Learning from TIMSS: Results of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Summary of a Symposium (1997) / Chapter Skim
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Policy Issues
Policy Issues
Pages 21-28
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Many, particularly those facing high unemployment, share with the United States an overriding concern with preparing young people for the labor market and using a focus on excellence in mathematics and science as a means of improving productivity and fostering economic growth. Others were motivated by quite different concerns, such as the state of adolescent health, or the need to address environmental deterioration (Atkin and Black, 1997:5~.
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Elmore's focus was on the role TIMSS plays in the education policy environment in the United States, and his argument was that the study provides a unique opportunity in this country because of the time at which it was done (Elmore, 1997)
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Jan de Lange had a somewhat different perspective on the same issue. He noted that "there is no mechanism that steers innovation in the United States." He added that although the United States spends more money than any other country in the world on research about RESULTS OF THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE STUDY 23
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Perhaps clearest was a ringing endorsement for the idea that teachers in the United States require far more support than they are currently getting if they are to effect the desired improvements. Jan de Lange remarked that he had "never seen teachers working under [such]
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By exploring subsets of test questions, or items, he explained, it should be possible RESULTS OF THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE STUDY 25
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· Do new approaches in instruction, school governance, or other areas, seem to lead to distinctive patterns of student achievement? In general, Haertel suggested, the cross-national comparisons made possible by TIMSS are "sources of hypotheses of what to look for within the United States." Specific hypotheses cannot be tested using TIMSS data alone, he noted; the national populations are not comparable, so evidence of success with a particular approach in one place cannot be transferred to another.
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It does not represent anyone's idea of a valid program of instruction in itself. It is not correct, as Richard Elmore emphasized, that "since the TIMSS study embodies standards that somehow these standards have some sort of authoritative standing as a consequence of having been connected up with very fine state-of-the-art empirical research." Moreover, as Jan de Lange and others made clear, the testing instrument, which had to be both affordable and understandable in countries all over the world, was capable of measuring only a limited universe of material.
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From page 28... ...
all have national curricula, so do eight of the bottom ten," and the results are similar for mathematics (Atkin and Black, 1997:15~. Paul Black concluded his remarks with a gloomy scenario for the United States related to this point.
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