Comparing American and Japanese Achievement

Is the United States Really a Low Achiever

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9733273
AutoresIan Westbury (0000-0003-0021-9873, College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 341 Armory Bldg., 505 E. Armory, Champaign, IL 61820. He specializes in educational policy analysis and curriculum theory, autor de correspondencia)
Año1992
Volumen21
Número5
Páginas18-24
Fecha de publicación1992-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEducational Researcher (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0013-189X • E-ISSN: 1935-102X
EditorialAmerican Educational Research Association (AERA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3102/0013189x021005018
OpenAlexW2121467291
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas20
Referencias citadas7

It is widely accepted that the Japanese educational system is more effective than the U.S. system and that this greater effectiveness produces across-the-board higher achievement. Using the data from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA.) Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS), this paper examines both curriculum and achievement in Japan and the United States in grade 7/8 algebra and grade 12 elementary functions and analysis (calculus). The results suggest that overall, the lower achievement of the United States is the result of curricula that are not as well matched to the SIMS tests as are the curricula of Japan. Where the American curriculum is comparable to both the "curriculum" of the test and the curriculum of Japan, that is, in grade 8 algebra classes, U.S. achievement is similar to that of Japan. These findings suggest that the analytic methodology of cross-national achievement Studies like those of IEA or International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP) with their focus on the undifferentiated variable of "country" as a unit of analysis needs to be rethought. While the emphasis on comparative national standings that emerges from such studies may excite political and public interest, it cannot be regarded as a legitimate approach to comparative analysis

Academic achievement · Achievement test · Curriculum · Mathematics education · National curriculum · Pedagogy · Political science · Standardized test · Student achievement · Economic Policies and Impacts · Educational Assessment and Improvement · Global Educational Reforms and Inequalities · Global Financial Crisis and Policies · Psychology · School Choice and Performance