Mary Ann Zehr, my colleague over at Curriculum Matters, has posted a reminder about today’s Ed Week chat on International Comparison tests, and a bit of analysis about the issue. She also has a link to the McKinsey report everyone is talking about.
Mary Ann, Sean Cavanagh, and I have a series of stories in this week’s paper about the growing interest among policymakers here in analyzing the successes of other countries, as related to the international assessments. We have reports on reform efforts in Australia, Slovenia, and South Korea.
Her report is here.
The OECD, which oversees the PISA, is currently studying ways to measure students’ aptitude for 21st Century Skills—such as critical thinking and tech. savvy—on the assessment.
I’ll be moderating the chat today at 2 p.m. with guests: Gary Phillips, a vice president and chief scientist at the American Institutes for Research, and Hal Salzman, a professor of public policy and a senior faculty fellow at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.
If you miss the chat, you can read the transcript, which will be posted minutes after the chat is over at 3 p.m.