Podcasts about international student assessment

This particular pre-Budget announcement should be music to the ears of parents who are currently working every hour God sends to pay for extra maths coaching for their children. You might have heard them on this show before – parents who really can't afford it, but say to themselves they can't afford not to, pay for the sort of tuition that teachers are unable to give in school, that one-on-one coaching to fix the gaps in literacy and in maths. Core subjects that teachers should be able to teach and should have time to provide extra support for those children who needed a little bit of a catch up, but in the modern-day classroom environment, it appears they cannot. Next week's Budget will include nearly $100 million in funding over four years for students who are underachieving in maths, including $56 million for the equivalent of 143 “maths intervention teachers” in primary schools. I didn't know we had a “maths intervention” tree, but it will be fantastic to pick 143 teachers off there and pop them in the classrooms. Perhaps they'll come out of the after-school tuition programmes. From next year, all students will have their maths ability checked in their first two years of schooling, which is fantastic. You have to know where you're coming from, you have to have a base from which you can start. Education Minister Erica Stanford said the maths check scheme would cost $4 million and aims to identify students who need more support, similar to the literacy phonics check unveiled last year, which is going, by all accounts, great guns. So that's $100 million that we've got, that's $56 million spent on the maths intervention teachers, $4 million for the maths check scheme, and according to my maths, that leaves us $40 million that will fund small group maths tutoring for up to 34,000 year 7 & 8 students each year, from next year. Hell-ay-jolly-lujah! As I say, parents are trying to shore up the gaps in their children's maths education by enrolling them and after school tuition at considerable expense will be absolutely delighted. Are the teachers? Thank you for asking. According to Upper Hutt Principals Association president Robyn Brown on Early Edition this morning, not so much. “Unfortunately our problem doesn't sit in maths. We are desperate for learning support and if we want to improve achievement, we need to put every cent we have into learning support rather than ring fencing it just for maths. We know that that's not going to make a huge difference. At the moment we have inadequate PLD or professional development for teachers. On a curriculum that they've only had two terms to teach so far, it's not been implemented with ability, we have no way of even assessing it yet.” It would be great if you could say $100 million investment in our classrooms is fantastic, but I guess you're not going to get that from Principal Associations and education ministries. They have been saying for some time, since Labour was in power, that they need more professional development. They need more time and there have been many, many changes within the schools around the curriculum, and I don't blame them for wanting to catch a breath, catch up with what this iteration of the curriculum looks like. But when she says math isn't the problem, that is the problem. In 2023, New Zealand students recorded their worst ever results in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment. The average student dropped up to 15 points in maths, one of the worst performing. It's not a one-off. New Zealand's “achievement” in maths has plateaued for the past two decades. And then you had all this nonsense back in 2022, saying they get maths anxiety before tests, they're very anxious. They're actually brilliant at maths, they just get very anxious before exams. What tosh, absolute nonsense. They don't know the answers – that's where the anxiety comes from. They're not prepared; they don't know how to do it. Parents know this. They will welcome this investment even if the teachers don't, or the teachers' unions and representatives don't. When it comes to the learning difficulties, that surely is a separate matter entirely. Neurodiverse kids, kids who are behind the eight-ball from the time they were born because of the damage done in the womb, that is complex, it is difficult, but surely it's a completely separate issue. I'm not sure it should be conflated with your average school kid needing to do better in core subjects – children who are able to learn from a standard curriculum, who want to do better, who deserve better, who should be doing better. I'm sure there's a shopping list a mile long that any teacher or principal has when it comes to doing the best for the kids that turn up in their classroom. Too often your ordinary, everyday children are getting left behind and forgotten. They deserve the best. They deserve to be supported and encouraged and just see how far they can go, not have all the money spent on trying to deal with incredibly complex and difficult situations with families and children. How about a little support for these kids whose parents are doing the best by them, whose teachers are trying to do the best by them but they're getting dragged in so many different directions and situations? I'm all for this this. It's fantastic. Have the base check, know which children are going to need the extra support, target it to them and hopefully, hopefully in a few years we won't have children leaving primary school who are illiterate and innumerate, because that has been a crying shame for the past two decades and that is only going to benefit New Zealand to have a better educated populace. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although the school holidays are still in full swing, that doesn't mean that the country's children are getting the food they need at home. New Zealand children are still going hungry at school and that means that they're ending up years behind other children in key subjects. The data that shows this ongoing issue for us all and also ranks New Zealand poorly for food poverty. The health researchers behind the just-published analysis argue the government needs to double the number of children served by its newly revamped lunches in schools scheme. It's no surprise that hungry students struggle to learn: food poverty has been cited as a big barrier in New Zealand's scoring under the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment. A comparison between that and two other global datasets has allowed a team of researchers to look at the link in greater depth. After analysing food insecurity levels with subject-specific scores, the team revealed a stark trend. Any degree of food insecurity was associated with much lower academic performance - a pattern that held across all subjects, age groups, and surveys. Professor Boyd Swinburn from Auckland University is a co-author of the study I'm referring to, and he says he didn't expect the effect size to be so large. In all, it equated to a learning gap equivalent to hungry students trailing two to four years behind in subjects like maths and reading by age 15 – even after adjusting for socio-economic indicators. Something else born from this study is that there's also a gradient effect. The more severe the food insecurity, the greater the gap in scores compared to kids with no food insecurity. The problem doesn't just reflect hungry children finding it harder to concentrate in class, but other factors including parents keeping their kids home rather than face stigma at school. It's all very well blaming the state of the New Zealand curriculum, or the size of the classrooms confronting our teachers, but when you may well address some of the demonstrably poor outcomes shown in this study – by simply ensuring that our children are well fed and literally well catered for at school, what on earth are we waiting for?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"A good book is easy to find." That is the message on a sign at Hernando Guanlao's home in the Makati area of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. “一本好书很容易找到。” 这是菲律宾首都马尼拉马卡蒂地区埃尔南多·关老家中的一块牌子上写的信息。Guanlao has turned his home into a free public library. Visitors can borrow the books inside for free. 关老把他的家变成了免费的公共图书馆。游客可以免费借阅里面的书籍。Guanlao says he hopes his library will inspire people to read, especially the young. The 72-year-old told reporters that his library includes books that all students can enjoy – from young children in Kindergarten to older students in grade 12. 关老说，他希望他的图书馆能够激发人们，尤其是年轻人的阅读热情。这位 72 岁的老人告诉记者，他的图书馆里有所有学生都可以喜欢的书籍——从幼儿园的幼儿到 12 年级的高年级学生。Guanlao says his library has books for readers of all interests. He spoke to reporters at his home, which is filled with thousands of available books. 关老说，他的图书馆有适合各种兴趣读者的书籍。他在自己的家里接受记者采访，家里摆满了数千本可用书籍。He calls his library Reading Club 2000. It contains many different kinds of books, or genres. 他把他的图书馆称为“阅读俱乐部 2000”。里面有许多不同种类或类型的书籍。Genre is a group of artistic, musical, or literary works that share a particular style, form, or content. Some genres in literature are poetry, non-fiction (or real stories), and fiction (or imaginary stories). Then there are “sub-genres” such as cookbooks, science fiction, and mystery, to name just a few. 流派是一组具有特定风格、形式或内容的艺术、音乐或文学作品。文学的一些类型是诗歌、非小说类（或真实故事）和小说（或虚构故事）。还有一些“子类型”，例如烹饪书、科幻小说和悬疑小说等等。Guanlao added, "There are also spiritual books for those who are looking for religious knowledge, hardbound and softbound books, autobiographies, and many different genres that one can enjoy, all for free.” 关老补充道：“还有宗教类的灵性书籍，精装本、软装本、自传等多种类型的书籍都可以免费阅读。”He started his library more than 20 years ago when he set 50 books on the walkway in front of his home. Guanlao's collection has grown greatly over the years -- thanks to a continuous supply of books from donors. 20 多年前，他在自家门前的人行道上放置了 50 本书，由此建立了自己的图书馆。多年来，由于捐赠者源源不断地提供书籍，关老的藏书不断增加。Speaking of donors, he said, "They just leave boxes of books outside my house.” He has also started donating books himself. He sends reading materials to public schools in far-away communities.谈到捐赠者，他说：“他们只是把一箱箱书留在我家外面。” 他自己也开始捐赠书籍，向偏远社区的公立学校发送阅读材料。Guanlao's efforts come at a time when reading ability among students in the Philippines remains low. The Program for International Student Assessment reports that reading scores in the Philippines are among the lowest in the world. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development runs that program. 关老的努力正值菲律宾学生的阅读能力仍然较低之际。国际学生评估计划报告称，菲律宾的阅读成绩是世界上最低的。经济合作与发展组织负责执行该计划。Students in the Philippines are also facing learning delays in math and science. 菲律宾的学生在数学和科学方面也面临着学习延迟的问题。Guanlao is firm about his goals: "My mission is to give away used and donated books to others at no cost,” he said, “and to promote education through literature." 关老对自己的目标很坚定：“我的使命是免费向他人赠送二手书和捐赠的书籍，”他说，“并通过文学促进教育。”

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment, US test scores declined 13 points from where it was in 2018. 28 other countries, including Switzerland and Japan, saw their scores stay the same or improve. Julie discusses the problem of education and Russia and China's different strategies with teaching mathematics.Join Julie live Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 1p PT, call in number: 844-861-5537Check out other Julie Hartman videos: https://www.youtube.com/@juliehartman Follow Julie Hartman on social media: Website: https://juliehartmanshow.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julierhartman/X: https://twitter.com/JulieRHartmanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A recent study by the Programme for International Student Assessment says Saskatchewan had the second-worst math scores and third-worst reading scores in all of Canada. Ash Noureldin, owner of Mathnasium of North Regina, joins Evan to share some insights on how we can begin to improve math scores in the province.

Richard Rumelt is a legend in the world of strategy. He's the author of Good Strategy/Bad Strategy and The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists, both of which are often recommended by guests on this podcast. From his early days teaching in Iran at a Harvard-sponsored business school to teaching at Harvard Business School itself to over four decades teaching at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, Richard's impact resonates globally. His strategic insights are sought after by major corporations including Microsoft, Shell, Apple, AT&T, Intel, and Commonwealth Bank and by governmental organizations such as the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. In this episode, we discuss:• The essential components of a good strategy• The importance of coherence in strategy• Common pitfalls that create a bad strategy• How “power” plays into strategy, and common sources of power• The value of knowing history when developing effective strategies• Why a strategy should simply be called an “action agenda”• The need for one decider in an organization—Brought to you by:• CommandBar—AI-powered user assistance for modern products and impatient users• Miro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security.—Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/good-strategy-bad-strategy-richard-rumelt/—Where to find Richard Rumelt:• Email: richard@generalimagination.com• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-rumelt-18520828/• Website: https://thecruxbook.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Richard's background(04:29) What is a strategy?(06:23) The essential components of a good strategy (the “kernel”)(15:04) An example of good strategy(16:55) Bad strategy(25:17) The importance of focus and power(28:19) Identifying and utilizing power(34:38) Types of power(41:13) Implementing power(48:15) The importance of historical knowledge(55:23) How to write an action agenda(01:02:47) The crux(01:10:40) Challenges to executing a strategy(01:15:44) The need for a decider(01:20:39) Strategy for startups(01:26:04) Richard's “value denials” exercise(01:31:01) Closing thoughts(01:33:57) Lightning round—Referenced:• China's Xi says ‘reunification' with Taiwan is inevitable: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/31/chinas-xi-says-reunification-with-taiwan-is-inevitable.html• The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists: https://www.amazon.com/Crux-How-Leaders-Become-Strategists/dp/1541701240• Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Strategy-Bad-Difference-Matters/dp/0307886239• Fundamental Issues in Strategy: A Research Agenda: https://www.amazon.com/Fundamental-Issues-Strategy-Research-Agenda/dp/0875843433/• Strategy, Structure, and Economic Performance: https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Structure-Economic-Performance-Richard/dp/0875841090• There's more than the CIA and FBI: The 17 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community: https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-17-intelligence-agencies-20170112-story.html• Programme for International Student Assessment: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/• Gerstner: Changing Culture at IBM—Lou Gerstner Discusses Changing the Culture at IBM: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/gerstner-changing-culture-at-ibm-lou-gerstner-discusses-changing-the-culture-at-ibm• Marvin Lieberman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marvin-lieberman-2a6b72/• S&P 500: https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/indices/equity/sp-500/#overview• Battle of Tora Bora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora• Milton Friedman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman• The Louvre: https://www.louvre.fr/en• How does SpaceX build its Falcon 9 reusable rocket?: https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/how-does-spacex-build-its-falcon-9-reusable-rocket• Charles Darwin: History's most famous biologist: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/charles-darwin-most-famous-biologist.html• Donald Rumsfeld: https://www.defense.gov/About/Biographies/Biography/Article/602800/• Bush: The Decider-in-Chief: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-the-decider-in-chief/• Woodrow Wilson: https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/woodrow-wilson/• How the Sinking of Lusitania Changed World War I: https://www.history.com/news/how-the-sinking-of-lusitania-changed-wwi• Nokia: https://www.nokia.com/• The Rise and Fall of Nokia: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=46041• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/• These New Windows Let the Summer Breeze In, But Block the Street Noise: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-new-windows-let-the-summer-breeze-in-but-block-the-street-noise-7906121/• Stop it! (Bob Newhart): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvujypVVBAY• The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business: https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244• Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X• Steve Jobs: https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1982176865• Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company: https://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Exploit-Challenge/dp/0385483821• Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.: https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Life-John-Rockefeller-Sr/dp/1400077303/• Yellowstone on Paramount+: https://www.paramountnetwork.com/shows/yellowstone• Smart telescopes: https://milehighastro.com/collections/smart-telescopes• Cassandra Clare: https://cassandraclare.com/—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) results justify need for funding overhaul of Australian Education. Analysis of PISA results by Save Our Schools' Trevor Cobbold and Finnish educator and scholar Pasi Sahlberg. A major review and recommendations for new NSRAs. ATAR results - when can students expect them and what do they actually mean? U.S.- Quarter of a century of vouchers in Milwaukee later and the promise of saving poor kids from failing schools is shown to be a lie.  Between 2011 and  2021/22,  2315 Charter schools failed and closed in the U.S.Great State Schools - Public schools score high in VCE results!www.adogs.info

 Na de publicatie van de rampzalige resultaten van het laatste PISA-onderzoek (Programme for International Student Assessment) blijkt dat het Vlaamse onderwijs steeds verder afzakt in de internationale rankings. We bereikten een nieuw dieptepunt in een dalende trend die al sinds de invoering van de PISA-onderzoeken gaande is. Hoofdeconoom van Stichting Merito Ivan Van de Cloot en Rudi Dierick, voorzitter van Bovenwijs VZW, bespreken bij Winfried Matheeussen de problemen die aan de basis liggen van de neergang van ons onderwijs. Daarnaast delen ze hun visie op wat er nodig is om de tanker te keren. Support the show

The latest OECD 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PSA) results showed that Singapore was on the highest rank in maths, science and reading. - Hasil dari Program for International Student Assessment (PSA) terbaru OECD 2022 menunjukkan, Singapura berada pada peringkat tertinggi di bidang matematika, sains, dan membaca.

If you haven't already heard, Singapore recently ranked top for mathematics, science and reading in the Programme for International Student Assessment, or Pisa study done by the OECD in 2022.  But, there was a slight decline in reading, similar to that of their peers in many other countries, and other problem spots include perception of a lack of support from their parents, and a lack of physical activity.  On this episode of Morning Shot, Jason Tan, Associate Professor for Policy, Curriculum and Leadership at the National Institute of Education shares his insights on whether our Singapore students have the critical skills for global challenges. Presented by: Emaad Akhtar Produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA 2022 showed a steep decline in performance of Malaysian students in all three domains, namely mathematics, science and reading. Chan Soon Seng, CEO at Teach for Malaysia analyses the data, what ails the education industry and how the government can do better to improve the future of Malaysian students.Image credit: Berita Harian Online

Malaysian students scored poorly on the Programme for International Student Assessment 2022 (PISA), even below the OECD average. The data showed that Malaysian students showed weakness in all three literacy measures that include reading, mathematics and science. Is there a weakness in the education system and what remedies are necessary? Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim of the Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) discusses with us the implications the future of Malaysian's talent pool faces.Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Felicity Evans and James Williams are joined by BBC Wales education correspondent Bethan Lewis and Institute of Fiscal Studies research fellow Luke Sibieta to assess the performance of Welsh pupils in the most recent set of Pisa tests - the international maths, reading and science assessments carried out every three years. The latest results from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment - and the first since Covid - saw Wales' performance fall to its lowest level ever in all three disciplines, with Wales also scoring the lowest of all the UK nations.

Ditch and Tim Van Horn spoke to former Department of Education Press Secretary Angela Morabito about the  country's math scores and if 34th is a win or a loss. Also MIT, UPenn and Harvard presidents refusal to admit what is being said and done by students on their campuses is bullying, hate speech and breaks the schools code of conduct rules.  The results of the Program for International Student Assessment are in, and they're pretty bleak - our math score sank to an all-time low, dropping 13 points since 2018. We're now 34th in math among the tested countries/economies, getting  out-competed by several east Asian countries, all of Scandinavia (which barely closed during COVID), and places like Latvia, Vietnam, Malta, and more. Sec. Cardona is hailing the scores as a win because other countries performed worse and so, we rose in the rankings. He's claiming that $200 billion in K-12 COVID relief spending was a good investment, when our raw scores in reading, math, and science all decreased! Instead of admitting money hasn't solved our country's educational woes, the Department of Education has posted a video gushing about how educators are unicorns. Support the show: https://www.newstalk989.com/personalities/memphis-morning-news/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I don't think any of us were hugely surprised to wake up this morning to the news that the latest PISA report shows that Kiwi kids aren't doing so well in maths, and to a lesser extent, science.   PISA, or Programme for International Student Assessment, gives us a gauge on students' maths, reading, and science literacy in every OECD country and in New Zealand. The report is based on assessing and surveying 4700 students aged 15, across 169 schools, and they did this test in term 3 of 2022.    In the report released overnight there is a slice of positivity. I went looking for it folks! We still rank highly in the OECD for reading and science, but we're still in the middle for maths. So New Zealand's mean reading scores hasn't changed significantly over the 2012/2022 period, but it is lower than it was in 2009 and previous cycles. New Zealand's mean science score is similar to 2018, but lower than it was in 2015, and 2009, and 2006. Maths didn't fare so well, with New Zealand's main mathematics score significantly declining since 2018 and over the long term. Interestingly, there was a large learning loss globally in maths and reading. New Zealand has bucked the trend in reading. See, I'm just looking for all these little slices of positivity.   So we haven't gone too far backwards over the last few years, but there is still plenty to worry about. Because our educational outcomes have been in decline over the last two decades and since we began being involved with this program, and basically it has got to stop.   There are some obvious reasons for this. The PPTA is blaming Covid and our new Education Minister, Erica Stanford, is blaming the way we teach these subjects and at the end of the day, it's not one thing. As a parent you'll probably know this, Covid absolutely did not help.   Interestingly, an Educational Review Office report found that only 19% of principals in 2023 believe their school has recovered from Covid-19 disruptions. Almost half of the 37% in 2021. There is also the approach to teaching, the way we teach, the classroom environment, that modern learning environment, resources and upskilling teachers – it all comes together to play a part, doesn't it? So yes, it is time to revert to the best approaches based on the best scientific evidence to teach our children.   And this is where I do have some hope in what Erica Stanford is offering, saying that there be one hour of math reading and writing a day. I actually think that sort of statement is a bit pointless, because if you ask any teacher, they will tell you they're already doing that through various tasks and exercises. But teach these subjects better, with better approaches as Stanford is promising, and you never know, we could be away.   So yes, let's get on with training teachers and structured literacy and introduce a new curriculum with clear expectations for what children are to be taught each year, that's good for both the child and the parent who's trying to work out where their kid is at and where they may need some help. When it comes to maths, we need to get back to basic mathematical knowledge and keep strategies simple, unless the child shows the need for a different approach.   The only problem, of course, is that changes in the curriculum take time, and gosh, I understand the frustration that teachers will be feeling right now - we've only just finished changing the curriculum and now we're sort of back to square one, we're going to change it again. And even once these changes are made, it may take time to see the impact. So, we actually need to throw all the resources at we can to make these changes as quickly and nimbly as we can.   PPTA Acting President Chris Abercrombie spoke to Early Edition this morning and he had some other solutions as to what was necessary to lift the academic performance of our children.   “I think one of the key things to remember is there needs to be really good professional development to upskill teachers because the PISA's testing them at 15 years old, so they've had a lot of education by that point. So, we need to make sure our professional development is there for our teachers to upskill them, particularly in the early stages of schooling.”  “There needs to be more support for students with diverse needs. This is a really key example. You know, students who come from more advantaged backgrounds, we know do better than students from less advantaged backgrounds, so we need to put things in place to sort of limit that impact. We know education has become a political football. We've already got the new government talking about rewriting the curriculum that's just being rewritten.  And so those are big issues. To say that it creates disruption in the classroom, it creates disruption in the profession. Rewriting curriculum is a year's long process. It doesn't happen overnight. To then be told three years down the track you need to rewrite it again, it's just incredibly disruptive to the profession.”  Totally understandable, right?   But obviously if it is the best thing for our children, it has to be done. It actually doesn't matter which political party is delivering the change. We know the value of education, at the end of the day, the most important thing is that we do what is best for our children's education. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The PISA 2022 international results have just been announced. The Programme for International Student Assessment, to give it its full title, measures the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematical, and scientific literacy. Rather than how well they've learned a particular piece of content or part of the curriculum, it assesses their ability to apply their knowledge and skills to real-life problems and situations. Singapore once again topped the tables across the board, with its students performing significantly higher than their international counterparts across all 3 domains. PISA 2022, which was delayed by a year because of the pandemic, involved nearly 700,000 students from 81 OECD member and partner economies. Here in Australia, 13,347 students from 743 schools participated. Each cycle of PISA has a nominated major domain – the latest one being mathematics. In this special episode I'm joined by Professor Geoff Masters, CEO of the Australian Council for Educational Research, to talk about Australia's performance, what we could learn from top performer Singapore, and some of the education reforms taking place in other parts of the world. Host: Jo Earp Guest: Geoff Masters Sponsor: MacKillop Seasons

On the version of Hot off the Wire posted Dec. 5 at 7:30 a.m. CT: KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel is intensifying its bombardment in and around Gaza's second-largest city, sending ambulances and private cars racing into a local hospital carrying people wounded in a bloody new phase of the war. Under U.S. pressure to prevent further mass casualties in the conflict with Hamas, Israel says it is being more precise as it widens its offensive into southern Gaza after obliterating much of the north. But Palestinians say there are no areas where they feel safe, and many fear that if they leave their homes they will never be allowed to return. Aerial bombardment and the ground offensive have already driven three-fourths of the territory's 2.3 million people from their homes. ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding a massive explosion that destroyed a duplex and shook a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. Police said early Tuesday that a suspect in the home fired a flare gun 30 to 40 times into the neighborhood on Monday afternoon, drawing a large police response. Arlington County, Virginia, police say they obtained a search warrant and tried to contact the suspect, but he remained inside his home. When police attempted to execute a warrant, the suspect fired several rounds inside the home and the house subsequently exploded. Police say all officers escaped serious injury, but it was unclear what happened to the suspect. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's emergency services agency says more than 80 people are confirmed dead after military drones “mistakenly” bombed a religious gathering in the northwest. Some 60 people were injured in the attack Sunday in Kaduna state. The president ordered a probe into the incident, the latest of a series of failed aerial assaults in the conflict zone. Since 2017, some 400 civilians have been killed by airstrikes the military said were targeting armed groups, according to the Lagos-based SBM Intelligence security firm. Rights groups and analysts say such mistakes have continued to happen because of the failure to hold the security agencies accountable. WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study finds that students around the world suffered historic setbacks in reading during the pandemic and even deeper losses in math, with test score decreases so wide that the United States climbed in global rankings simply by falling behind less sharply. The state of global education was given a bleak appraisal in the Program for International Student Assessment, the first study to examine academic progress in dozens of countries during the pandemic. Released Tuesday, it finds that average math scores fell by the equivalent of three-quarters of a year's worth of learning. Reading scores fell by the equivalent of half a year. ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — George Santos already has a new gig. Fresh off his historic expulsion, the former congressman has opened a Cameo account where the public can pay $200 for a personalized video message. Screenshots of his account with the bio "Former congressional ‘Icon'!” started to spread online Monday and by the afternoon, users were posting clips of Santos offering advice, blowing kisses and making jokes about Botox. Santos was expelled from the House on Friday following a scandal-plagued tenure in Congress and a looming criminal trial. He is only the sixth member in the chamber's history to be ousted by colleagues. MIAMI (AP) — The Justice Department says a former American diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia has been charged with serving as a covert agent for Cuba's intelligence services since at least 1981. Newly unsealed court papers allege that Manuel Rocha engaged in “clandestine activity” on Cuba's behalf for decades, including by meeting with Cuban intelligence operatives. The complaint was filed in federal court in Miami, and includes charges of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government and other crimes. He appeared in court Monday afternoon and will remain held until a bond hearing Wednesday. LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry is challenging the British government's decision to strip him of his security detail after he gave up his status as a working member of the royal family and moved to the United States. A three-day hearing began Tuesday in London's High Court over the Duke of Sussex's claim that he deserves protection when he visits home. His lawyer claims Harry was treated unfairly by a committee that deviated from its own standards and failed to evaluate risks to him. A different judge previously rejected Harry's petition to privately pay for security in the United Kingdom. The Jaguars lose the game and their starting quarterback against the Bengals on Monday Night Football, a Steelers quarterback is out indefinitely after surgery, college football's Heisman Trophy finalists are announced, the Pacers and Pelicans punch their tickets to Las Vegas, Zach Edey carries Purdue men's hoops to victory and the Lightning cruise past the Stars. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies have signed manager Rob Thomson to a one-year contract extension through the 2025 season after he led the team to two straight trips to the NL Championship Series. The 60-year-old Thomson has a 155-118 record since the veteran bench coach replaced Joe Girardi as Phillies manager on June 3, 2022. Thomson led the Phillies to the 2022 World Series, where they lost in six games to the Houston Astros. The Phillies returned to the NLCS this season but blew series leads of 2-0 and 3-2 with Games 6 and 7 at home against Arizona. PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Eagles have signed three-time All-Pro linebacker Shaquille Leonard to a contract for the rest of the season. Leonard should be available to play for the Eagles on Sunday night against Dallas. Leonard visited with both the Eagles and Cowboys after the Colts waived him late last month. He complained publicly about decreased playing time this season with the Colts. Leonard made three All-Pro teams and three Pro Bowls in his first four seasons with the Colts. LONDON (AP) — Oxford University Press has named “rizz″ as its word of the year to highlight the popularity of a term used by Generation Z to describe someone's ability to attract or seduce another person. It topped “Swiftie” or an enthusiastic fan of Taylor Swift, “situationship” which means an informal romantic or sexual relationship and “prompt” which is an instruction given to an artificial intelligence program. The annual decision was announced on Monday. It was made by experts at the publisher of the multivolume Oxford English Dictionary. The four finalists were selected by a public vote. The publisher said that rizz is believed to come from the middle of the word charisma and can be used as a verb as in to “rizz up” or chat someone up. SEATTLE (AP) — Alaska Air Group has agreed to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal including debt. The airlines announced the agreement Sunday. Alaska will pay $18 in cash for each share of Hawaiian, whose stock closed Friday at $4.86. The deal includes $900 million in Hawaiian debt. The acquisition still needs the blessing of U.S. regulators, which have shown resistance to more consolidation within the airline industry out of fear it could lead to higher airfares. Alaska and Hawaiian are both leading carriers between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, which could raise worries about the combination hurting competition. —The Associated Press About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Valerie Vu, Founder of Ansible Ventures, and Jeremy Au discuss three main topics: 1. Intel $1B Investment Withdrawal: Valerie shared that Vietnam's power outages, real estate turmoil, and anti-corruption campaign have led to delays in construction permits and licensing, which influenced Intel's decision to withdraw investment. This also caused the Danish group Pandora to announce the delay in running its factory to 2026 instead of its initial plan to start in 2025. She also explained that the country's power supply is delivered by a single state-owned company called EVN, which has faced challenges in managing resources, resulting in inconsistent power supply. 2. Vietnam Edtech Trends: Valerie stressed that while K-12 education receives ample investment, higher education and adult learning opportunities are lacking. She shared her involvement in helping recruit for Marathon Education which aims to build a Vietnamese MIT university and the potential growth in post-K12 education, including university, post-grad, and adult learning sectors. We also discussed Vietnam's edtech space and both disagreed with the notion of Vietnamese youth disengagement or "lying flat" (tang ping), as seen in China and reported by SCMP. Valerie explained that Vietnam has the second highest PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) scores among ASEAN countries, next to Singapore. She also shared the trend of young Vietnamese holding multiple jobs or side hustles, showcasing their drive, competitiveness, and ambition. 3. Regional FDI Flow & Expansion Strategies: Valerie noted that the northern region of Vietnam is attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI) due to its infrastructure and larger workforce availability. She compared spending habits in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, pointing out Ho Chi Minh City's entrepreneurial and high-value customer base. We delved into Vietnamese companies' expansion strategies such as their movement into neighboring countries like Cambodia and Laos. Valerie mentioned companies like VinFast expanding into markets like Indonesia and Europe, representing the first generation of Vietnamese entrepreneurs attempting global expansion. She expressed optimism about Vietnam's digital economy growth, targeting 20% of GDP by 2025, and stressed the importance of supportive government policies for this expansion. They also talked about Vietnam's infrastructure development, the top cities and provinces attracting FDI, and the availability of human capital.  Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/intel-investment-withdrawal Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com WhatsApp: https://chat.whatsapp.com/CeL3ywi7yOWFd8HTo6yzde Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4TnqkaWpTT181lMA8xNu0T YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JeremyAu Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/brave-southeast-asia-tech-singapore-indonesia-vietnam/id1506890464 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZC5jby9icmF2ZWR5bmFtaWNz TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea Learn more about Fluid! Get in touch with Trasy, Fluid's cofounder at trasy@gofluid.io

Results from the prestigious PISA tests of reading, maths and science are due out in December but we already know New Zealand's scores are likely to be 10 points higher than they should be. So many schools refused to participate in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment last year that the sample of 15-year-olds was not fully representative. The Education Ministry says there were more students from private schools and high-decile schools and more students who went to classes regularly. Education correspondent John Gerritsen has been looking at the ministry's report.

PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is a worldwide study by the OECD intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-year-old school pupils' performance in maths, science and reading. This week, David interviews Lucy Crehan, qualified teacher, author and educational consultant. Her book Cleverlands (2016) combines educational research with an exploration of the world's top performing education systems, for which she travelled to help out in schools and live with teachers in Finland, Canada, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand and Shanghai. She has worked with governments in England, Brunei and Myanmar, and spoken about her work at conferences in nine countries across four continents. She spent a year working as part of a team advising foreign governments on education reform at Education Development Trust, and now works as an independent consultant and author.

How good are you at maths? Some people love the challenge of algebra or enjoy working out number puzzles such as Sudoko. Maths is all around us, from working out how to split the bill after a meal, to calculating your household bills. But many dread the moment when they have to deal with numbers and figures and feel a real sense of worry and confusion. It can seem daunting, but this ‘maths anxiety' is perfectly normal, and you're definitely not alone. And anyway, our worries and fears don't necessarily reflect our ability.你的数学有多好？有些人喜欢代数的挑战或喜欢解决数独等数字难题。数学无处不在，从计算饭后如何分摊账单到计算家庭账单。但许多人害怕面对数字和数字时感到真正的担忧和困惑。这看起来令人生畏，但这种“数学焦虑”是完全正常的，而且你绝对不是一个人。无论如何，我们的担忧和恐惧并不一定反映我们的能力。The problem really starts in childhood, at school. Research has found that maths teachers who are nervous about teaching the subject can pass on their anxiety to the pupils, and girls may be more likely to be affected. The Programme for International Student Assessment found around 31% of 15 and 16-year-olds across 34 countries said they got very nervous doing maths problems, 33% said they got tense doing maths homework, and nearly 60% said they worried maths classes would be difficult. Shulamit Kahn, from Boston University's Questrom School of Business, told the BBC she believes giving students, particularly girls, good role models “is critical, especially at a young age”. She thinks the key is to get people, especially women, who love teaching maths to younger children.↳问题真正开始于童年，在学校。研究发现，对教授这门学科感到紧张的数学老师会将他们的焦虑传递给学生，女生可能更容易受到影响。国际学生评估项目发现，在 34 个国家/地区的 15 岁和 16 岁青少年中，约有 31% 的人表示他们在做数学题时感到非常紧张，33% 的人表示他们在做数学作业时感到紧张，近 60% 的人表示他们担心数学课会很难。波士顿大学奎斯特罗姆商学院的舒拉米特·卡恩 (Shulamit Kahn) 告诉 BBC，她认为给学生，尤其是女孩，树立良好的榜样“至关重要，尤其是在年轻的时候”。她认为关键是要找到喜欢教年幼孩子数学的人，尤其是女性。Writing for BBC Future, David Robson says “It's not clear why maths arouses so much fear compared to geography. But the fact that there's a right or wrong answer – there's no room for bluffing – might make you more worried about underperforming.” And once we assume we're not a ‘maths person', we avoid solving things that we probably could do.大卫·罗布森 (David Robson) 为 BBC Future 撰稿说：“与地理相比，数学为什么会引起如此多的恐惧，这一点尚不清楚。但答案有对有错——没有虚张声势的余地——这一事实可能会让你更担心表现不佳。”一旦我们假设自己不是“数学家”，我们就会避免解决我们可能会做的事情。Psychologists have been trying to work out why mental arithmetic can bring us out in a sweat. That seed of fear may come from many sources, but some suggest that articulating your fears can loosen their hold on you, and encourage children to see a maths test as a challenge, not a threat. Ideally, we need to think positively about maths and give it a second chance.↳心理学家一直在努力弄清楚为什么心算能让我们大汗淋漓。恐惧的种子可能有很多来源，但有些人认为，表达你的恐惧可以放松他们对你的控制，并鼓励孩子们将数学考试视为挑战，而不是威胁。理想情况下，我们需要积极思考数学并给它第二次机会。词汇表algebra 代数puzzle 谜题，智力游戏Sudoko 数独游戏split the bill 分摊费用calculate 计算figures 数字maths anxiety 数学焦虑症ability 能力nervous 紧张的，担忧的problem 习题，问题homework 家庭作业role model 榜样bluff 蒙混过关underperform 表现不佳solve 解决mental arithmetic 心算articulate 清楚表达challenge 挑战a second chance 第二次机会

In this episode, Scott and Ollie talk about the international STEM education and what we can learn (if anything) from the assessment-based comparisons. In the conversation, we draw on data from the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cnu/intl-age15-literacy?tid=4) (PISA) and 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cnt) (TIMSS) Things that bring us joy this week: Bullet Train with Brad Pitt (https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/bullettrain) Sean Carroll's Midscape Podcast (https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/) Intro/Outro Music: Notice of Eviction by Legally Blind (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Legally_Blind)

Transcript Every three years, teenagers around the world are tested on their abilities in maths, science and reading, as part of PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment. Basically, it's a way of comparing how well countries are doing when it comes to educating their children.  Because of Covid-19, the latest PISA data we have are from 2018 and what these data show is that in many countries, there are huge differences between children in how well they score, differences that are related to, for example, their parents' level of education (often referred to as socio-economic status), where their parents come from (whether they have an immigrant background), and also the language spoken at home. What causes these differences and when do they emerge? Do we see the same differences for all bilingual children? In this episode of Kletsheads, we're talking about the relationship between bilingualism and academic achievement. To what extent does speaking another language at home affect how well a child does at school? In conversation with researcher Orhan Agirdag, we discover that the performance gap between bilingual students and their monolingual classmates is *not* due to their bilingualism. It is precisely the children who use their home language more that do better at PISA. So what is the reason? According to Orhan, this achievement gap is caused by the way bilingual children are treated in education. We talk about the role of teachers' expectations, a country's educational system, and about using the multicultural capital of bilingual children in school.  Orhan Agirdag is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Psychological and Pedagogical Sciences of KU Leuven and at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences of the University of Amsterdam.  He has more than 100 publications to his name on all kinds of subjects concerning bilingualism and education. If you want to know more about his research and about the topics he discussed in the podcast, and you read Dutch, then read his book, Onderwijs in een gekleurde samenleving.  In this episode I also share another Kletsheads Quick and Easy with you, a concrete tip that you can put to use straightaway to make a success of the bilingualism in your family, class or clinic. This episode's tip is to play a game with your child. It's a tip taken from the resources provided by the PEACH project.  The PEACH project is a European project supporting families raising bilingual and multilingual children by creating a handbook for parents and educators as well as informative videos and a whole host of free resources for you to use (be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page!). As I mentioned in the podcast, there are even pictures you can download to turn into jigsaw puzzles to play with your child whilst speaking your hertiage language. It's well worth a look!

New Zealand is at risk of failing a major international test of maths, reading and science, the PISA test, before it has even begun. Too many schools are refusing to participate in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment for 15-year-olds because of the stresses caused by Covid-19. The Education Ministry has warned the government that if it can't persuade more schools to sign up, this country's results will be worthless. Here's education correspondent John Gerritsen.

Well, as we've already heard this morning, New Zealand is at risk of failing a major international test of maths, reading and science before it has even begun. The PISA, or Programme for International Student Assessment, test is an international exercise run every three years by the OECD to measure the educational achievement of 15-year-olds. New Zealand's performance has shown a downward trend since 2003. Forty-two percent of our high schools won't take part this year, blaming the stresses of Covid-19. University of Auckland education professor Gavin Brown says he is in two minds about the test.

In the latest rankings from PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment, the United States ranks outside the top 20 in science, reading, and math. How are countries in the top 10 outpacing student performance in the U.S.? What can we learn from their approach to teaching, curriculum, and assessment? In this episode, international education expert Pasi Sahlberg joins Kevin to discuss leading international approaches to education and what we can learn from our counterparts overseas.

This week, Toni Rose is joined by Eric Gustafsson, a high school social studies teacher in Sweden and a mentee currently enrolled in the Virtual Mentorship Program, who shares his perspective on implementing the model. Show Notes MCP Featured in Cult of Pedagogy: * Building Screencast Videos (https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/screencast-videos/) * Creating Self-Paced Classrooms (https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/self-paced-how-to/) * Setting up Mastery-Based Grading (https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/mastery-based-grading/) PISA - Programme for International Student Assessment (https://www.oecd.org/pisa/) Eric's video on planning (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xXa3gFcuEeOOOCm5avMYGaVQjwVyh8cf/view) Follow us online and learn more: Modern Classrooms: @modernclassproj (https://twitter.com/modernclassproj) on Twitter and facebook.com/modernclassproj (https://www.facebook.com/modernclassproj) Kareem: @kareemfarah23 (https://twitter.com/kareemfarah23) on Twitter Toni Rose: @classroomflex (https://twitter.com/classroomflex) on Twitter and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/classroomflex/?hl=en) The Modern Classroom Project (https://www.modernclassrooms.org) Modern Classrooms Online Course (https://www.learn.modernclassrooms.org) Take our free online course, or sign up for our mentorship program to receive personalized guidance from a Modern Classrooms mentor as you implement your own modern classroom! The Modern Classrooms Podcast is edited by Zach Diamond: @zpdiamond (https://twitter.com/zpdiamond) on Twitter and Learning to Teach (https://www.learningtoteach.co/)

“Las investigaciones científicas han aportado evidencias de cómo una educación emocional tiene efectos en desarrollar las competencias sociales y emocionales, climas emocionales favorables a la convivencia, al aprendizaje, al bienestar; disminuir los índices de ansiedad, estrés, depresión, consumo de drogas, comportamiento de riesgo, violencia e, incluso, una mejora del 11% en el rendimiento académico”. ¿Por qué, entonces, no se profundiza en esta área en las escuelas y colegios? Rafael Bisquerra, experto en educación emocional, considera que los informes PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) obtendrían mejores resultados si se hiciera hincapié en la inteligencia emocional, competencias emocionales y gestión de las emociones de los estudiantes. Rafael Bisquerra es licenciado en Pedagogía y Psicología, doctor en Ciencias de la Educación y presidente de la Red Internacional de Educación Emocional y Bienestar (RIEEB). Catedrático de Orientación Psicopedagógica, Bisquerra dirige el Postgrado en Educación Emocional y Bienestar y el Postgrado en Inteligencia Emocional en las Organizaciones de la Universidad de Barcelona y lleva más de tres décadas investigando el mundo de las emociones, que ha plasmado en libros como ‘Educación emocional y bienestar', ‘Prevención del acoso escolar con educación emocional', ‘La inteligencia emocional en la educación' o ‘Competencias emocionales para un cambio de paradigma en educación', entre otros. Es el creador del primer “diccionario de emociones”, para nombrar y aprender a gestionar los fenómenos afectivos desde la infancia.

I found a report from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment interesting. It showed 15 year olds in this country “spend more time on the net than their peers in all countries except Denmark, Sweden and Chile.” That’s quite something.In terms of timeframe, it’s about 42 hours a week online. That’s “well above the OECD average of 35 hours a week and one of the biggest increases of the 79 nations in the study”.That may come as a shock to many – but probably not if you’re currently parenting teenagers.This is the digital generation, they have no concept of life without Google or Instagram. They're handed phones and iPads at younger and younger ages, they're skilled users of the net, more so than their parents and grandparents who didn’t get to grow up with it.But when we hear stats like this, do we immediately associate it with being bad? All that time online, terrible, they’re not living in the real world, what are they doing, what a waste of time. We blame a lot of stuff on devices.But, as the experts will tell you, it’s less about time spent online, and more about what they’re actually doing there. If they’re watching YouTube tutorials on the periodic table, is that really all that bad? What if they’re online reading and learning?But we tend to associate teens time spent online with all the bad stuff, sitting on social media or watching mindless vloggers.But what I’m discovering as our kids get older is that they’re actually more discerning about what they watch online. They find the learning aspects more helpful than the entertainment or social media bits. In fact, there’s a trend towards less social media these days – kids are sick of the anxiety-producing nature of it, the falseness of it, they find it too time consuming, too negative, often too toxic. And they’re vetting that stuff for themselves. They’re deleting their social media, there’s even been a movement back to flip phones – ones where you just get to call or text and that’s it. They don’t have the time or inclination for emojis and mindless scrolling anymore, they’re sick of it. Maybe that’s why Facebook is the domain of older people these daysSo the big question with stats like this is, are these large numbers of hours online productive or not?Well the report also showed, “NZ was one of just five countries where use of digital devices at school was associated with better performance in reading.”  So are devices in fact proving more of a help than a hindrance?If this is the case, maybe we should we get off kids backs about time spent online, and instead look at the benefits they may be getting from it.

New Zealand teenagers are spending 42 hours a week on the internet - one of the highest figures in the world and double what it was in 2012. The finding comes from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA, which also found there is little point sending emails to teenagers these days - overseas and here fewer teens are bothering to read them and nearly all are spending more time reading online chats. The report also says this country is one of the very few where computer use in the classroom is linked to better reading skills. Here's education correspondent, John Gerritsen.

New Zealand teenagers are spending 42 hours a week on the internet - one of the highest figures in the world and double what it was in 2012. The finding comes from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA, which also found there is little point sending emails to teenagers these days - overseas and here fewer teens are bothering to read them and nearly all are spending more time reading online chats. The report also says this country is one of the very few where computer use in the classroom is linked to better reading skills. Here's education correspondent, John Gerritsen.

Andreas Schleicher is Director for Education and Skills at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. He initiated and oversees the Program for International Student Assessment and has worked for over 20 years with ministers and education leaders around the world to improve quality and equity in education. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us on August 27, 2020, at 10 AM GMT for LIVE Broadcast. Our guest today is Dr. Jouni Välijärvi. Dr. Jouni Välijärvi is a professor emeritus on education policy at the University of Jyväskylä. 1996-2017 - Director of the Finnish Institute for Educational Research. He has a long and diverse experience in collaboration with teachers, principals, policymakers, and officials. Dr. Välijärvi has acted as a National Project Manager of the OECD PISA since 1998 and represented Finland in the IEA from 1996-2017. And now Dr. Jouni Välijärvi is a professor emeritus of the University of Jyväskylä. If you would like to be a guest on our next program, please email us with your request at info@allatraunites.com #allatraunites #creativesociety #education

In The Straits Times The Big Story, ST’s multimedia correspondent Hairianto Diman and assistant video editor Olivia Quay spoke to education correspondent Sandra Davie on the significance of students in Singapore topping the Global Competence test in 2018, as part of the Programme for International Student Assessment. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s world, young people must be financially literate to perform common, day-to-day tasks, like using a debit card or choosing a mobile phone plan. But, how financially literate are teenagers in Australia? And, how do they compare to their international peers? The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (or PISA, as it’s commonly referred to) includes an optional assessment that examines 15-year-old students’ understanding of money matters and financial literacy. This week, the Australian Council for Educational Research released a report that analyses Australian students’ performance in the latest PISA Financial Literacy survey. It’s titled PISA 2018: Financial literacy in Australia. A total of 117 000 students from 20 countries and economies participated in the financial literacy survey, including over 9400 Australian students from 740 schools. In today’s episode, we're joined by one of the report’s co-authors, Lisa DeBortoli, a Senior Research Fellow at ACER. We discuss some of the key findings to come from the report and what students were required to do for this assessment. You’ll also hear Lisa share more about the proficiency levels, what they mean, and the kind of knowledge and skills that students are typically capable of displaying at each level, as well as some practical examples. Guest: Lisa DeBortoli Host: Rebecca Vukovic Sponsor: University of Newcastle

Paul and Bill welcomed Dick Garrett to our podcast. Find an overview of his distinguished career in this story about Dick’s zeal for researching and promoting education reform. (The story was written for Purdue’s College of Engineering by Bill last year.) Dick’s book, The Kids Are Smart Enough, So What’s the Problem?, traces his growing concerns about problems in public elementary education. Those concerns led to extensive research from a business executive’s perspective, applying systems analysis skills from his background in engineering. Our interview probed not only the findings from that research, but even more current knowledge of education reform efforts which Dick continues to harvest and share. He has created an online gallery of videos for the general public, explicating what he has learned about educational-outcome statistics and various efforts to improve the outcomes. The videos are part of his “Elevate Teachers” website, which champions robust investments to help both teachers and students succeed.  . Observed as systems established to give students the knowledge and skills they need, elementary schools face a number of challenges, Dick said. They include segments of young people whose daily classroom behavior is a major burden, requiring teachers to pull away from educating in order to focus on discipline during sizable portions of the school day. He says the lack of self-discipline stems from parenting experiences and other factors tied to low-income community conditions. Students exhibit the combination of discipline problems and poor academic achievement not because of low intelligence—there is no doubt that they are smart enough to perform well—but because educational systems don’t appropriately respond to gaps in their non-cognitive abilities, according to Dick. He says schools must get better at forming general traits he summarizes as character and grit. His book presents examples of educational approaches that have aimed to enhance those traits, making classroom success more likely for all students and teachers. Where that success is lacking, schools fall behind in graduating students with key competitive metrics—especially a grasp of reading and math skills. This shows up in poor rankings for United States schools in statistics tallied by the Program for International Student Assessment, the US Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, and other oversight mechanisms. A 2004 Public Agenda survey found that 85 percent of teachers felt new teachers were particularly unprepared to deal with disciplinary problems in their classrooms. A recent study by the Kirwan Commission yielded a comprehensive report on problems and prospective solutions in elementary education, and this became the basis of a legislative action plan for Maryland schools. The state government acted in early 2020 to approve funding for preliminary implementation of a major initiative based on Kirwan Report recommendations. Dick said one part of the plan envisions hiring 15,000 teachers. A major thrust of the plan is improved education of low-income children, including a cadre of teachers for smaller class sizes. One of Dick’s aspirations is to help in spreading the word about the Kirwan recommendations so that educational and governmental leaders elsewhere, such as his home states of Wisconsin and Indiana, will consider and implement similar proposals. Episode 107 of “That’s So Second Millennium” next month will include part two of the interview with Dick Garrett. If you find the audio quality for this episode a little lacking, don't blame Morgan... she's on vacation this week. It's all Paul's fault (as usual).

Belajar dengan bahagia akan menghasilkan murid yang mencintai proses belajar itu sendiri. Ketika belajar tidak lagi menjadi sebuah beban, maka disitulah kreativitas dan kemampuan berpikir kritis akan tumbuh. Kali ini saya akan membahas buku Teach Like Finland karya Timothy D. Walker. Buku ini membahas soal sistem edukasi di Finlandia yang mengagumkan. Pada tahun 2001, seorang anak berumur 15 tahun di Finlandia meraih skor tertinggi dalam tes PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). Breaktime - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100302 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

The director of the ifo Center for the Economics of Education, Ludger Woessmann, joins Paul E. Peterson to discuss Woessmann's new research that investigates how testing reforms relate to country performance on the Program for International Student Assessment tests over time, and their link to student achievement. The full paper, co-written with Annika B. Bergbauer and Eric A. Hanushek, is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xW74mZz6OSHlS3SzmERF6y7yQ_3aAXoO/view

Education experts warn Australia is at risk of being left behind by its Asian neighbours, after a new report revealed the academic performance of Australian students across reading, numeracy and science has fallen again.The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment gathered data from more than half a million students worldwide and found those in Australia are lagging more than three years behind their Chinese counterparts in mathematics. - Rezultati posljednjeg PISA testiranja znanja učenika u svijetu pokazali da se u Australiji nastavlja pad u čitanju, matematici i poznavanju nauke. Na kojim mjestima svjetske liste su rangirani australski đaci?

O PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) avalia se os alunos de 15 anos conseguem mobilizar os seus conhecimentos e competências de leitura, matemática ou ciências na resolução de situações relacionadas com o dia-a-dia. Por comparação a 2015, houve descidas nas médias de leitura e ciências, enquanto o resultado de matemática se manteve igual. Há também mais estudantes portugueses com desempenhos de topo. É o que revela a última edição desta avaliação internacional que volta a ser dominada por países asiáticos e que mostra uma Finlândia em quebra acentuada. Em 18 anos de PISA, Portugal foi o único país da OCDE que manteve uma evolução positiva.

Education experts warn Australia is at risk of being left behind by its Asian neighbours, after a new report revealed the academic performance of Australian students across reading, numeracy and science has fallen again.The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment gathered data from more than half a million students worldwide and found those in Australia are lagging more than three years behind their Chinese counterparts in mathematics. - PISA testinden alınan düşük notlar, Türkiye ve Avustralya'nın orta eğitim sistemindeki eksiklikleri gözler önüne serdi

On this week’s podcast, Kristina Zeiser, senior researcher at American Institutes for Research, joins Mike Petrilli and David Griffith to talk about the long-term impact of early college high school programs. On the Research Minute, Amber Northern breaks down the latest results from the Program for International Student Assessment.

You’re no doubt hearing a lot about education these days, with the release of the latest results from PISA. Over the two decades of its existence, the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment has convened a growing number of countries – now around 80 – to participate in its triennial assessment of what 15-year-old students know and can do. But PISA has also attracted some criticism along the way. Yong Zhao, professor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas, and Aaron Benavot, professor of Global Education Policy in the School of Education at the State University of New York at Albany, discuss the value of a test the whole world can take with Director of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, Andreas Schleicher.

Many countries around the world participate in the Programme for International Student Assessment, the cross-national test administered by the OECD. Today we look at the economic costs for a country to participate in PISA. My guests are Laura Engel and David Rutkowski. They followed the money through publicly available budget documents in the United States to uncover exactly how much the test costs both the federal and state governments. Through this complicated web, they found a host of contractors and sub-contractors hired to implement PISA and call for a full cost-benefit analysis in order to determine if PISA is worth it. Laura Engel is an Associate Professor of International Education and International Affairs at the George Washington University and David Rutkowski is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in Educational Policy and Educational Inquiry at Indiana University School of Education. Their latest co-written article published in the journal Discourse is called “Pay to play: What does PISA participation cost in the US?” www.freshedpodcast.com/LauraEngel-David Rutkowski/ email: info@freshedpodcast.com twitter: @freshedpodcast

Claudia Cragg (@KGNUClaudia) speaks here for @KGNU with ,(@A_Lusardi) the founder and academic director of (www.gflec.org) Research from the Programme for International Student Assessment () shows that a disappointingly high proportion of teenagers struggle to understand money matters, and they are not alone. Many older people too are equally financially ignorant, we are told. Lusardi argues that people often say, wrongly, that financial knowledge can be acquired with experience. But if the evidence from a new survey index is any indication, that way of learning may, in fact, be very slow or not work well at all. Lusardi is the key mover behind to help us all to become better informed financially. 

Lucy Crehan, education author and former teacher, spent months visiting classrooms in countries and education systems that rank highest in the Programme for International Student Assessment (or PISA). She wanted to learn first-hand what teachers in these systems are doing differently for their students to perform so well. On this episode of TopClass, Lucy joins us to discuss her travels and the ways in which countries like Japan and Finland approach education.

We often talk about workplace culture on the GoodPractice Podcast but, this week, that word is banned as author Jon Ingham joins us to discuss his new book: The Social Organization. Jon argues that 'culture' is too vague, and what we actually need to focus on is the cultivation of relationships. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the show, you can find Ross on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, Owen @OwenFerguson and Peter @PeterCasebow. Jon's book is available from Amazon, he tweets @JonIngham and his website is www.joningham.com. For more from GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet @GoodPractice and @GoodpracticeAus. If you'd like to find out more about US driving deaths, see: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/19/opinion/america-is-now-an-outlier-on-driving-deaths.html The Gartner Hype Cycle for Education, 2017, is available behind at paywall at: https://www.gartner.com/doc/3769145/hype-cycle-education-  The OECD PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is available at: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisa-2015-results-volume-v-9789264285521-en.htm Because Ross' description of 'single sign-on' was a little vague, see the Wikipedia page for details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_sign-on 

Finland is known to have an excellent education system. Its high scores on the Programme for International Student Assessment have convinced people around the world that Finland is a country worth copying. In 2011, Pasi Sahlberg detailed Finland’s educational reforms that helped achieve these world-class results in his book Finnish Lessons. As Pasi traveled the world talking about his award-winning book to academics, policy makers, and educators, he was always asked if it is a good idea to copy the Finnish education system. Today, Pasi Sahlberg – a regular on FreshEd -- sits down with me to talk about his latest book, FinnishEd Leadership: Four Big, inexpensive ideas to transform education. FinnishEd Leadership is, in some sense, a sequel to his earlier book, Finnish Lessons. FinnishEd Leadership offers ideas to make a difference in other schools inspired by Finnish practice. In other words, he provides an answer to those people asking if their country should copy Finland’s education system.

Do today’s students really know how to work well together? For the first time ever, the Programme for International Student Assessment 2015 (otherwise known as PISA) examined students’ ability to collaborate to solve problems and the necessary social skills involved in that process. Andreas Schleicher, Director of the OECD's Directorate for Education and Skills, and Jeffrey Mo, Analyst for the OECD'S PISA team, discuss the results of the survey and why collaborative problem solving was chosen as a new test criterion.

I hated tests growing up. They made me feel physically ill. But we aren’t going to look at the types of tests I disliked so much, those given by a teacher to her or his students. We aren’t even going to look at standardized tests administered across one country. Instead, today’s show focuses on tests that are administered around the world. We call these types of tests international large-scale assessments. One of the most popular today is called PISA — the Programme for International Student Assessment. PISA tests 15-year-old’s scholastic performance on mathematics, science, and reading. The latest test, in 2015, was administered in 72 countries. Think for a moment of how complex it must be to create, administer, and interpret PISA across 72 countries. The test must be reliable in different contexts; it must successfully recruit national government officials to help collect data; and it must rely on a small army of statisticians to discern what the test results actually mean. For many, the benefit of a test like PISA is that it allows governments to make evidence based policy. After learning where its students sit globally, education officials from one country can enact new and hopefully better policies to improve student learning. Sounds good, right? But that’s the whole story. Cross-national assessments have produced countless controversies — some within specific countries and others in the academic literature. With me today is Gustavo Fischman. He’s been studying this subject for some time. In November 2016, he helped organize a symposium at Arizona State University looking at these so-called “global learning metrics.” You might remember a few FreshEd podcasts on the subject. He has also recently co-written a working paper for the Open Society Foundation on the topic, which will be released later this year. Gustavo Fischman is a professor of educational policy and director of edXchange the knowledge mobilization initiative at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.

(This appeared in Rick Lazio's Ignite Blog back in July of 2011 . . . I reread it and liked it, so I thought I would repost it.) MATHLESSNESS - AMERICA’S FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM by Frazer Rice. Modern Americans are largely innumerate. They are, to borrow Richard Posner’s felicitous phrase, “mathless”- most can’t use or judge the effects of numbers. Such ignorance would be of little concern, except that math permeates everything and ignorance of it imperils both America and Americans. For example, mathless Americans can’t understand or interpret statistics popularly discussed in the media, thereby disabling their ability critically to assess what’s reported. Nor can they comprehend the scale of the numerical problems addressed in government budgets, leaving them to the not-so-tender mercies of craven politicians funding government programs through deficit spending. Most importantly, mathless Americans lack the quantitative tools to prosper financially and avoid bad investments, critical skills of self-reliance in a non-welfare state. If you want to see this in action, watch a lawyer try to equitably divide the bill and calculate a tip at a nice restaurant. It takes twenty minutes and they usually have to consult an accountant … by phone. Consider the millions of people who bought houses they couldn’t afford. Cautionary tales abound about people making $50k/year who were living in $400K houses that are now in foreclosure. The analysis exposing such folly isn’t rigorous: Assume (optimistically) after-tax income of $37,000, or $3,125 per month, that the buyer paid 10% of the purchase price ($400,000) at closing, which leaves $360,000 remaining. With an interest-only mortgage of 5% (historically low, but a reasonable figure), the buyer pays at least $1,500 in monthly interest, which is nearly half his or her take-home pay (you do get to deduct the interest, but you don’t see that until the following year). The above scenario is unmercifully tight, especially if income taxes or the cost of living increases and/or income declines. Financial common sense bristles at such a position. Unfortunately, most Americans lack such common sense. And that is the core of the problem: math can help lead logical decision-making by spelling out future realities that predatory lenders’ hawking teaser rates don’t want you to consider. Lotteries, casinos and the investment banks thrive in part because Americans can’t or don’t want to think about math. As Homer Simpson put it when told that having mayonnaise and whiskey at the same time was a bad idea, “That’s a problem for Future Homer.” Obviously, one can’t prepare for every eventuality, but more mathematical common sense could have prevented people from committing what amounted to financial suicide. The ability to see the immediate snapshot of a mathematical situation isn’t the glaring problem for America. Intuition and the advice of others tend to get most past square one. The real issue is getting people to conceptualize the numbers governing their lives in such a way that they can anticipate future consequences of financial decisions. For that task they are ill equipped. Mathless Americans are also increasingly outstripped by foreign competitors. There are 98.8 color televisions for every 100 U.S. households. Television is the most important thing in America! There used to be over 70 US TV manufacturers. However, in 1995, Zenith sold to LG. That brought the number of U.S. TV manufacturers to zero. Only tiny startup Olevia assembles Asian TV parts in this country. In the business world, being deficient in math is going to be like running a race with no legs. According to Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds program, eighty percent of jobs created in the next decade will require math and science skills. Furthermore, the American education system isn’t up to the task. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment,

(This appeared in Rick Lazio's Ignite Blog back in July of 2011 . . . I reread it and liked it, so I thought I would repost it.) MATHLESSNESS - AMERICA’S FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM by Frazer Rice. Modern Americans are largely innumerate. They are, to borrow Richard Posner’s felicitous phrase, “mathless”- most can’t use or judge the effects of numbers. Such ignorance would be of little concern, except that math permeates everything and ignorance of it imperils both America and Americans. For example, mathless Americans can’t understand or interpret statistics popularly discussed in the media, thereby disabling their ability critically to assess what’s reported. Nor can they comprehend the scale of the numerical problems addressed in government budgets, leaving them to the not-so-tender mercies of craven politicians funding government programs through deficit spending. Most importantly, mathless Americans lack the quantitative tools to prosper financially and avoid bad investments, critical skills of self-reliance in a non-welfare state. If you want to see this in action, watch a lawyer try to equitably divide the bill and calculate a tip at a nice restaurant. It takes twenty minutes and they usually have to consult an accountant … by phone. Consider the millions of people who bought houses they couldn’t afford. Cautionary tales abound about people making $50k/year who were living in $400K houses that are now in foreclosure. The analysis exposing such folly isn’t rigorous: Assume (optimistically) after-tax income of $37,000, or $3,125 per month, that the buyer paid 10% of the purchase price ($400,000) at closing, which leaves $360,000 remaining. With an interest-only mortgage of 5% (historically low, but a reasonable figure), the buyer pays at least $1,500 in monthly interest, which is nearly half his or her take-home pay (you do get to deduct the interest, but you don’t see that until the following year). The above scenario is unmercifully tight, especially if income taxes or the cost of living increases and/or income declines. Financial common sense bristles at such a position. Unfortunately, most Americans lack such common sense. And that is the core of the problem: math can help lead logical decision-making by spelling out future realities that predatory lenders’ hawking teaser rates don’t want you to consider. Lotteries, casinos and the investment banks thrive in part because Americans can’t or don’t want to think about math. As Homer Simpson put it when told that having mayonnaise and whiskey at the same time was a bad idea, “That’s a problem for Future Homer.” Obviously, one can’t prepare for every eventuality, but more mathematical common sense could have prevented people from committing what amounted to financial suicide. The ability to see the immediate snapshot of a mathematical situation isn’t the glaring problem for America. Intuition and the advice of others tend to get most past square one. The real issue is getting people to conceptualize the numbers governing their lives in such a way that they can anticipate future consequences of financial decisions. For that task they are ill equipped. Mathless Americans are also increasingly outstripped by foreign competitors. There are 98.8 color televisions for every 100 U.S. households. Television is the most important thing in America! There used to be over 70 US TV manufacturers. However, in 1995, Zenith sold to LG. That brought the number of U.S. TV manufacturers to zero. Only tiny startup Olevia assembles Asian TV parts in this country. In the business world, being deficient in math is going to be like running a race with no legs. According to Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds program, eighty percent of jobs created in the next decade will require math and science skills. Furthermore, the American education system isn’t up to the task. According to the Programme for International Student Assessment,

2017-04-03 Special EnglishThis is Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.China says the international community must step up efforts to combat human trafficking and slavery in regions of conflict.China&`&s permanent representative to the United Nations made the appeal at a Security Council debate on human trafficking.The envoy said the international community should support countries concerned in combating such criminal activities by providing them with targeted assistance in law enforcement, border control and financial regulation.The envoy said the international community should uphold unified counter-terrorism standards and take coordinated and concerted action to fight against crimes of human trafficking and enslavement.He added that the world need to take an integrated approach with political and economic means to stem the financial flow to terrorist organizations from human trafficking and enslavement so as to dismantle their criminal networks.Human trafficking thrives in regions where conflict prevails and the rule of law is weak. Extremist groups have been capturing and trading enslaved women and children to obtain funding for their terrorist activities.This is Special English.The World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, Director General Francis Gurry has lauded China&`&s strong performance in international patent and trademark filing.Gurry told the press that China&`&s performance has been quite extraordinary. In terms of international patent applications, the number of applications from China rose by 44 percent in one year.The WIPO revealed that China filed 43,000 applications under the organization&`&s patent cooperation treaty last year, up from 30,000 two years ago.This compares to the 56,600 and 45,000 applications filed by the United States and Japan respectively.China&`&s trademark and industrial designs filings, which are handled by WIPO&`&s Madrid and Hague systems, also showed strong growth last year, with China ranking fourth in terms of the number of global trademark applications made in 2016.Gurry explained that China-based filers are behind much of the growth in international patent and trademark filings, making great strides in internationalizing their businesses as the country continues its journey from "Made in China" to "Created in China".While the United States and Japan continue to lead the way in terms of the number of patent applications, growth in China has been sluggish, with the United States posting a 1 percent drop in the number of international patents filed last year.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. A United Nations official says China&`&s aid to the education sector in Africa is helping to boost teacher training, a key component in skilling the population to fast track development.UNESCO&`&s Regional Office for Eastern Africa recognized China&`&s contribution to Africa&`&s education sector over the years.The director of the office said they value the initiative in teacher training in Uganda and other countries in Africa. This will revitalize the teaching profession.Through UNESCO, China donated equipment to three teacher training institutions in Uganda in March. More than 100 tutors were trained and 270 pieces of Information Communication and Technology and studio equipment were donated.The director said tutors were skilled on how to integrate technology with traditional methods of training.China is funding an 8-million-U.S.-dollar project through UNESCO. The project aims at narrowing the educational quality gap on the continent.The project is called "Enhancing Teacher Education for Bridging the Education Quality Gap in Africa". It aims to accelerate progress towards the achievement of Education for All and the Sustainable Development Goal 4, which is quality education.The four-year project that started in 2012 focuses on providing a sufficient number of qualified teachers in Africa through training programs.This is Special English.The AG600 amphibious aircraft is expected to make its maiden flight over land in the first half of this year and on water in the second half of 2017.Its developer AVIC said similar in size to the Boeing 737, the AG600 will be the world&`&s largest amphibious aircraft.The state aircraft maker, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, said the the 37-meter AG600 has a wingspan of 40 meters and a maximum take-off weight of 54 tonnes.The aircraft has already received 17 orders due to its multiple uses in fighting forest fires and marine rescue.The first AG600 was completed in the southern city of Zhuhai in July last year, and shown to the public at the 2016 China Airshow.According to a chief designer, the AG600 is like a ship that can fly, due to its advanced gas-water dynamic engineering and underwater corrosion resistance technology.With four China-made turboprop engines, the AG600 has been described as having a "ship&`&s body" with high mounted single-cantilever wing.It can collect 12 tonnes of water in 20 seconds, and transport up to 370 tonnes of water on a single tank of fuel.With excellent maneuverability and a relatively wide range of search scope, the AG600 is very useful in marine resource exploitation, marine environmental monitoring, resource detection and transportation. You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. China&`&s domestic underwater glider reached a depth of 6,300 meters during a mission in the Mariana Trench, breaking the previous record of 6,000 meters held by a U.S. vessel.Codenamed Haiyi, which means sea wings in Chinese, the underwater glider was developed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is used to monitor the deep-sea environment in vast areas.The Haiyi is carried by deep-sea submarine support ship Tansuo-1. It dived down 12 times and traveled over 130 kilometers during its four-day mission, collecting high-resolution data for scientific research.This is Special English.China aims to build 136 new airports by 2025. That&`&s according to a plan by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Civil Aviation Administration of China.The facilities could become a world-class airport complex of international and regional transport hubs.China began an airport construction boom in 2008 when the government began spending on infrastructure to offset the global financial crisis.Service improved remarkably, but current airports are far from adequate and are unevenly located throughout the country.By the end of 2015, China had 207 civil airports and is expected to have around 260 by 2020.In 2015, China&`&s airports handled 910 million passengers and are expected to deal with 1.5 billion passengers in 2020 and 2.2 billion by 2025.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. You can access the program by logging on to crienglish.com. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. Now the news continues.HarperCollins Publishers will translate mathematics textbooks from Chinese schools and publish them in Britain.Under an agreement signed at the London Book Fair, some primary schools in Britain will use 36 books, including math textbooks, supplementary textbooks and teacher&`&s textbooks from Shanghai primary schools starting in September.The textbooks will be translated from Chinese into English to deliver a complete math program for primary school students.Apart from publishing textbooks, Britain will also spread the Shanghai Teaching for Mastery Program in the country. It is a four-year program backed by 41 million British pounds in funding announced by the British Department for Education in July 2016.Colin Hughes, Managing Director of Collins Learning, said the collaboration can make a significant contribution to raising young people&`&s mathematics performance, which is essential to their future success in learning and in life.Shanghai students achieved good performances in reading, math and sciences in the Program for International Student Assessment in 2009 and 2012, drawing global attention to education in the Chinese city.A Shanghai-England teacher exchange started in 2014. In September 2014, 73 teachers and educational administrators from 45 English primary schools and relevant departments visited schools in Shanghai. Between November 2014 and March 2015, 61 mathematics teachers and researchers from Shanghai visited 48 English primary schools and performed teaching demonstrations.This is Special English.China is topping the list of students studying the Myanmar language at the University of Foreign Languages in Yangon which attracts many international students.The university said the attraction for the Myanmar language study is due to the fact that Myanmar has good business opportunities in Southeast Asia.The number of overseas students, who take Myanmar language courses for the current academic year at the university reached 250. Chinese students top the list with 112, followed by South Korean, Japanese and Thai students.Meanwhile, almost 400 students are attending the Chinese language course, with 440 others studying English and 600 for Japanese.You&`&re listening to Special English. I&`&m Mark Griffiths in Beijing. China&`&s tsunami warning center in the South China Sea is expected to start trial operations this year.The work teams of UNESCO&`&S Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, have held a meeting in Shanghai to discuss tsunami alerts in the region.The meeting suggested that this year&`&s session should approve the testing of the center before the end of the year.The meeting also called for collaboration between the new warning center and another two in the Pacific Ocean.An official from China&`&s National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center said issuing tsunami alerts to the international community is an important move for China to boost regional marine cooperation and participate in global ocean governance.The meeting also called for improving data sharing by establishing a monitoring network for earthquakes and tsunamis in the South China Sea region.The meeting was attended by representatives of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the U.S. National Weather Service and the Japanese Meteorological Agency.This is Special English.A total of 1,400 people died as a result of infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in February.According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, there were 486,000 cases of infectious diseases reported on the mainland in February.Almost 280,000 cases were classified as Class B infectious diseases under China&`&s Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, and they resulted in 1,400 deaths.Viral hepatitis, tuberculosis and syphilis accounted for 96 percent of cases in this category.Category C diseases were responsible for more than 207,000 cases and 12 deaths. Infectious diarrhea, foot and mouth disease and influenza were the most prevalent in this category, accounting for 94 percent of cases.This is Special English.Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has announced its first full-year loss since 2008.The group reported an attributable loss of 575 million HK dollars, roughly 74 million U.S. dollars, for last year.The loss per share was 15 HK cents compared to earnings per share of 153 HK cents in the previous year.The total revenue last year dropped 9 percent to 93 billion HK dollars. The group&`&s passenger revenue last year was 67 billion HK dollars, a decrease of 8 percent from 2015.The group&`&s cargo revenue last year was 26 billion HK dollars, a decrease of 13 percent compared to the previous year.Total fuel costs for Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon, before the effect of fuel hedging, decreased by 5 billion HK dollars compared with 2015.（全文见周六微信。）

Join the TES team as we discuss the week’s biggest talking points in the world of education. We hear how the boss of Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) thinks funding cuts in England will hurt school standards, and we explore the most interesting findings from our investigation into the accounts of 20 academy chains. We discuss our interview with former left-wing NUT activist John Blake - who has been appointed as the new head of education at the right-leaning thinktank Policy Exchange, and we talk about how many learning methods in schools are not supported by research. Tune in and enjoy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Shanghai, students are better at maths than anywhere else in the world. According to the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment, Shanghai maths students are three years ahead of the PISA average. That means a 15-year-old in Shanghai is better at maths than most 18-year-olds in the UK. And, 55% of students are considered ‘top performers'. Behind these impressive results is the Shanghai ‘mastery' approach to teaching maths, which assumes every pupil can be a maths master. There is no streaming according to ability, the highly trained, specialist teacher moves slowly through topics and does not move on until every single pupil gets it. And, so the foundations are laid for a rock solid mathematical understanding. But with criticisms levelled at the high-pressure Asian schooling system, where success is often underpinned by hours of homework and extra tuition, is the mastery maths method an approach our imagined perfect country should adopt? Based on the testimonies of teachers, parents and pupils recorded in Shanghai, as well as in a UK school that has adopted the Shanghai mastery maths method, the team discuss the pros and cons with the help of Anne Watson, emeritus professor of Mathematics Education at Oxford University. (Photo: Schoolboys solving a math problem in class at the Shanghai Number Eight High School. Credit: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images)

What we can learn from the best education systems in the world? A lot. We learn about PISA - The Program for International Student Assessment - and why this international test on math, science and reading has disturbing results for U.S. schools.  We interviewed British teacher Lucy Crehan, author of the breakthrough book, "Cleverlands", went on a remarkable journey to Finland, Asia and Canada, to study the world’s best schools. We find out why a simple question from a student in her science class, “Miss, why do we sneeze?" sent Lucy on a two-year quest to learn how to improve schools. Playful, enthusiastic, and full of common sense, "Cleverlands" is a personal story, an adventure, and a how-to book on how everyone can improve children’s education.   Lucy paints a picture of school life, making sense of the theories and data through the stories of teachers and children.    Solutions: - Get children ready for formal learning. Early education is important but don’t focus on academic skills. The most... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Programme for International Student Assessment, more popularly referred to as PISA, measures how well 15-year-olds are prepared to use their science, reading and mathematics skills in real-life situations. More than half a million students from 72 countries and partner economies took part in the 2015 test cycle and the results have just been released. The Australian report, PISA 2015: A first look at Australia’s results, from the Australian Council for Educational Research, doesn’t make for pleasant reading. Dr Sue Thomson, ACER Director of Educational Monitoring and Research and lead author of the report, joins me to discuss the results.

This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Liu Yan in Beijing. Here is the news. A China-led space gravitational wave detection project is recruiting researchers from around the world. The Tianqin project was initiated in July by Sun Yat-sen University in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong province. It centers on research of key technology in space gravitational wave detection. To make the project more competitive, global talents in areas including gravity theory, space gravity experiments and precision measurement are sought with an annual salary of up to 1 million yuan, roughly 153,000 U.S. dollars. The president of Sun Yat-sen University and head of the Tianqin project Luo Jun says the detection of gravitational waves is a huge challenge, and the project is a feasible plan and reflects the research capacity of China. The 15-billion-yuan project aims to send wave-detection satellites into space in 15 to 20 years. Construction of a research center and observatory will start soon. American scientists have detected gravitational waves caused by two black holes merging around 1.3 billion years ago. It was the first time the elusive phenomenon was directly detected since it was predicted by Albert Einstein 100 years ago. The detection of gravitational waves is believed to help scientists understand more mysteries of the cosmos. This is NEWS Plus Special English. The United Nations Environment Program, UNEP, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tongji University of China to renew cooperation on areas that promote sustainable development and the green agenda. UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner and Professor Yang Xianjin, President of Tongji University, witnessed the signing of a new accord to elevate partnership between the two institutions to a new level. Steiner said during the ceremony held in Nairobi in Kenya that the partnership between the two sides is unique and has led to the establishment of a center of excellence on research and training to promote sustainable development. In 2002, UNEP and Tongji University jointly established the Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development at Tongji University to facilitate knowledge transfer on environmental sustainability. Steiner hailed the strategic partnership between the global environment body and Tongji University to advance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific and the global south. He noted that the institute has created a platform for promoting environmental and sustainable development discourse. He says Tongji University has a proud tradition of academic research and training that has created the next generation of entrepreneurs in green technology. He adds that a partnership between UNEP and the University has been instrumental in advancing the green agenda in Africa. This is NEWS Plus Special English. Chinese ambassador to Argentina has met with some 50 Argentine students who returned home after pursuing academic studies in China with grants offered by the Chinese government. Ambassador Yang Wanming urged them to promote exchange between Argentina and China. Addressing the students at the House of Chinese Culture in Buenos Aires, Yang expressed the hope that they will be able to apply what they have studied in China in their future careers at home. The program of government grants offered by China began in 2007 as a cultural exchange initiative. Each year, the Chinese government offers more than 30 grants to qualified Argentines for pursuing academic studies in China and this number keeps growing. One of the grant-holders said going to China was one of the best experiences of her life, and she always wanted to understand the Chinese culture, history and literature. To Alexandra Conconi, the experience of living in China will be a "huge help" because as a project coordinator at a local consultancy firm, she partially works as a cultural mediator when her company does business with Chinese companies, including Sinopec and electronic giant Huawei. Karina Fiezzoni, a lawyer with a law firm in Argentina, first went to Beijing to learn Chinese in 2004 and later acquired her Master's degree in China. Fiezzoni says her experience in China was crucial as there are many differences between the two countries, both in terms of culture and the law. She adds that she is helping investors from the two sides overcome problems they encounter due to the two countries' different legal systems. You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Liu Yan in Beijing. China is to increase to more than half the proportion of new energy vehicle purchases made by some government departments. The State Council, China's Cabinet, says the decision is aimed at increasing green development as the country attempts to rein in pollution. The government has been promoting electric vehicles as a way to reduce the smog that frequently blankets cities. The State Council says new energy vehicles should account for more than 50 percent of annual new vehicle purchases of central government organs, public institutions and some cities. The ratio was set at 30 percent in July. The State Council also announced a new set of other policies designed to encourage the use of new energy vehicles. As part of efforts to achieve "revolutionary breakthroughs" in battery performance, cooperation will be encouraged among enterprises, universities and research institutions. More battery charging facilities will be built, with the sector receiving increased investment and subsidies. Other measures include increasing the share of new energy vehicles in the public transportation system and enhancing their quality. The policies come as the central government looks to industry to push industrial upgrades, ease pressure on the environment and foster new growth engines. This is NEWS Plus Special English. A survey says middle school teachers in Shanghai are among the world's most qualified. The survey was conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It interviewed 4,000 Shanghai teachers from 200 junior middle schools in 2015 along with teachers from 37 other countries and regions. Shanghai's education impressed the world after students of the city won first place in the Program for International Student Assessment in 2009 and 2012. The program is the organization's math, science and reading tests for students from dozens of countries. The survey results show that almost 99 percent of the polled teachers in Shanghai have bachelor's degrees or higher, while the global average is 93 percent. You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Liu Yan in Beijing. You can access the program by logging onto NEWSPlusRadio.cn. You can also find us on our Apple Podcast. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing us at mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. That's mansuyingyu@cri.com.cn. Now the news continues. After life, would you like to be interred in a soulless box or have your ashes fertilizing living, growing flora? China wants you to choose the latter. According to a regulation unveiled recently, China will promote eco-burials to ensure a harmonious relationship between humans and nature. Eco-burials save the land, reduce funeral costs and do less harm to the environment. That is according to the document jointly released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and eight other central authorities. There are plans for facilities to support eco-burial services across the country by the end of 2020. The cremation rate will also be increased. Chinese traditionally believe that souls only rest in peace if their bodies are covered by soil. Due to land scarcity and pollution, ground burial is banned in most cities. However, it is still allowed in many rural and minority areas. The national cremation rate was 46 percent in 2014. Nowadays people are becoming more open to other options. By the end of 2014, Beijing had seen 78,000 eco-friendly burials. The change is also prompted by expensive entombing service. In Beijing, a tomb site for preserving the cremation urn can cost from 3,000 to more than 30,000 U.S. dollars. Many have to bury their family members in neighboring Hebei Province and some even joke that they can't afford to die. The ministry has said it will strive to encourage eco-burials across the nation, pushing tree, flower and sea burial in areas with strict cremation policies and encouraging deep burial, smaller tombs or replacing gravestones with trees. Those opting for eco-burials will be awarded by the government. You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Liu Yan in Beijing. Rare brown giant panda Qi Zai has faced temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius in the remote Qinling Mountains of west China this winter, but has come through unscathed. According to staff with a "training base" toughening him up for release into the wild, the six-year-old male is the world's only completely brown giant panda, found among a colony of pandas with some brown in their coats. Qi Zai has been kept in the Wild Panda Training Base in Shaanxi Province's Foping Nature Reserve for two years. Staffers initially fed Qi Zai artificially, but have left him to fend for himself this winter. The Qinling giant panda is a subspecies of the giant panda family that was recognized in 2005. Qinling giant panda has a smaller and rounder skull, shorter snout and less fur than the more familiar Sichuan subspecies. The world's first brown panda was discovered in 1985 in the Qinling Mountains. Since then, there have been eight brown pandas found, but Qi Zai is the last remaining alive. Weighing around 105 kilograms, Qi Zai was energetic and ate 50 kilos of bamboo a day during the winter. The local animal keepers are preparing to allow it to mate with a black giant panda when it becomes sexually mature, which may help to figure out the genetic mystery behind his brown fur. This is NEWS Plus Special English. A Chinese museum has begun a process to preserve a giant sperm whale through a technique known as plastination, making the world's largest such whale specimen. The 14-meter and 41-tonne whale was one of two that ran aground on beach in east China's Jiangsu Province recently. The plastination involves replacing water and fat with plastics; and the whole process will take at least three years to complete. The Dalian Mystery of Life Museum in northeast China's Dalian City says after the plastination, the whale can be kept for at least 100 years. The museum completed the world's first finback whale plastination in 2009. The process took almost two years, and the seven-meter specimen is now housed in the museum. Whale preservation is a seriously disgusting task. A dead whale accumulates a lot of gas, and improper treatment could cause an explosion. This is NEWS Plus Special English. （全文见周日微信。）

PISA stands for the Programme for International Student Assessment. It is a test administered by the OECD in many countries around the world. You might have heard about the test because of the international league tables comparing systems of education that are created after the results are released. In recent years, Finland and Shanghai have come out on top, unleashing a wave study trips to those place by policymakers who want to learn the secret of good education. Bob Lingard, a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, has spent many years researching the rise of global education governance. He sees the PISA for Schools program as part of the expanding work in education by the OECD. He spoke with me in mid-January about his recent article and recounts the historical evolution of the OECD’s work in education. He ultimately questions the comparative value of the PISA for Schools program.

Tests are part and parcel of the schooling experience. If a child goes to school, then I’m sure he or she will, at some point in time, have to take a test. But the nature and purpose testing has changed and seen a rapid expansion in the past thirty years. Tests have become increasingly standardized and connected to high-stake outcomes. Moreover, standardized testing has become the main tool by which policymakers measure education quality. Standardized tests are both a national and international issue. The rise of international assessments, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, have created a world in which governments at all levels rely on standardized testing. For students, testing — and the preparation for testing — has become commonplace. My guest today, Will Smith, calls the worldwide phenomenon of standardized assessment the “Global testing culture.” Will is a senior associate with RESULTS Educational Fund, where he is developing the Right to Education Index. He completed his PhD in Educational Theory and Policy and Comparative International Education at Pennsylvania State University and has worked both as a US public school teacher and a fellow at the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. In his new edited collection, entitled, The Global Testing Culture shaping education policy, perceptions, and practice, which will be published this year by Symposium, Will argues that the reinforcing nature of a global testing culture leads to an environment where testing becomes synonymous with accountability, which becomes synonymous with education quality.

Every 3 years, the OECD conducts exams as part of the Program for International Student Assessment, which tests 15-year olds in the world?s leading industrialized nations on their reading comprehension and ability to use what they have learned in math and science.

04.12.2001 Erste PISA-Studie: Am 4. Dezember 2001 wurden die Ergebnisse der ersten PISA-Studie veröffentlicht - wobei PISA die Abkürzung ist für "Programme for International Student Assessment" - eine weltweite Wissenserhebung der OECD unter 15-jährigen Jugendlichen. Deutschland bekam die Note Mangelhaft...