2009 Pisa Data Released

On December 7th, 2010 the results of the 2009 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) were released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This comprehensive, rigorous international assessment measures creative thinking skills in math, reading and science of 15-year-old students in more than sixty countries, which together make of 90% of the world’s economy. 

In response to the release, the Asia Society, Alliance for Excellent Education, Committee for Economic Development, Council of Chief State Schools Officers, and NGA Center for Best Practices hosted an event that examined the finding of the report and discussed how the US and states can implement policies that create a world-class education system for all of our students.  The agenda can be found below.

INTRODUCTION: Tony Jackson, Vice President of Education, Asia Society

PRESENTATION OF 2009 PISA RESULTS: Andreas Schleicher, Head of Indicators and Analysis Division, OECD Directorate for Education

PANEL DISCUSSION: Moderated by Bob Wise, President, Alliance for Excellent Education

  • Charlie Kolb, President, Committee for Economic Development
  • Gene Wilhoit, Executive Director, Council of Chief State School Officers
  • Dane Linn, Director, Education Division, National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
  • Carmel Martin, Assistant Secretary for Planning Evaluation, and Policy Development, US Department of Education

Andreas Schleicher began by explaining the results to an audience of over 200 education stakeholders, embassy officials, and Congressional and Administration staff.  He highlighted the US’s stagnant performance (17th in math, 14th in reading, and 25th in science) relative to other top performing countries such as Finland, Korea, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Shanghai China, and Japan.  Some major finding included:

·         Equity:The best schools systems are most equitable

·         Teachers:High performing schools systems tend to prioritize teacher pay over smaller class size

·         Curriculum:High performing systems allow schools to design curricula and establish assessments policy but don’t necessarily allow competition for students

·         Autonomy and Accountability:Combining local autonomy and effective accountability seems to produce the best results

For video of the OECD presentation by Andreas Schleicher, see: http://asiasociety.org/education-learning/learning-world/pisa-chief-explains-data

Following Andreas’s remarks, a panel moderated by Bob Wise, President of the Alliance for Excellent Education,  responded to the findings and discussed how the United States could learn from other high performing nations in order to ensure our students would be able compete in the global economy.  There was unanimous acknowledgement across the panel that these numbers highlighted the necessity of education reform in the US in order to compete internationally.  Carmel Martin highlighted Secretary Duncan’s statement that these numbers were a “wakeup call” for our education system.  Other topics discussed included the common core state standards and its role in making the US more globally competitive, the importance of foreign languages, the need to focus on turning around our lowest performing schools.

For your reference, below is a listing of resources, news articles, and press releases on PISA