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U.S. Scores Up, but Why?
By Neal McCluskey
Today, bounteous new international academic achievement data were released, from the TIMSS and PIRLS battery of tests. The news for the United States wasn’t too bad, especially with the country ranking fairly high overall (but generally well below high-flying East Asian nations).
How have U.S. scores changed? On 4th grade mathematics average scores have risen precipitously, from 518 (out of 1000) in 1995 and 2003, to 541 in 2011. 8th grade scores were also up, but at a smaller clip, going from 492 in 1995 to 509 in 2011. Interestingly, scores rose ten points between 1995 and 1999, but only seven points between 1999 and 2011.
In science, 4th grade performance was pretty static: 544 in 2011, versus 542 in 1995, with a dip in the line in 2003 and 2007. 8th grade also saw some interesting kinks—the high score was 527 in 2003—but 2011′s score of 525 beat 1995′s 513.
Finally, only 4th graders are tested in PIRLS, the literacy test, and data only go back to 2001. Again there was a dip in the middle, but in 2011 the U.S. average was 556, versus 542 in 2001.
The really crucial question in all of this, of course, is why have the scores—both in the United States and other countries—moved as they have? Unfortunately these reports—at least the basic achievement parts and executive summaries—provide little insight into that. Yes, they tell us that schools with kids who do more math and reading with their parents get better scores, as do schools that are more orderly, but those could easily be functions of an underlying cause: say, families and communities that value education more. Indeed, as I found when looking at the empirical research on national curricular standards, one of the major possible reasons East Asian nations consistently outpace the rest of the world is a culture that values academic achievement, especially on material that is easily tested.
Unfortunately, some educationists are likely to seize on today’s news and declare that their pet policy variable—NCLB! Unionization! National standards! Spending! Even, to be fair, school choice!—explains high performance. But, just from the test scores, it is impossible to reach such conclusions. That requires much deeper analysis, such as the work Andrew Coulson has done in an effort to isolate the impact of market-like factors on outcomes.
So for now, be happy: the United States has improved somewhat. But don’t make any policy declarations based on that.
U.S. Scores Up, but Why? is a post from Cato @ Liberty – Cato Institute Blog
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Business • Re: You have 49 FICO credit scores
I’m trying to live so as to get my credit score to zero.
Don’t take loans
Don’t use credit cards
Pay cash for everything
Statistics: Posted by Deo Vindice — Wed Aug 29, 2012 9:26 am
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War and Conflict • Scores killed in terrorist attacks in Nigeria
At least 120 people have been killed in a series of bombings and attacks by Islamist militants in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.
Soldiers and police officers are out in force in the city in Nigeria’s Muslim north, where gunfire is still ringing out in some quarters.
The Islamist group Boko Haram, which has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in recent months, has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
A mortuary attendant at Murtala Muhammed hospital, the largest in Kano, said they had 126 bodies of people who died in the attacks, which began at 5pm on Friday afternoon after Muslim prayers. AP reported that there were soldiers and police officers among the dead.Nwakpa O Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said officials were continuing to collect corpses scattered around sites of the attacks. "From what they are saying, there are many involved, either wounded or dead," Nwakpa said.
A survey of two hospitals by the Red Cross said at least 50 people were injured in Friday’s attack, he added.In a statement issued late on Friday, federal police spokesman Olusola Amore said attackers targeted five police buildings, two immigration offices and the local headquarters of the State Security Service, Nigeria’s secret police.
"The police have commenced investigation and therefore use this medium to call for calm among the residents of Kano as police are doing their best to bring the situation under control," Amore said.
Police are "appealing to members of the public to come forward with information on the identity and location of these hoodlums. Information given will be treated with utmost confidentiality."
A massive blast caused when a suicide bomber who drove a car full of explosives into a regional police headquarters shook cars miles away. Inmates at the regional police headquarters fled amid gunfire, witnesses said.
State authorities declared a 24-hour curfew late on Friday as residents hid inside their homes amid the fighting.
A Boko Haram spokesman, using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa, claimed responsibility for the attacks, which he said were retaliation at the state government refusing to release members of the Islamist terrorist group.
Boko Haram, which seeks to implement strict Sharia law across Nigeria, is responsible for at least 510 killings last year, according to the Associated Press. The group has been blamed for at least 76 killings this year, the news agency added.
The targets of Boko Haram, whose name means "estern education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, have included both Muslims and Christians. Bit the militants have promised to kill any Christians living in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north.
The group previously claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing in August that targeted the UN headquarters in the capital, Abuja, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100. The sect killed at least 42 people during a series of attacks on Christmas Day, which included the bombing of a Catholic church outside Abuja.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ja … boko-haram
Statistics: Posted by yoda — Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:25 am
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