Singapore's Education System

All Girls High School- Singapore

Nanyang Girls' High School

Singapore ranked second on the PISA tests. When visiting the Ministry of Education: Singapore, the first line reads “The Ministry of Education aims to help our students to discover their own talents, to make the best of these talents and realize their full potential, and to develop a passion for learning that lasts through life”. This is alone states just how important each individual is, how important each persons talents are to the success of Singapore. Their goal is to prepare their students for the future not just for today. They are moving toward and education system that is flexible and diverse to provide students with greater choice to meet their different interests and ways of learning, this will encourage them to take ownership of their learning. Singapore is also giving students a more broad-based education to ensure all-round holistic development. Singapore is working toward creating an education system that will encourage students to ask questions and seek answers. Create students who are thinking in new ways, solving problems and creating the future. All of this while building character to get them trough lives set backs. 

For more information: http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/

What is Shanghai Doing That the US is Not!

Shanghai High School

Shanghai, China toped off all of the PISA test so it is only fitting to take a peek inside of their educational system. I began my research at asiasociety.org where there was information not only on the present, but their journey to get there. This begins with the well known fact that in China there are not only family pressures to do well in school, but their society demands it. The students in Shanghai are aware that they must keep up with the rate of change in society, They are taught to have a forward thinking midst when thinking of society, economy, and education. Shanghai is the largest city in China and is at the very forefront of the reform. Shanghai was the first to achieve one hundred percent attendance for not only primary school but also junior high as well as being one of the first to achieve almost universal enrollment in secondary school. 

All of those things are wonderful, but how did they do it? They started by moving away from exam-based system, this eliminates the need for students to simply memorize information. They have now began to use tests that focus on applying real-life skills. Another interesting change that was made was the removal of multiple choice questions on the exams. Not only did they change their ways of testing, they changed their schooling. By moving away from high-pressure exams they have increased the quality of educating. Allowing students to take elective courses, and simply began focusing on encouraging their students to learn rather than accumulation of knowledge. The new curriculum is inquiry-based, this means that students independently explore and research topics of interest to promote social wellbeing, creative and critical thinking, and simply learning how to learn. Schools were encouraged to build their own curriculum with the use of outside groups (ex.museums). This reform lead to the eight learning domains language and literature, mathematics, natural science, social sciences, technology, arts, physical education, and practicum. 

Teachers began to need new certifications, they must now complete 240 hours of professional development in five years. Teachers also have access to a database which provides them to design and implement the curriculum, research papers and to find the best practice examples. In Shanghai teachers are also encouraged to give students time for activities in the class room rather than to solely rely on teacher presentations. 

Shanghai also uses what is called The Commissioned Education Program, in this program a top perfuming school is assigned a lesser or weak school to administer. A team of teachers and a principle from the higher performing school are sent to the weak school where they will lead the school with the goal of improving. 

FULL 2012 PISA RESULTS (Remember USA is #36)

http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-overview.pdf

The United States Ranks #36 in PISA Worldwide Testing!

The United States has fallen from the top, we no longer top of the charts for education. In fact, we aren’t even close to the top, for math we don’t fall into the top 25 for reading we aren’t in the top 15. Over all, we fall at #36! These numbers were derived from “The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students' reading, mathematics, and science literacy” (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/). 
So what does this mean? Here is a break down of the results from educationbythenumbers.org

• The United States has a below average share of top performers in mathematics. Only 2% of students in the United States reached the highest level (Level 6) of performance in mathematics, compared with an OECD average of 3% and 31% of students in Shanghai, the top performing entity in this year’s PISA test.

• Students at the 90th percentile in the United States — the very top — are below the average student in Shanghai. Top U.S. students scored 600 in math. The average score in Shanghai was 613. (Click on chart at the top right of the page to see this in more detail).

•  Massachusetts, the top performing state in the nation, did not come close to the top 10 in math. Their 15 year olds scored a 514 in mathematics, placing the state even with Germany at number 16. (To put this in context, Germany is alarmed by how low its PISA scores are.) Massachusetts did prove better in reading. Only three education systems scored higher.

•  Poverty rates alone do not explain low U.S. test scores. In a telephone briefing, Andres Schleicher explained that the OECD attempted to adjust test scores for income and put all the students of the world on a level playing field. It turns out that the US has slightly lower poverty and diversity than other OECD countries on average. The average U.S. test score dropped after making this adjustment.

• There is also a problem at the bottom end in the United States. The scores of low-income Americans are exceedingly low. The U.S. has a higher percentage of kids that can’t even hit the lowest levels on the math tests than other OECD countries do on average. So, it is true that the scores of poor U.S. students are dragging the average down. Still, absent poor students, U.S. scores would still be low

Many people believe that our test scores are brought down by our low income Americans. Although these students are bringing the average down they are not our reason for falling to #36. There is an achievement gap and the low income students are not performing well, even our top performing students are not ranking well. 

To find read more information:

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/top-us-students-fare-poorly-international-pisa-test-scores-shanghai-tops-world-finland-slips_693/

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/top-us-students-fare-poorly-international-pisa-test-scores-shanghai-tops-world-finland-slips_693/