global competence as new literacy: why, what, and how

Global Competence as New Literacy:

Why, What, and How

Yong Zhao, Ph. DUniversity Distinguished Professor

Director, US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence

College of EducationExecutive Director, Confucius Institute

Michigan State Universityzhaoyo@msu.edu

Why

As electrically contracted, the globe is no more than a village.

Marshall McLuhan, 1964

“Honey,” I confided, “I think the world is flat.”

Thomas Friedman, 2005

1492: about 3 months

2009: about 13 hours

1858: 17 hours

Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace and good will toward men.

2009: less than 1 minute

1927: $65 (about $1,000)

2009: about $0.02

3 minute phone call

By almost any economically relevant metric, distances have shrunk considerably in recent decades.

[T]he shrinking globe has been a major source of the powerful wave of worldwide economic integration and increased economic interdependence that we are currently experiencing. But the full implications of these developments for all aspects of our lives will not be known for many years.

--Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the U. S. Federal Reserve 2006

Death of Distance

It’s a Big Job to Make the Mini: Global Supply Chain

Yao Ming and Herbert Hoover: Global Trade of Talents

Framework for 21st Century Learning (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2007)

• Core Subjects (English, reading or language arts, World languages, Arts, Mathematics, Economics, Science, Geography, History, Government and Civics) and 21st Century Themes (Global awareness, Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy, Civic literacy, Health literacy)

• Learning and Innovation Skills (Creativity and Innovation Skills, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills, Communication and Collaboration Skills)

• Information, Media and Technology Skills (Information Literacy, Media Literacy, ICT Literacy)

• Life and Career Skills (Flexibility & Adaptability, Initiative & Self-Direction, Social & Cross-Cultural Skills, Productivity & Accountability, Leadership & Responsibility)

The European Parliament and the Council of European Union (2006)

key competences necessary for personal fulfillment, active citizenship, social cohesion and employability in a knowledge society

• 1) Communication in the mother tongue;• 2) Communication in foreign languages;• 3) Mathematical competence and basic competences in

science and technology;• 4) Digital competence;• 5) Learning to learn;• 6) Social and civic competences;• 7) Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; and• 8) Cultural awareness and expression.

• critical thinking, creativity, initiative, problem solving, risk assessment, decision taking, and constructive management of feelings are important across all domains.

“Foremost amongst these “global competencies” are the abilities to communicate effectively across linguistic and cultural boundaries, to see and understand the world from a perspective other than one’s own, and to understand and appreciate the diversity of societies and cultures. Students need to appreciate the interdependence of nations in a global economy and to know how to adapt their work to a variety of cultures” (University of Wisconsin-Global Competence Task Force, 2008, p.3).

I define Global Competency as the knowledge and skills that help people understand the flat world in which they live, the skills to integrate across disciplinary domains to comprehend global affairs and events and to create possibilities to address them. Global competencies are also the attitudinal and ethical dispositions that make it possible to interact peacefully, respectfully and productively with fellow human beings from diverse geographies (Reimers, Forthcoming).

According to Howard Gardner, pre-collegiate education need to encompass the following skills, abilities and understandings:

• Understanding the global system• Knowledge of other cultures and

traditions, which should be an end in itself and a means to interact with others civilly and productively

• Knowledge of and respect for one’s own cultural traditions

• Fostering of hybrid or blended identities• Fostering of tolerance and appreciation

across racial, linguistic, national, and cultural boundaries

Global Competences

• Culture Intelligence (CQ)– Skills– Attitudes– Perspectives– Values/identity

• Knowledge of the Globe– Global economics– Global problems– Interdependence– Human Conflicts

• Languages and cultures

How

Political Changes

• Definition of what’s good education– Issue of equity

• Accept the transformation• Accept Global Competence as basic

literacy

Institutional Changes

Schools as Global Enterprises

Global products Global resources

Global market Global staffing

Unique qualitiesCreativity, passionR-directed thinking skillsGlobal Competences

Instructional and Curricular Changes

• Courses• Connections• Integration

ASCD in September

http://internationaled.org

Over 10 million jobs lost due to automation in last 10 years

Outsourcing

Automation

A New Hope

The eBay Phenomenon: Expanded Market

Virtual marriage & 2nd Life: Socializing virtually

Anshe Chung has become the first online personality to achieve a net worth exceeding one million US dollars from profits entirely earned inside a virtual world.

--Business Week, May, 2006

Gold-farming and digital produce: Digital farmers market

Real-money trade of virtual items (RMT)“I estimate the total worldwide RMT volume to reach 2,090M”Virtual Economy Research Network:

http://virtual-economy.org/blog/how_big_is_the_rmt_market_anyw

YouTube and podcasting: Everybody a Broadcaster

Daniel H. Pink (2005). A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. New York: Penguin.

Information Age: L-Directed Thinking

– Sequential– Literal– Functional– Textual– Analytic Conceptual Age:

R-Directed Thinking– Simultaneous– Metaphorical– Aesthetic– Contextual– Synthetic

AsiaAutomationAbundance

Can someone overseas do it cheaper?Can a computer do it faster?

Is what I am offering in demand in an age of abundance?

Essential Aptitudes in the Conceptual Age

• Design• Story• Symphony• Empathy• Play• Meaning

Across all the proposals…• Assumption #1: We must cultivate skills and knowledge that are

not available at a cheaper price in other countries or that can be rendered useless by machines.

• Assumption #2: Creativity, interpreted as both ability and passion to make new things and adapt to new situations, is essential.

• Assumption #3: New skills and knowledge are needed for living in the global world and the virtual world.

• Assumption #4: Cognitive skills such as problem solving skills and critical thinking skills are more important than memorization of knowledge.

• Assumption #5: Emotional intelligence or the ability and capacity to understand and manage emotions of self and others are important.

Feasibility

• Individual differences– Nature– Nurture

• The limitation of schooling– Time– Influence outside schools

Therefore we need to move into niche areas where they will not be able to completely replace us for quite some time.

---Lee Kuan Yew, 2007

In the global economy, our student’s careers are global. Where can they find employment depends on their niche talents.

Your Child's Strengths, Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them, by Jenifer Fox, M-Ed. (Viking, 2008)

http://www.strengthsmovement.com/

The Strengths Movement

What American schools need to add?

• Culture Intelligence (CQ)• Knowledge of the Globe• Foreign languages and cultures• Understanding of interdependence

Digital Competencies

• Living in the digital world– Consumers– Citizens– Community leaders

• Making a living in the digital world– Digital workers– Global workers

• (Re)Creating the digital world– Innovators– Entrepreneurs

[USA 2008]Five Steps Toward Building Globally Competitive Education Systems (National Governors Association & Council of Chief State School Officers)

Action 1: Upgrade state standards by adopting a common core of internationally benchmarked standards in math and language arts for grades K-12 to ensure that students are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to be globally competitive.

Action 2: Leverage states’ collective influence to ensure that textbooks, digital media,curricula, and assessments are aligned to internationally benchmarked standards and draw on lessons from high-performing nations and states.

Action 3: Revise state policies for recruiting, preparing, developing, and supporting teachers and school leaders to reflect the human capital practices of top-performing nations and states around the world.

Action 4: Hold schools and systems accountable through monitoring, interventions, and support to ensure consistently high performance, drawing upon international best practices.

Action 5: Measure state-level education performance globally by examining student achievement and attainment in an international context to ensure that, over time,students are receiving the education they need to compete in the 21st century economy.

[USA 2009] President Obama:

In a 21st-century world where jobs can be shipped wherever there's an Internet connection, where a child born in Dallas is now competing with a child in New Delhi, where your best job qualification is not what you do, but what you know -- education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success, it's a prerequisite for success. …And yet, despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we've let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us. Let me give you a few statistics. In 8th grade math, we've fallen to 9th place. Singapore's middle-schoolers outperform ours three to one. Just a third of our 13- and 14-year-olds can read as well as they should. …Now, this is an area where we are being outpaced by other nations. It's not that their kids are any smarter than ours -- it's that they are being smarter about how to educate their children. They're spending less time teaching things that don't matter, and more time teaching things that do. They're preparing their students not only for high school or college, but for a career. We are not. Our curriculum for 8th graders is two full years behind top performing countries. …So let's challenge our states -- let's challenge our states to adopt world-class standards that will bring our curriculums to the 21st century.

Achievement Gaps

Inside photos showed Alexei doing complicated experiments in physics and chemistry and reading aloud from Sister Carrie.

Stephen, by contrast, retreated from a geometry problem on the blackboard and the caption advised, "Stephen amused class with wisecracks about his ineptitude." Seated at a typewriter in typing class, Stephen tells us "I type about one word a minute."

1958USSR

Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world.

the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.

We are raising a new generation of Americans that is scientifically and technologically illiterate.

1983 Japan

Nations with Average Scores Significantly Higher than the US

Nation AverageSingapore 643Korea 607Japan 605Hong Kong 588Belgium (Fl) 565Czech Republic 564Slovak Republic 547Switzerland 545(Netherlands) 541(Slovenia) 541(Bulgaria) 540(Austria) 539France 538Hungary 537Russian Fed. 535(Australia) 530Ireland 527Canada 527(Belgium (Fr)) 526Sweden 519

Nations with Average Scores Significantly Lower than the US

Nation AverageLithuania 477Cyprus 474Portugal 454Iran, Islamic Republic 428(Kuwait) 392(Columbia) 385South Africa 354

Nations with Average Scores Not Significantly Different than the US

Nation AverageThailand 522Israel 522(Germany) 509New Zealand 508England 506Norway 503(Denmark) 502United States 500(Scotland) 498Latvia (LSS) 493Spain 487Iceland 487(Greece) 484(Romania) 482

1995 TIMSS Grade 8 Mathematics Performance

1995Singapore

By comparing how these students prioritize their time (approximately four years or “two million minutes” of high school), the film demonstrates that the typical student in the U.S. spends much less time on his/her education and gives less thought to future career opportunities than his/her global peers in India and China.

--2 million minutes

Two Million Minutes, vividly reveals that American students are no longer “at risk” of falling behind -- they are now clearly behind even Third World students in India and China, in addition to being in 24th place among developed countries.

Source: http://www.2mminutes.com/pressblog6.html

2007 China India

But…

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

UnitedStates

Japan Korea China India Russia

2007-2008 Global Competitiveness Index

United States

Japan

Korea

China

India

Russia

http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gcr_2007/gcr2007_rankings.pdf

Why?

Achievement Gaps

The First International Mathematics Study (FIMS)

• Year data collected: 1964• Target Population: 13 year olds• Participating Countries: Australia,

Belgium, England, Finland, France, Germany (FRG), Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, United States.

• US finished second to last (Sweden)

Jefferson told us where to look to see if a nation is a success.He did not say to look at test scores. Instead, he said to lookat “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

--Keith Baker (2007)

40 years later: Wealth

FIMS scores in 1964 correlate at r = -0.48 with 2002 PPP-GDP. In short, the higher a nation’s test score 40 years ago, the worse its economic performance on this measure of national wealth.

40 years later: Rate of Growth

The nations that scored better than the U.S. in 1964 had an average economic growth rate for the decade 1992-2002 of 2.5%; the growth rate for the U.S. during that decade was 3.3%. The average economic growth rate for the decade 1992-2002 correlates with FIMS at r = -0.24. Like the generation of wealth, the rate of economic growth for nations improved as test scores dropped.

40 years later: Productivity

There is no relationship between FIMS scores and hourly output, r = -.03. In 2004, the average hourly output of those nations that outscored the U.S. in 1964 was 3.4% lower than U.S. productivity, though the three nations with higher hourly output all had higher test scores than the U.S.

40 years later: Quality of Life

The average rank on the Quality of Life Index for nations that scored above the U.S. on FIMS was 10.8. The U.S. ranked seventh (lower numbers

are better). FIMS scores correlated with Quality of Life at r = -0.57.

40 years later: Democracy

On the Economy Intelligence Unit’s Index of Democracy, those nations that scored below the median on FIMS have a higher average rank on achieving democracy (9.8) than do the nations that scored above the median (18). Once again, the U.S. scored higher on attaining democracy than did nations with higher 1964 test scores.

40 years later: Livability

An alternative to the Quality of Life Index, the Most Livable Countries Index, shows

that six of the nine countries that scored higher on FIMS than the U.S. are worse places to live. Livability correlates with FIMS scores at r = -.49.

40 years later: Creativity

The number of patents issued in 2004 is one indicator of how creative the generation of students tested in 1964 turned out to be. The average number of patents per million people for the nations with FIMS scores higher than the U.S. is 127. America clobbered the world on creativity, with 326 patents per million people. However, FIMS scores do correlate with the number of patents issued: r = .13 with the U.S. and r= .49 without the U.S.

Baker, Keith (2007).Are International Tests Worth Anything? Kappan, October, 2007

World Population Distribution

Royalties and License Fees ExportsToy Exports

What Matters?

Diversity of talentsCreativityEntrepreneurshipPassion

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

--Albert Einstein

What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.

- Henry David Thoreau

Schools have not necessarily much to do with education. - Winston Churchill

The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school. - George Bernard

Shaw

My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so she kept me out of school. -

Margaret Mead

What American schools can offer?(at least BN)

• School Talent Shows– Value individual talents– Inspires passion and responsibility– Tolerate deviation– Cultivate entrepreneurship

• Children are pop-corn– Respect individual differences– Have faith in every child– Second, third, fourth chances

New Challenges

FoundationFoundation

Personalization

Personalized Learning:the drive to tailor education to individual need, interest and aptitude so as to fulfill every young person’s potential (Department for Education and Skills (UK), 2004)

Nine Gateways(Hargreaves, 2004)

• Curriculum: More choices• learning to learn: Love and ability to learn• workforce development: PD• assessment for learning: Formative• school organisation and design: Structural

changes• new technologies• student voice: What do I want?• advice and guidance• mentoring: Personal relationships

http://www.clusterweb.org.uk/docs/HargreavesPersonalisedLearning.pdf

Four Deeps

• Deep learning• Deep experience• Deep support• Deep leadership

Schools as Global Enterprises:Re-imagine Education in the Age

of Globalization

Schools as Global Enterprises

Global products Global resources

Global market Global staffing

Unique qualitiesCreativity, passionR-directed thinking skillsGlobal Competences

Never Send a Man to Do a Machine's Job:Reconsider the Human-Machine Relationship in Education

Yong ZhaoMichigan State University

Test Scores Were Not Significantly Higher in Classrooms Using Selected Reading and Mathematics Software Products.

--IES Study on the Effectiveness of Computer Software (2007)http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pdf/20074005.pdf

Software's Benefits On Tests In Doubt: Study Says Tools Don't Raise Scores

--The Washington Post

Major Study on Software Stirs Debate: On whole, school products found to yield no net gains

--Education Week

Readers are advised to “scrutinize the findings carefully, as even [ED] states that the study 'was not designed to assess the effectiveness of educational technology across its entire spectrum of uses.‘”

--CoSN, ISTE, and SETDA As this study recognizes, proper implementation of education software is essential for success. Unfortunately, it appears the study itself may not have adequately accounted for this key factor, leading to results that do not accurately represent the role and impact of technology in education.

-- The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)

Why are we unhappy?

+ =

What if?

+ =

Are we sending a man to do a machine’s job?wo

Reconstruct the Relationship

• Fragment the education process• Treat technology as equals• Do what you do best• Let technology do its best• Create technology to do what you

don’t want to do

Classroom

School

System

man machine(wo)

Personal Response System

Teacher-ledSmall Group

Practice1 hour

Online Modules

Audio CDs

Companion Book

1-2 Hours

0.5-1 Hours

0.5-1 Hours

2-4 Hours

New Era Interactive English, Tsinghua University Press

Online Chinese Language Courses

andVs.

Input-based Accountability

Physical environment

Learning facilities

Diverse opportunities

Leadership

Teacher quality

Student voice

Global connectionsTolerance

• http://confucius.msu.edu• http://enterzon.com

http://confucius.msu.edu

• http://www.ssat-inet.net/

What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.

- Henry David Thoreau

Schools have not necessarily much to do with education. - Winston Churchill

The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school. - George Bernard

Shaw

My grandmother wanted me to have an education, so she kept me out of school. -

Margaret Mead

Teachers and Technology:Making the Connection

--Office of Technology Assessment, 1995

Problem #1: UnwillingSolution: Mandate

Problem #2: UnableSolution: Professional Development

Problem #3: Lack of accessSolution: More technology

Problem #4: Lack of contentSolution: More content

Impact of ICT (outside education)

• Industry (2002)– Cost-savings of $155.2 billion to U.S. organizations

adopted Internet solutions– Revenue increase $444 billion– .43 percentage points of the future increase in the

annual U.S. productivity growth rate

• Public organizations (2004)– 45% improvement in efficiency– 40% in service volume– 25% in financials– 55% in citizen satisfaction

• New industries– Apple– Microsoft– Google– Amazon.com

• New way of living– eBay– Skype– Messenger

• New vocabulary– Web– Email– Chat

Impact of ICT (outside education)

[T]ypical morning at a middle school connected to the information superhighway might begin as one group of students arrives early to update the school's home page on the World Wide Web. This home page signals to other schools that also have electronic access to the Web that they have a sister school here whose students and teachers are interested in exchanging ideas about world events and other educational topics. At the same time, another group of early arrivals works with the vice principal to prepare the morning broadcast. Each school day formally starts with a live television presentation about the day's events; these presentations are written, directed, and produced by rotating teams of students and broadcast internally to all the classrooms. In the quiet minutes before this broadcast airs and classes start, a young language teacher is using his desktop computer to access an electronic bulletin board to see how language teachers from schools across the state have responded to his question about the best ways for explaining prepositions. Meantime, the principal is reviewing the electronic mail that parents sent her the evening before, prior to sending voice mail to all her teachers suggesting a schedule for the upcoming parent-teacher "open house.“

Later in the morning, in a first-period modern history class, the same video technology that carried the local morning broadcast now enables this class to tour the Smithsonian's aerospace museum. In the classroom next door, the subject is anthropology. Students are grouped in teams of 3 and 4 around the classroom's computers, engrossed in a computer simulation that allows them to play the role of archaeologists on-site in Egypt, exploring ancient Egyptian culture as revealed in its artifacts. In a classroom down the hall, each individual student is working math problems pitched at exactly the pace and level of difficulty appropriate for him or her, and getting immediate feedback on the answers, thanks to interactive software. At the same time, students in a writing class are drafting an essay assignment on their computers and employing electronic mail to get rapid feedback on their work from their peers....(McKinsey & Company, 1996)

Where is the teacher?

Why hasn’t technology transformed education?

We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.--Winston Churchill

Reconstruct the Relationship

• Fragment the education process• Treat technology as equals• Do what you do best• Let technology do its best• Create technology to do what you

don’t want to do

Classroom

School

System

man machine(wo)

Personal Response System

Teacher-ledSmall Group

Practice1 hour

Online Modules

Audio CDs

Companion Book

1-2 Hours

0.5-1 Hours

0.5-1 Hours

2-4 Hours

New Era Interactive English, Tsinghua University Press

Online Chinese Language Courses

andVs.

What Does it Require?

• Shit focus from teachers to system• Re-imagine education: outcomes • Re-imagine education: processes• Re-imagine education: locations• Re-imagine education: learners

Achievement Gaps

Achievement Gaps

Inside photos showed Alexei doing complicated experiments in physics and chemistry and reading aloud from Sister Carrie.

Stephen, by contrast, retreated from a geometry problem on the blackboard and the caption advised, "Stephen amused class with wisecracks about his ineptitude." Seated at a typewriter in typing class, Stephen tells us "I type about one word a minute."

1958USSR

Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world.

the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.

We are raising a new generation of Americans that is scientifically and technologically illiterate.

1983 Japan

Nations with Average Scores Significantly Higher than the US

Nation AverageSingapore 643Korea 607Japan 605Hong Kong 588Belgium (Fl) 565Czech Republic 564Slovak Republic 547Switzerland 545(Netherlands) 541(Slovenia) 541(Bulgaria) 540(Austria) 539France 538Hungary 537Russian Fed. 535(Australia) 530Ireland 527Canada 527(Belgium (Fr)) 526Sweden 519

Nations with Average Scores Significantly Lower than the US

Nation AverageLithuania 477Cyprus 474Portugal 454Iran, Islamic Republic 428(Kuwait) 392(Columbia) 385South Africa 354

Nations with Average Scores Not Significantly Different than the US

Nation AverageThailand 522Israel 522(Germany) 509New Zealand 508England 506Norway 503(Denmark) 502United States 500(Scotland) 498Latvia (LSS) 493Spain 487Iceland 487(Greece) 484(Romania) 482

1995 TIMSS Grade 8 Mathematics Performance

1995Singapore

By comparing how these students prioritize their time (approximately four years or “two million minutes” of high school), the film demonstrates that the typical student in the U.S. spends much less time on his/her education and gives less thought to future career opportunities than his/her global peers in India and China.

--2 million minutes

Two Million Minutes, vividly reveals that American students are no longer “at risk” of falling behind -- they are now clearly behind even Third World students in India and China, in addition to being in 24th place among developed countries.

Source: http://www.2mminutes.com/pressblog6.html

2007 China India

But…

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

UnitedStates

Japan Korea China India Russia

2007-2008 Global Competitiveness Index

United States

Japan

Korea

China

India

Russia

http://www.weforum.org/pdf/Global_Competitiveness_Reports/Reports/gcr_2007/gcr2007_rankings.pdf

Why?

The First International Mathematics Study (FIMS)

• Year data collected: 1964• Target Population: 13 year olds• Participating Countries: Australia,

Belgium, England, Finland, France, Germany (FRG), Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, United States.

• US finished second to last (Sweden)

Jefferson told us where to look to see if a nation is a success.He did not say to look at test scores. Instead, he said to lookat “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

--Keith Baker (2007)

40 years later: Wealth

FIMS scores in 1964 correlate at r = -0.48 with 2002 PPP-GDP. In short, the higher a nation’s test score 40 years ago, the worse its economic performance on this measure of national wealth.

40 years later: Rate of Growth

The nations that scored better than the U.S. in 1964 had an average economic growth rate for the decade 1992-2002 of 2.5%; the growth rate for the U.S. during that decade was 3.3%. The average economic growth rate for the decade 1992-2002 correlates with FIMS at r = -0.24. Like the generation of wealth, the rate of economic growth for nations improved as test scores dropped.

40 years later: Productivity

There is no relationship between FIMS scores and hourly output, r = -.03. In 2004, the average hourly output of those nations that outscored the U.S. in 1964 was 3.4% lower than U.S. productivity, though the three nations with higher hourly output all had higher test scores than the U.S.

40 years later: Quality of Life

The average rank on the Quality of Life Index for nations that scored above the U.S. on FIMS was 10.8. The U.S. ranked seventh (lower numbers

are better). FIMS scores correlated with Quality of Life at r = -0.57.

40 years later: Democracy

On the Economy Intelligence Unit’s Index of Democracy, those nations that scored below the median on FIMS have a higher average rank on achieving democracy (9.8) than do the nations that scored above the median (18). Once again, the U.S. scored higher on attaining democracy than did nations with higher 1964 test scores.

40 years later: Livability

An alternative to the Quality of Life Index, the Most Livable Countries Index, shows

that six of the nine countries that scored higher on FIMS than the U.S. are worse places to live. Livability correlates with FIMS scores at r = -.49.

40 years later: Creativity

The number of patents issued in 2004 is one indicator of how creative the generation of students tested in 1964 turned out to be. The average number of patents per million people for the nations with FIMS scores higher than the U.S. is 127. America clobbered the world on creativity, with 326 patents per million people. However, FIMS scores do correlate with the number of patents issued: r = .13 with the U.S. and r= .49 without the U.S.

Baker, Keith (2007).Are International Tests Worth Anything? Kappan, October, 2007

As a result…

But other countries…

[China 2002]

In December 2002, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a policy designed to reform assessment and evaluation in elementary and secondary schools. This document, entitled Ministry of Education’s Notice Regarding Furthering the Reform of Evaluation and Assessment Systems in Elementary and Secondary Schools, calls for alternative assessments that go beyond simply testing academic knowledge. It specifically forbids ranking school districts, schools, or individual students based on test results or making test results public. [China 2005]High school curriculum reform

Among the problems targeted by the reforms: •Overemphasis on knowledge transmission•Too many required and uniform courses, which limited students’ individual development •Too much overlapping content, resulting in excessive coursework burden on students•Overemphasis on the value of individual discipline, resulting in too little interdisciplinary and social integration Remedies:•Credit system•More electives, fewer required courses•Local subjects/school based curriculum•Integrated studies•New subjects (art, environment, technology, etc)

Japan

• Since 2001, Japan has been working to implement its Education Plan for the 21st Century, which has three major objectives:

• The first is “enhancing emotional education,” that is, cultivating students as emotionally well-rounded human beings.

• The second objective is “realizing a school system that helps children develop their individuality and gives them diverse choices” by moving towards a diverse, flexible educational system that encourages individuality and cultivates creativity.

• The third is “promoting a system in which the school’s autonomy is respected” through decentralizing educational administration, enhancing local autonomy, and enabling independent self-management at the school level. (Iwao, 2000)

Singapore

Since 1997, Singapore another frequent high flyer in international comparative studies, has engaged in a major curriculum reform initiative. Entitled Thinking Schools, Learning Nation, this initiative aims to develop all students into active learners with critical thinking skills and to develop a creative and critical thinking culture within schools. Its key strategies include:

• The explicit teaching of critical and creative thinking skills; • The reduction of subject content;• The revision of assessment modes; and; • A greater emphasis on processes instead of on outcomes when

appraising schools.• In 2005, the Ministry of Education in Singapore released another

major policy document Nurturing Every Child: Flexibility and Diversity in Singapore Schools, which called for a more varied curriculum, a focus on learning rather than teaching, and more autonomy for schools and teachers (Ministry of Education, 2005).

[Korea 2000]

Revised 7th National Curriculum

The ultimate goal is to cultivate creative, autonomous, and self-driven human resources who will lead the era's developments in information, knowledge and globalisation. •Promote fundamental and basic education that fosters sound human beings and nurtures creativity •Help students build self-leading capacity so that they well meet the challenges of today's globalisation and information development • Implement learner-oriented education that suits the students' capability, aptitude and career development needs • Ensure expanded autonomy for the local community and schools in curriculum planning and operation.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

--Albert Einstein