U.S. Drops Out of Global Math Test

[artdutra04]

I'm not afraid to refrain from writing anything political here on Chief Delphi; as long as you write your ideas in a respectful and factual manner then there is no reason why someone has the right to give you negative rep. We are all entitled to our opinions, and to refrain from putting our ideas out into society at all costs runs against the very grain of democracy itself.

This country was founded upon the belief of those who sought protection from the prosecution and oppression of their political and religious views from the governments of Europe. And that spirit of freedom and democracy is still being kept alive today, through such measures as forums and the Internet, where everyone has the right to respectfully voice their own opinions free of the fear of oppression and/or prosecution.

So with that said, I completely disagree with this decision to drop out of the Global Math and Science test. While the America COMPETES Act was most definitely a step in the correct direction for this country, this decision was one which seems like it was politically motivated by those who do not wish the public to know the results. I'm not naming sides or blaming individuals, parties, etc., as both parties had [initially] supported No Child Left Behind and other similar acts and decisions.

Instead of being afraid of the results that might come back from the test, why not use those results to actually do something productive to help the problem? Solving problems, as opposed to hiding them from the public, is much more productive (and it's great material to use to become re-elected, as you cite everything that you've helped improve).

Measures like the America COMPETES Act are the first step in solving this math and science deficiency's of the United States. (Adding Science, History, and Technology requirements to NCLB, increasing the standards for NCLB to be competitive with the rest of the world, and increasing the budgets for the NSF and NASA's Education division would all be additional ways to improve our STEM test scores.)


// Picks up trusty soapbox, and leaves the street corner

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

...and this is just one more that really isn't needed at it's low participation level of 4000.

For most statistics, 4000 randomly chosen individuals is enough to be statistically significant with a margin of error of only a few percent. That's the amazing thing about statistics; because a randomly chosen sample population will almost always perfectly reflect on the actual, entire population, you only need surveys and studies of a few thousand people to be confident that the results reflect the entire United States.

[GaryVoshol]

I can't say whether or not our resources would be best spent in administering this test or not. But it appears that the answer found wouldn't be conclusive. With so few countries participating, we wouldn't get a true understanding of our status in the whole world.

Just testing students won't improve learning. By the time students are juniors in HS they have spent enough time preparing for and taking standardized tests that they have lost one full semester of teaching. Perhaps less tests and more teaching sessions would improve their overall learning, rather than finding where they stand versus other students across the country.