PISA Weaknesses

The United States education system is a topic of debate that primarily exists because of its comparison to countries with outstanding educational performance, such as China and Finland. With the U.S. ranked as average when being compared to these countries, many schools and the parents of students agree there is a much needed reform. Thankfully, tests such as the Programme for International Student Assessment allows countries to test their students to determine where their country lacks most in their education. This tests has made it possible for the U.S. to realize its educational standpoint to make changes to the system accordingly.
The Programme for International Student Assessment, also known as PISA, tests the critical thinking, science …show more content…
The main weakness that was noted was the inequality within the education system, primarily regarding poverty and teacher inequality. Since the United States has the highest amount of childhood poverty rates in comparison to the other countries that participated in the PISA, a direct relationship between poverty and education was clearly present. According to a study discussed in Linda Darling-Hammond’s article, “the size of the working vocabulary of four-year old children from low-income families is approximately one-third that of children from middle-income families”(Darling-Hammond). This quote not only shows the correlation between education and poverty, but it also gives insight on how large of an impact it has on students who do not have access to a proper education. The inequality of teachers has a similarly large impact on the education of students. The U.S. has seen a gradually increasing problem in the value of teachers as the years go by, with the largest complaint being their salary. These teachers work long days and still must continue their work at home as they grade papers and make tests for their students. In return they do not get a salary that compensates their hard work, which leads many people to avoid this career route. Since teachers play the largest role in how students receive their …show more content…
The vast amount of differences between these three countries has given great examples on what reforms have been proven effective and which one’s have made matters worse. From the topic of inequality to the discussion of student engagement, it is clear there are numerous factors taken into account when working on improving student education. Although the U.S. is still solving its problems with education, there is still a chance of receiving a better rank on future PISA’s along with its current role models. For now, Shanghai and Finland will continue working to improve their systems to encourage students they are worth only the best