Tracing the U.S. Deficit in PISA Reading Skills to Early Childhood

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.

Secondary Education Systems and the General Skills of Less- and Intermediate-educated Adults

“…Such conditions include differences in poverty rates, ethnic heterogeneity, and health systems. These factors likely affect children's cognitive development and learning processes as well as the challenges schools face (Merry 2013). Adults' skills achievement might also reflect long-run effects of differences in the effectiveness of primary education (i.e., before the features of secondary education that we are interested in have had an impact).…”

Can we close gaps in literacy by social background over the life course?

“…For half a century, the sociological literature on achievement gaps related to SES background in childhood has examined the differential impact of time at school versus time at home for children of different SES backgrounds as a strategy to understand the relative contribution of school effects versus home or family effects to SES achievement gaps (Downey and Condron 2016). US research finds that SES achievement gaps narrow when students are in school and widen when they are out of school, such as during early childhood and summer vacations, suggesting that school environments are more equal than home environments (Downey, von Hippel and Broh 2004;Merry 2013). There is also evidence that this pattern may vary cross-nationally, both due to factors as simple as the length of summer vacation and as generalized as the relative inequality of school and home environments for children of different SES backgrounds (Baker, Goesling and LeTendre 2002;Bradbury et al 2015;Davies and Aurini 2013;Heyneman and Loxley 1983;Merry 2013).…”

“…US research finds that SES achievement gaps narrow when students are in school and widen when they are out of school, such as during early childhood and summer vacations, suggesting that school environments are more equal than home environments (Downey, von Hippel and Broh 2004;Merry 2013). There is also evidence that this pattern may vary cross-nationally, both due to factors as simple as the length of summer vacation and as generalized as the relative inequality of school and home environments for children of different SES backgrounds (Baker, Goesling and LeTendre 2002;Bradbury et al 2015;Davies and Aurini 2013;Heyneman and Loxley 1983;Merry 2013). For adults, education and labour force experiences may also affect those of different SES backgrounds differently; for example; further education and opportunities for skills use and development at work may have compensatory effects on those of low-SES backgrounds because they enter adulthood with lower skills, or education and labour force participation may have weaker or even negative effects on those of low-SES backgrounds because they systematically have access to lower-quality education or less skill-intensive occupations.…”

“…International large-scale assessments document that these gaps exist in every participating country (e.g., Mullis et al 2012;OECD 2013b). Achievement gaps based on SES background are due both to disparities in the quality of primary and secondary education experienced by children from different SES backgrounds and to differences in out-of-school experiences in homes and neighbourhoods (Baker, Goesling and LeTendre 2002;Bradbury et al 2015;Downey and Condron 2016;Downey, von Hippel and Broh 2004;Merry 2013). What has been studied less is how skills gaps by SES background persist into adulthood, whether cumulative advantage and disadvantage cause skills gaps to widen over the life course or whether they narrow over time.…”

The impact of argument-based learning environments on early learners multimodal representations

“…Further, the vision and changes to the standards "cannot be realized unless the standards permeate the education system and guide curriculum, instruction, teacher preparation and professional development and student assessment" (National Research Council, 2012, p. 241). Researchers have investigated differences in cross-national performance from several perspectives including teacher quality, curriculum, and academic learning time (Merry, 2013). Not surprisingly, students with high-quality teachers and countries with centralized curricula have students with stronger academic performance (Fuchs & Woessmann, 2007;Gordon, Kane, & Staiger, 2006;Hanushek, 2011) while the effects of increased academic learning time appear linked to the quality of that learning time (Baker, Fabrega, Galindo, & Mishook, 2004;Silva, 2007) suggesting that quantity at the expense of quality is problematic.…”