An Assessment of Education Quality beyond Dinner Table Discussions

Abstract

News media often publish comparative studies that report U.S. student performance in a global context. The school quality concern seems so simplistic that anyone who had compulsory education can chime into the discussion. In this article, the condition of U.S. education is further disentangled across the boundary of K-12 and higher education. Core program features are examined to reveal profound factors behind student performance in mathematics and science. These findings are grounded on triangulation of the interrelated observations that are typically obscured from test score comparisons across nations.

The Integration of 21st-Century Skills in Science: A Case Study of Canada and the USA

“…However, their study showed that the implementation of integrated science was not as successful as expected because students perceived integrated science as difficult, boring, uninteresting, and abstract. Like the findings by Wang (2013), one of the causes of this perception by students is the inconsistency in teachers’ educational background in integrated science as well as underdeveloped textbooks and curriculum.…”

“…According to Osborne and Dillon (2008), science professionals have heavily influenced the design of science curricula to include essential preparation in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, focusing mainly on learning facts and memorization to develop students' foundation to pursue science degrees. Similarly, Wang (2013) conducted a study on the condition of the US educational system across the K-12 and higher education levels. Wang emphasized that the weakness in the US K-12 system of education is the lack of teacher preparation stating that "several Chinese scholars witnessed American teachers and students carrying out the wrong scientific experiments and calculations with great enthusiasm" (p. 113).…”