: [Fratrum] [slickmisc] TIMSS (fwd)
> "On May 12, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:"
>
> [-------------------- text of forwarded message
follows --------------------]
>
> From the Home of Rich & Peggy Martin
>
> Grand Prairie, TX 75050 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> It's nice to be important, but it's important to be nice.
> _______________________________________________
>
> INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY
>
> As most readers are aware, I am a strong proponent for school
> vouchers, but this aside, I think it is first incumbent upon us all
> to realize/admit: what we are doing now is not working.
>
> Don't know about you, but I'm tired of reading articles like the one
> below which shows the ineffective teaching methods and belittles
> our students knowledge.
>
> If education is as important as we all seem to claim, isn't it time
> we tried something that might work, instead of pouring more money
> into the bottomless pit of the failing public school systems that
> are failing our next generation of leaders?
>
> Below is not a solution. It is an indictment of our failing system that
> shows the need to stop pouring money into the system that ranks
> US 17th out of 17 on a regular basis, unless you agree with some
> public school teachers who really believe their students are that dumb.
>
> Rich Martin
> Editor of Slick
>
>
> Summary of TIMSS
>
>
>
> The TIMSS (Third International Math & Science Study) provided an
> unprecedented opportunity for debate and analysis of the US education
> system.
>
>
>
> It dispelled notions of education commonly held by educators, parents,
> and students worldwide, and introduced new theories about how and what
> and why children learn. It was an objective, unassailable, scientific
> survey of students' skills around the world which enables international
> comparisons to be made free of political, partisan, and natinonalistic
> claims. It included both sexes and a wide array of students of all
> geographies, income strata, races, nationalities and religions,
> eliminating the usual arguments that such standardized tests are biased
> against a certain minority group.
>
> It proved that the US education system is, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
> the world's worst.
>
> WORLD'S HIGHEST EDUCATION COSTS & LOWEST SCORES
>
> As a percent of GDP, only two countries spend more for education than
> the US, but no country's 12th graders scored lower than everyone else in
> so many different subjects. Of 34 TIMSS subjects, the US was dead last
> in 17 of them. Japan and Korea, who spend half as much as a percent of
> GDP for education, educate their 8th graders well enough to score more
> than 100 points higher than ours, proof that spending more money isn't a
> prerequisite to improving education. Within the G-7 countries, a 1%
> increase in education spending as a percent of GDP correlates to a 40
> point decrease in TIMSS scores. Where the 12th graders of most
> countries scored higher than their 8th graders (as much as 92 points
> higher), the 12th graders in the US scored 72 points lower, suggesting
> that American high schools may have a serious adverse effect on
> students. It demonstrated that the "gender gap" (the difference between
> boys' and girls' test scores) is constant across the world and is not
> the result of some systemic discrimination against girls and in favor of
> boys in the US, as claimed by feminists. It demonstrates that American
> 12th grade girls had been taught math and physics principles, but that
> zero percent of them were able to apply those principles to problem
> solving.
>
> US HAS WORLD'S LOWEST TIMSS SCORES
>
> At the 12th grade level, compared to American girls, French boys scored
> 130 points higher in Calculus and 147 points higher in Advanced Math,
> Swedish boys scored 193 points higher in Mechanics and 154 points higher
> in Wave Phenomena, Russian boys scored 166 points higher in Electricity
> & Magnetism and 91 points higher in heat, Lithuanian boys scored 121
> points higher in Numbers and Equations, Swiss boys scored 161 points
> higher in Geometry, German boys scored 115 points higher in Modern
> Physics, Dutch boys scored 129 points higher in General Math and 113
> points higher in General Science, Norwegian boys scored 189 points
> higher in Physics
>
> American boys compared to American girls scored 41 points higher in
> Calculus, 92 points higher in Advanced Math, 52 points higher in
> Mechanics, 18 points higher in Wave Phenomena, 28 points higher in
> Electricity & Magnetism, 26 points higher in Heat, 3 points higher in
> Numbers & Equations, 31 points higher in Geometry, 20 points higher in
> Modern Physics, 54 points higher in General Math, 61 points higher in
> General Science, 91 points higher in Physics, and 33 points higher in
> Advanced Science.
>
> AMERICAN GIRLS' LOWER THAN IF THEY JUST GUESSED
>
> There were questions which required only that a student remember a math
> or physics principle, and questions that required students to solve
> problems using those principles. Most of them were multiple choice
> questions with 4 or 5 choices. If students guess on a series of 4
> choice questions, they will get 25% of them correct, and if they guess
> on a series of 5 choice questions, they will get 20% of them correct.
> Once adjusted for multiple choice guesses, American 12th grade girls
> demonstrated that they remembered an average of half of the math and
> physics principles on the test. But their aggregate score on both math
> and physics questions which required those principles to be applied to
> problem solving was zero percent. Of these problem solving questions,
> on 7 of the 20 multiple choice physics questions and on 4 of the 16
> multiple choice math questions, they correctly answered fewer questions
> than if they had just guessed. Such consistently wrong answers cannot
> be explained by sheer probability theory. For example, question K10
> ANGLE INSCRIBED BY FIGURES INSIDE A SEMICIRCLE had 4 possible answers,
> so 25% of students guessing on the question would have guessed
> correctly. But only 9% American girls correctly answered this question,
> 16% fewer than if they had just guessed. American boys didn't do well
> on this question either, with only 33.7% correct answers, but the 8.7%
> more correct answers that they got than if they had just guessed is
> infinitely greater than zero percent.
>
> None of the average international scores for any of the math questions
> for girls followed this pattern. Adjusted for guesses, the average
> international score for girls for all of the math problem solving
> questions was 14.5%, compared to 1.9% for American girls. Because the
> error was plus or minus 3%, a score of 1.9% is a demonstration of zero
> problem solving skills for American girls, compared to at least 11.5%
> for girls internationally.
>
> The international math scores for all boys was lower than if they had
> just guessed on only one question, which is the above question, on which
> they scored 3% lower. This can be explained entirely by the plus or
> minus 3% error. Their average score on these questions was 18.3%, which
> is 3.9% higher than the international girls' score.
>
> BOYS ANSWER 6% MORE QUESTIONS CORRECTLY THAN GIRLS, A 31 POINT
> DIFFERENCE
>
> The average percent correct in advanced math for American boys was 7.9%,
> which is 6% higher than American girls, but 6.6% lower than girls
> internationally and 10.4% lower than boys internationally. It was also
> lower than if they had just guessed on only one question, which is a
> different question than the one above. They scored 4% lower on a
> question regarding permutations, which would suggest that (had it not
> been for the dismal performance of girls) the American education system
> is not teaching this subject correctly. In other words, this would
> otherwise suggest that American text book and/or teachers are teaching
> the wrong thing about permutations.
>
> The difference between boys and girls in the final score in advanced
> math was 31 points (457 vs. 426), evidence that a score of 426 is the
> TIMSS score someone with no problem solving skills would receive. The
> average international scores for girls (482) was 25 points higher than
> for American boys, the international score for boys (519) was 62 points
> higher, and Swiss boys scored 102 points higher at 559. Thus the 10.4%
> difference between American boys and boys internationally is equivalent
> to a 62 point difference in TIMSS scores.
>
> The difference between 426 and 457 doesn't seem like much of a
> difference, until you realize that it's the difference between zero
> percent having problem solving skills and 6% having problem solving
> skills.
>
> WHY DID GIRLS SCORE LOWER THAN IF THEY HAD JUST GUESSED?
>
> Without considering any other factors, it's impossible for girls to
> score consistently lower on 11 of 36 math and physics questions (almost
> a third of them) than if they had just guessed, without knowing enough
> about the subject in order to answer these questions incorrectly.
> Analyzing this data solely by itself, it would appear that our education
> system is somehow encouraging American girls to intentionally answer
> such questions incorrectly, in a way that no other education system
> does. The low score of American boys relative to the average
> international score for girls suggests that either this also decreases
> boys' scores, or that a similar thing is happening to boys but they are
> rejecting the disinformation and relying on innate math skills more
> often than girls.
>
> NO RESPONSE TO SOME QUESTIONS?
>
> A possible explanation suggested by the National Center for Education
> Statistics is a poor test taking strategy by American girls. If a large
> percentage of them didn't answer these questions at all, then they would
> have scored lower than if they had just guessed on all the questions.
> The test results containing the percent of students who didn't answer
> each question shows that only a small percent of American girls didn't
> answer these questions at all, eliminating this is as a possible factor.
>
>
> ___________________________________________________________
>
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths,
misdirections
and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and
minor
effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said,
CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
<A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
