Bridging Differences on international test score comparisons

Bridging Differences, a blog in which Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier write back and forth, is almost always interesting. The two most recent posts are on the topic of international test comparisons, ranking countries, and all that. Check 'em out here.

Here's a teaser, from Meier's most recent post:

One thing we can learn from international studies is that it may help if decisions are made closer to those who are affected by them. Not only are all the high-scoring countries much, much smaller than most of our 50 states, much less the US as a whole, but many do NOT have a national curriculum or national exams.

That’s what Linda Darling-Hammond reported to us last weekend at a meeting of the Forum for Education and Democracy! We were all startled, having bought the oft-repeated claim that international studies prove that national exams equal high scores. In some of the “high-scoring” nations, standards are set by districts, and in others by even smaller sub-units. And, none come close to doing as much mandating as we do.