Local Academia: A Focus

Six Rhode Island high schools have been selected to participate in an international pilot test program. This is interesting particularly because I have a personal connection to this issue. Although I attended one of the better high schools in the state, I know as a whole the education system had space for improvement. RI students have a slight achievement gap when it comes to competing with the rest of the country, as 17.9% of high school students in 2011 took AP exams, and 10% passed. However, AP scores definitely are not the only standard to measure school performance, and on the bright side, State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist announced that AP courses are being offered to a greater number of high schools. In addition, this international pilot  testing program is an exciting way to see how the state schools measure to the international community.
            Six Rhode Island high schools, including East Greenwich High School, four Pawtucket schools, and charter schools have been selected for this test. The test is administered by the OCED and called the Program for International Student Assessment. The PISA is an international study that began in the year 2000; it tests mathematical, science, and reading for 15 year olds across the globe. 100 high schools across the nation have been selected, along with high schools in Canada and Britain. Since its implementation, PISA has enjoyed great success, allowing comparisons between the education programs of seventy countries. Ms Gist has praised the Rhode Island school districts for stepping forward to volunteer in this test program, as it will provide valuable results.
Potential benefits to participating include allowing schools to recognize their strengths but more importantly will point out shortcomings, allowing for enhancement. I definitely agree, as there wasn’t really a coherent standardized testing program while I was in high school; the NECAP test was administered to high school juniors. Nevertheless, it was limited in the knowledge and skills it tested and wasn’t widely used, as it was administered regionally in four New England states. According to results of the 2011 NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program) test for Rhode Island schools, 56% of high school juniors are proficient in math, 55% for writing, and 73% in reading. These percentages, while not low, could be raised, and since the 2010 NECAP test, results show that 3^rd graders had an overall improvement in the three subjects. Thus, the PISA test seems like an exciting new strategy. On the OECD website, benefits are listed as assessing “higher-order skills and competencies, establishing higher expectations that speak to global competitiveness, and providing a catalyst for reflection and discussion of school-level practices and policies.” It will be administered in May over a three day period, and results will not be published for individuals, just for the school overall. The PISA pilot program will be another addition to allow RI schools to assess its performance, but most importantly, allow for analyses for improvement.