Tracing the U.S. Deficit in PISA Reading Skills to Early Childhood: Evidence from the United States and Canada

Autor/in	Merry, Joseph J.
Titel	Tracing the U.S. Deficit in PISA Reading Skills to Early Childhood: Evidence from the United States and Canada
Quelle	In: Sociology of Education, 86 (2013) 3, S.234-252 (19 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0038-0407
DOI	10.1177/0038040712472913
Schlagwörter	Reading Skills; Foreign Countries; Cross Cultural Studies; Teacher Competencies; Curriculum; Time Factors (Learning); Socioeconomic Influences; Equal Education; Cultural Differences; Scores; Reading Achievement; Student Diversity; Social Differences; Child Health; Access to Health Care; Racial Differences; Family Structure; Family Involvement; Achievement Gap; Early Childhood Education; Secondary Education; Vocabulary Skills; Canada; United States; National Longitudinal Survey of Youth; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; Program for International Student Assessment + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Reading skill; Lesefertigkeit; Ausland; Cultural comparison; Kulturvergleich; Lehrkunst; Curricula; Lehrplan; Rahmenplan; Sozioökonomischer Faktor; Kultureller Unterschied; Leseleistung; Sozialer Unterschied; Rassenunterschied; Familienkonstellation; Familiensystem; Early childhood; Education; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Sekundarbereich; Aktiver Wortschatz; Kanada; USA
Abstract	Why does the United States lag behind so many other countries on international education assessments? The traditional view targets school-based explanations--U.S. schools attract poorer teachers and lack the proper incentives. But the U.S. educational system may also serve children with comparatively greater academic challenges as a result of poorer social conditions. One way of gaining leverage on this issue is to understand when U.S. students fall behind their international counterparts. I first compare reading/vocabulary test scores for U.S. and Canadian children (ages 4-5) using National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979-Children and Youth (NLSY79) and Canada's National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth (NLSCY). I then compare the magnitude of these differences to similar cohorts of students at ages 15 to 16 using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Findings indicate that while the Canadian advantage in PISA is substantial (0.30 standard deviation units), this advantage already existed at ages 4 to 5, before formal schooling had a chance to matter. I discuss the implications of this pattern for interpreting international test score rankings. (Contains 19 notes and 3 tables.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10