http://www.chinanews.com/gj/2013/10-09/5352280.shtml
国际成年人能力评估：美国低于全球平均水平
新华网 2013年10月09日
中新社休斯敦10月8日电（记者王欢）经济合作与发展组织（OECD）8日发布了首次“国际成人能力评估计划”（PIAAC）调查结果。在被认为对全球竞争力和经济实力至关重要的数学、阅读和解决问题的技术能力方面，美国成年人的“全球技能考试”得分低于国际平均水平。
这是经合组织第一次发表该调查结果。本次调查针对美国、日本、韩国、德国等24个国家的15.7万名16至65岁间成人进行，主要比较他们在语言、数字、电脑等领域的能力。中国和印度没有列入此次评估计划。
语言能力主要考察理解、评价、应用书面文章的能力；数学考察搜集、利用、分析数字信息并加以沟通的能力；信息技术应用能力则考察使用数码技术、沟通工具及网络的能力。除了基础考题外，被调查者还参加了一些实际生活技能测试，例如作为推销员计算报销里程，整理电子邮件和比较杂货店食品标签的保质期等。
美联社报道称，在所有三个领域的测试中，日本、加拿大、澳大利亚、芬兰和其他多个国家的成年人得分均明显高于美国。美国年轻学生的技能水平远远低于50至65岁的中老年人。
美国教育部部长邓肯（Arne Duncan）在一份声明中指出，“这些研究结果应该引起我们的关注。其展示出在全球经济越来越要求高技能的大背景下，我们的教育制度在帮助美国人提高竞争力方面做得很不够。尽管我们拥有最高技能的成年人与其他领先国持平，但研究同样暴露出，美国有大量被忽视的成年人只具有非常低的基本技能，他们中的大多数正在工作。我们亟需找到方法改变这一现状。”
美国的学龄孩子在国际评估测试中一直得分较低，这往往归咎于人口的多样性和大量移民的涌入。值得关注的是，大部分缺乏基本阅读和数学技能的美国学生，来自于低收入和少数族裔家庭，父母的受教育程度与孩子的社会技能水平紧密相关。
哈佛大学教授彼得森（Paul Peterson）强调，“我们的年轻人口应该比受过良好教育的老年人做得更好，因为他们正在进入劳动力市场。”经合组织暗示美国和英国称，“一些国家除非采取行动提高青年人的技能熟练度，否则未来几十年里，他们的经济将出现疲软。”
这次调查还显示，在阅读和数学能力方面，日本位居首位；芬兰人使用信息技术的能力排名世界第一。包括西班牙和意大利在内的一些欧洲国家的得分不乐观。参与测评的各国均有最终学历越高成绩越好的倾向，测试得分与薪金同样成正比。
“日本得分最高，但经济40年来一直衰退，这其中的教训是什么？”曾为美国教育部监测统计数据的研究机构副总裁施耐德（Mark Schneider）对经合组织这一调查结果持怀疑态度。
http://nypost.com/2013/10/08/us-adults-are-dumber-than-the-average-human
US adults are dumber than the average human
by Associated Press, 8 October 2013
WASHINGTON — It’s long been known that America’s school kids haven’t measured well compared with international peers. Now, there’s a new twist: Adults don’t either.
In math, reading and problem-solving using technology – all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength – American adults scored below the international average on a global test, according to results released Tuesday.
Adults in Japan, Canada, Australia, Finland and multiple other countries scored significantly higher than the United States in all three areas on the test. Beyond basic reading and math, respondents were tested on activities such as calculating mileage reimbursement due to a salesman, sorting email and comparing food expiration dates on grocery store tags.
Not only did Americans score poorly compared to many international competitors, the findings reinforced just how large the gap is between the nation’s high- and low-skilled workers and how hard it is to move ahead when your parents haven’t.
In both reading and math, for example, those with college-educated parents did better than those whose parents did not complete high school.
The study, called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, found that it was easier on average to overcome this and other barriers to literacy overseas than in the United States.
Researchers tested about 166,000 people ages 16 to 65 in more than 20 countries and subnational regions. The test was developed and released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is made up of mostly industrialized member countries. The Education Department’s Center for Education Statistics participated.
The findings were equally grim for many European countries – Italy and Spain, among the hardest hit by the recession and debt crisis, ranked at the bottom across generations. Unemployment is well over 25 percent in Spain and over 12 percent in Italy. Spain has drastically cut education spending, drawing student street protests.
But in the northern European countries that have fared better, the picture was brighter – and the study credits continuing education. In Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands, more than 60 percent of adults took part in either job training or continuing education. In Italy, by contrast, the rate was half that.
As the American economy sputters along and many people live paycheck-to-paycheck, economists say a highly-skilled workforce is key to economic recovery. The median hourly wage of workers scoring on the highest level in literacy on the test is more than 60 percent higher than for workers scoring at the lowest level, and those with low literacy skills were more than twice as likely to be unemployed.
“It’s not just the kids who require more and more preparation to get access to the economy, it’s more and more the adults don’t have the skills to stay in it,” said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement the nation needs to find ways to reach more adults to upgrade their skills. Otherwise, he said, “no matter how hard they work, these adults will be stuck, unable to support their families and contribute fully to our country.”
Among the other findings:
-Americans scored toward the bottom in the category of problem solving in a technology rich environment. The top five scores in the areas were from Japan, Finland, Australia, Sweden and Norway, while the US score was on par with England, Estonia, Ireland and Poland. In nearly all countries, at least 10 percent of adults lacked the most basic of computer skills such as using a mouse.
-Japanese and Dutch adults who were ages 25 to 34 and only completed high school easily outperformed Italian or Spanish university graduates of the same age.
-In England, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the United States, social background has a big impact on literacy skills, meaning the children of parents with low levels of education have lower reading skills.
America’s school kids have historically scored low on international assessment tests compared to other countries, which is often blamed on the diversity of the population and the high number of immigrants. Also, achievement tests have long shown that a large chunk of the US student population lacks basic reading and math skills – most pronounced among low-income and minority students.
This test could suggest students leaving high school without certain basic skills aren’t obtaining them later on the job or in an education program.
The United States will have a tough time catching up because money at the state and local level, a major source of education funding, has been slashed in recent years, said Jacob Kirkegaard, an economist with the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“There is a race between man and machine here. The question here is always: Are you a worker for whom technology makes it possible to do a better job or are you a worker that the technology can replace?” he said. For those without the most basic skills, he said, the answer will be merciless and has the potential to extend into future generations. Learning is highly correlated with parents’ education level.
“If you want to avoid having an underclass – a large group of people who are basically unemployable – this educational system is absolutely key,” Kirkegaard said.
Dolores Perin, professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, said the report provides a “good basis for an argument there should be more resources to support adults with low literacy.”
Adults can learn new skills at any age and there are adult-geared programs around the country, Perin said. But, she said, the challenge is ensuring the programs have quality teaching and that adults regularly attend classes.
“If you find reading and writing hard, you’ve been working hard all day at two jobs, you’ve got a young child, are you actually going to go to class? It’s challenging,” Perin said.
Some economists say that large skills gap in the United States could matter even more in the future. America’s economic competitors like China and India are simply larger than competitors of the past like Japan, Carnevale said. Even while America’s top 10 percent of students can compete globally, Carnevale said, that doesn’t cut it. China and India did not participate in this assessment.
“The skills in the middle are required and we’re not producing them,” Carnevale said.
Respondents were selected as part of a nationally represented sample. The test was primarily taken at home using a computer, but some respondents used a printed test booklet.
Among the other findings:
-Japan, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Flanders-Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, and Korea all scored significantly higher than the United States in all three areas on the test.
-The average scores in literacy range from 250 in Italy to 296 in Japan. The US average score was 270. (500 was the highest score in all three areas.) Average scores in 12 countries were higher than the average US score.
-The average scores in math range from 246 in Spain to 288 in Japan. The US average score was 253, below 18 other countries.
-The average scores on problem solving in technology-rich environments ranged from 275 in Poland to 294 in Japan. The US average score was 277, below 14 other countries.
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2013/10/09/its-official-american-adults-are-dumber-than-average
It's Official: American Adults Are Dumber Than Average
by Michael Krieger, Liberty Blitzkrieg blog, 9 October 2013
The study is called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies and it tested 166,000 people aged 16 to 65 in more than 20 countries. It found that in math, reading and problem solving, American adults scored below the international average.
I can’t say this is surprising, after all, the public allowed the big banks that destroyed the economy to gift themselves trillions in the aftermath of the financial crisis with barely a peep in response. You don’t have to be a problem solving genius to figure that one out. Finally, there is some proof behind our long-held suspicions.
From the Associated Press via the New York Post:
WASHINGTON — It’s long been known that America’s school kids haven’t measured well compared with international peers. Now, there’s a new twist: Adults don’t either.
In math, reading and problem-solving using technology – all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength – American adults scored below the international average on a global test, according to results released Tuesday.
Adults in Japan, Canada, Australia, Finland and multiple other countries scored significantly higher than the United States in all three areas on the test. Beyond basic reading and math, respondents were tested on activities such as calculating mileage reimbursement due to a salesman, sorting email and comparing food expiration dates on grocery store tags.
Not only did Americans score poorly compared to many international competitors, the findings reinforced just how large the gap is between the nation’s high- and low-skilled workers and how hard it is to move ahead when your parents haven’t.
Yes, it’s called feudalism.
The study, called the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, found that it was easier on average to overcome this and other barriers to literacy overseas than in the United States.
Researchers tested about 166,000 people ages 16 to 65 in more than 20 countries and subnational regions. The test was developed and released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is made up of mostly industrialized member countries. The Education Department’s Center for Education Statistics participated.
Americans scored toward the bottom in the category of problem solving in a technology rich environment. The top five scores in the areas were from Japan, Finland, Australia, Sweden and Norway, while the US score was on par with England, Estonia, Ireland and Poland. In nearly all countries, at least 10 percent of adults lacked the most basic of computer skills such as using a mouse.
The above is somewhat surprising given the amount of time Americans spend glued to their iPhones for Facebook updates about what their cousin ate for breakfast. I can tell you one category in which Americans surely beat all global competitors. The art of mercilessly stampeding into one another like animals at Wal-Mart on Black Friday to purchase plasma televisions. That that world.
Full article here.
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