Deep
• Deep
learning
experience
support
leadership
Schools as Global Enterprises:
Re-imagine Education in the Age
of Globalization
Unique qualities
Creativity, passion
R-directed thinking skills
Global Competences
Global products
Global resources
Schools as Global Enterprises
Global market
Global staffing
Never Send a Man to Do a Machine's Job:
Reconsider the Human-Machine Relationship in Education
Yong Zhao
Michigan State University
Software's Benefits On Tests In Doubt: Study Says Tools Don't Raise
Scores
--The Washington Post
Major Study on Software Stirs Debate: On whole, school products found to
yield no net gains
--Education
Week
Test Scores Were Not Significantly Higher in Classrooms
Using
Selected Reading and Mathematics Software Products.
Readers are advised to “scrutinize the findings carefully, as even [ED] states that the
study 'was not designed
--IES
to assess
Study the
on the
effectiveness
Effectiveness
of educational
of Computer
technology
Software across
(2007)
its entire spectrum of uses.‘”
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pdf/20074005.pdf
--CoSN, ISTE, and SETDA
As this study recognizes, proper implementation of education software is essential
for success. Unfortunately, it appears the study itself may not have adequately
accounted for this key factor, leading to results that do not accurately represent the
role and impact of technology in education.
-- The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)
Why are we unhappy?
+
=
What if?
+
=
Are we sending a man to do a machine’s job?
wo
Reconstruct the Relationship
• Fragment the education process
• Treat technology as equals
• Do what you do best
• Let technology do its best
• Create technology to do what you
don’t want to do
(wo)man
Vs.
and
machine
System
Online Modules
1-2 Hours
School
Audio CDs
0.5-1 Hours
Companion Book
0.5-1 Hours
Classroom
2-4
Hours
Teacher-led
Small Group
Practice
1 hour
Online Chinese Language
Courses
New Era Interactive English,
Tsinghua University Press
Personal Response
System
Physical environment
Learning facilities
Leadership
Teacher quality
Input-based Accountability
Student voice
Diverse opportunities
Tolerance
Global connections
• http://confucius.msu.edu
• http://enterzon.com
http://confucius.msu.edu
• http://www.ssat-inet.net/
Schools have not necessarily much to do with education.
- Winston Churchill
The only time my education was interrupted was when I
was in school. - George Bernard Shaw
What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut
ditch of a free, meandering brook. - Henry David
Thoreau
My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so
she kept me out of school. - Margaret Mead
Problem #1: Unwilling
Solution: Mandate
Problem #3: Lack of access
Solution: More technology
Teachers and Technology:
Making the Connection
--Office of Technology Assessment, 1995
Problem #2: Unable
Solution: Professional Development
Problem #4: Lack of content
Solution: More content
Impact of ICT (outside education)
• Industry (2002)
– Cost-savings of $155.2 billion to U.S. organizations
adopted Internet solutions
– Revenue increase $444 billion
– .43 percentage points of the future increase in the
annual U.S. productivity growth rate
• Public organizations (2004)
–
–
–
–
45%
40%
25%
55%
improvement in efficiency
in service volume
in financials
in citizen satisfaction
Impact of ICT (outside education)
• New industries
–
–
–
–
Apple
Microsoft
Google
Amazon.com
• New way of living
– eBay
– Skype
– Messenger
• New vocabulary
– Web
– Email
– Chat
[T]ypical morning at a middle school connected to the information superhighway might begin as one group of
students arrives early to update the school's home page on the World Wide Web. This home page signals to other
schools that also have electronic access to the Web that they have a sister school here whose students and teachers
are interested in exchanging ideas about world events and other educational topics. At the same time, another group
of early arrivals works with the vice principal to prepare the morning broadcast. Each school day formally starts with
a live television presentation about the day's events; these presentations are written, directed, and produced by
rotating teams of students and broadcast internally to all the classrooms. In the quiet minutes before this broadcast
airs and classes start, a young language teacher is using his desktop computer to access an electronic bulletin
board to see how language teachers from schools across the state have responded to his question about the best
ways for explaining prepositions. Meantime, the principal is reviewing the electronic mail that parents sent her the
evening before, prior to sending voice mail to all her teachers suggesting a schedule for the upcoming parentteacher "open house.“
Later in the morning, in a first-period modern history class, the same video technology that carried the local morning
broadcast now enables this class to tour the Smithsonian's aerospace museum. In the classroom next door, the
subject is anthropology. Students are grouped in teams of 3 and 4 around the classroom's computers, engrossed in a
computer simulation that allows them to play the role of archaeologists on-site in Egypt, exploring ancient Egyptian
culture as revealed in its artifacts. In a classroom down the hall, each individual student is working math problems
pitched at exactly the pace and level of difficulty appropriate for him or her, and getting immediate feedback on the
answers, thanks to interactive software. At the same time, students in a writing class are drafting an essay
assignment on their computers and employing electronic mail to get rapid feedback on their work from their
peers....(McKinsey & Company, 1996)
Where is the teacher?
Why hasn’t technology transformed
education?
We shape our buildings;
thereafter they shape us.
--Winston Churchill
Reconstruct the Relationship
• Fragment the education process
• Treat technology as equals
• Do what you do best
• Let technology do its best
• Create technology to do what you
don’t want to do
(wo)man
Vs.
and
machine
System
Online Modules
1-2 Hours
School
Audio CDs
0.5-1 Hours
Companion Book
0.5-1 Hours
Classroom
2-4
Hours
Teacher-led
Small Group
Practice
1 hour
Online Chinese Language
Courses
New Era Interactive English,
Tsinghua University Press
Personal Response
System
What Does it Require?
• Shit focus from teachers to system
• Re-imagine education: outcomes
• Re-imagine education: processes
• Re-imagine education: locations
• Re-imagine education: learners
Achievement Gaps
Achievement Gaps
Inside photos showed
Alexei doing
complicated
experiments in
physics and
chemistry and
reading aloud from
Sister Carrie.
1958
USSR
Stephen, by contrast,
retreated from a
geometry problem on
the blackboard and
the caption advised,
"Stephen amused
class with wisecracks
about his
ineptitude." Seated
at a typewriter in
typing class, Stephen
tells us "I type about
one word a minute."
Our Nation is at risk. Our
once unchallenged
preeminence in commerce,
industry, science, and
technological innovation is
being overtaken by
competitors throughout the
world.
the educational
foundations of our society
are presently being eroded
by a rising tide of
mediocrity that threatens
our very future as a Nation
and a people.
We are raising a new
generation of Americans
that is scientifically and
technologically illiterate.
1983 Japan
1995 TIMSS Grade 8 Mathematics Performance
Nations with Average Scores
Significantly Higher than the US
Nation
Singapore
Korea
Japan
Hong Kong
Belgium (Fl)
Czech Republic
Slovak Republic
Switzerland
(Netherlands)
(Slovenia)
(Bulgaria)
(Austria)
France
Hungary
Russian Fed.
(Australia)
Ireland
Canada
(Belgium (Fr))
Sweden
Average
643
607
605
588
565
564
547
545
541
541
540
539
538
537
535
530
527
527
526
519
Nations with Average Scores Not
Significantly Different than the US
Nation
Average
Thailand
522
Israel
522
(Germany)
509
New Zealand
508
England
506
Norway
503
(Denmark)
502
United States
500
(Scotland)
498
Latvia (LSS)
493
Spain
487
Iceland
487
(Greece)
484
(Romania)
482
Nations with Average Scores Significantly
Lower than the US
Nation
Average
Lithuania
477
Cyprus
474
Portugal
454
Iran, Islamic Republic
428
(Kuwait)
392
(Columbia)
385
South Africa
354
1995
Singapore
Two Million Minutes, vividly reveals that American students are no longer “at risk” of falling
behind -- they are now clearly behind even Third World students in India and China, in addition to
being in 24th place among developed countries.
By comparing how these students prioritize their time (approximately four years or “two million
minutes” of high school), the film demonstrates that the typical student in the U.S. spends much
less time on his/her education and gives less thought to future career opportunities than his/her
global peers in India and China.
--2 million minutes
Source: http://www.2mminutes.com/pressblog6.html
2007 China India
But…
2007-2008 Global Competitiveness Index
140
120
100
United States
80
Japan
Korea
60
China
India
40
Russia
20
0
United
States
Japan
Korea
China
India
Russia
http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gcr_2007/gcr2007_rankings.pdf
Why?
The First International Mathematics Study
(FIMS)
• Year data collected: 1964
• Target Population: 13 year olds
• Participating Countries: Australia, Belgium,
England, Finland, France, Germany (FRG), Israel,
Japan, Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, United
States.
• US finished second to last (Sweden)
Jefferson told us where to look
to see if a nation is a success.
He did not say to look at test
scores. Instead, he said to look
at “life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.”
--Keith Baker (2007)
40 years later: Wealth
FIMS scores in 1964 correlate at r =
-0.48 with 2002 PPP-GDP. In short,
the higher a nation’s test score 40
years ago, the worse its economic
performance on this measure of
national wealth.
40 years later: Rate of Growth
The nations that scored better than the U.S. in
1964 had an average economic growth rate for
the decade 1992-2002 of 2.5%; the growth rate
for the U.S. during that decade was 3.3%. The
average economic growth rate for the decade
1992-2002 correlates with FIMS at r = -0.24.
Like the generation of wealth, the rate of
economic growth for nations improved as
test scores dropped.
40 years later: Productivity
There is no relationship between
FIMS scores and hourly output, r = -
.03. In 2004, the average hourly output of
those nations that outscored the U.S. in
1964 was 3.4% lower than U.S.
productivity, though the three nations with
higher hourly output all had higher test
scores than the U.S.
40 years later: Quality of Life
The average rank on the Quality of Life Index for
nations that scored above the U.S. on FIMS was
10.8. The U.S. ranked seventh (lower numbers
FIMS scores correlated with
Quality of Life at r = -0.57.
are better).
40 years later: Democracy
On the Economy Intelligence Unit’s Index
of Democracy, those nations that
scored below the median on FIMS
have a higher average rank on
achieving democracy (9.8) than do
the nations that scored above the
median (18). Once again, the U.S.
scored higher on attaining democracy than
did nations with higher 1964 test scores.
40 years later: Livability
An alternative to the Quality of Life Index,
the Most Livable Countries Index, shows
that six of the nine countries that
scored higher on FIMS than the
U.S. are worse places to live.
Livability correlates with FIMS scores at r
= -.49.
40 years later: Creativity
The number of patents issued in 2004 is one
indicator of how creative the generation of
students tested in 1964 turned out to be. The
average number of patents per
million people for the nations with
FIMS scores higher than the U.S. is
127. America clobbered the world on
creativity, with 326 patents per
million people. However, FIMS scores do
correlate with the number of patents issued: r =
.13 with the U.S. and r= .49 without the U.S.
Baker, Keith (2007).Are International Tests Worth
Anything? Kappan, October, 2007
As a result…
But other countries…
[China 2002]
In December 2002, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a policy designed to reform
assessment and evaluation in elementary and secondary schools. This document, entitled Ministry
of Education’s Notice Regarding Furthering the Reform of Evaluation and Assessment Systems in
Elementary and Secondary Schools, calls for alternative assessments that go beyond simply testing
academic knowledge. It specifically forbids ranking school districts, schools, or individual students
based on test results or making test results public.
[China 2005]
High school curriculum reform
Among the problems targeted by the reforms:
•Overemphasis on knowledge transmission
•Too many required and uniform courses, which limited students’ individual development
•Too much overlapping content, resulting in excessive coursework burden on students
•Overemphasis on the value of individual discipline, resulting in too little interdisciplinary and social integration
Remedies:
•Credit system
•More electives, fewer required courses
•Local subjects/school based curriculum
•Integrated studies
•New subjects (art, environment, technology, etc)
Japan
• Since 2001, Japan has been working to implement its Education Plan for the
21st Century, which has three major objectives:
• The first is “enhancing emotional education,” that is, cultivating students as
emotionally well-rounded human beings.
• The second objective is “realizing a school system that helps children develop
their individuality and gives them diverse choices” by moving towards a diverse,
flexible educational system that encourages individuality and cultivates
creativity.
• The third is “promoting a system in which the school’s autonomy is respected”
through decentralizing educational administration, enhancing local autonomy,
and enabling independent self-management at the school level. (Iwao, 2000)
Singapore
Since 1997, Singapore another frequent high flyer in international comparative
studies, has engaged in a major curriculum reform initiative. Entitled Thinking
Schools, Learning Nation, this initiative aims to develop all students into active
learners with critical thinking skills and to develop a creative and critical thinking
culture within schools. Its key strategies include:
•
•
•
•
•
The explicit teaching of critical and creative thinking skills;
The reduction of subject content;
The revision of assessment modes; and;
A greater emphasis on processes instead of on outcomes when appraising schools.
In 2005, the Ministry of Education in Singapore released another major policy document
Nurturing Every Child: Flexibility and Diversity in Singapore Schools, which called for a
more varied curriculum, a focus on learning rather than teaching, and more autonomy for
schools and teachers (Ministry of Education, 2005).
[Korea 2000]
Revised 7th National Curriculum
The ultimate goal is to cultivate creative, autonomous, and self-driven human resources who
will lead the era's developments in information, knowledge and globalisation.
•Promote fundamental and basic education that fosters sound human beings and nurtures
creativity
•Help students build self-leading capacity so that they well meet the challenges of today's
globalisation and information development
• Implement learner-oriented education that suits the students' capability, aptitude and
career development needs
• Ensure expanded autonomy for the local community and schools in curriculum planning
and operation.
Not everything that can be counted
counts, and not everything that counts
can be counted.
--Albert Einstein