U.S. News & World Report – Lauren Camera
“More than 1 in 4 15-year-olds living in economically developed countries – some 13 million students – do not have a basic level of knowledge in at least one of the three core subjects: math, reading and science. In some countries, the statistic is worse, with more than 1 in 2 students lacking such baseline proficiency. And that poor performance holds ramifications that reach far beyond just a report card. Those are just some of the top-line findings tucked inside a 212-page report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, which analyzed data from the 64 countries that participated in the latest international education assessment, known as the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA. “It is urgent to get this right,” said Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills at the OECD and an author of the report. “Students who perform poorly at age 15 face a high risk of dropping out of school altogether, and when a large share of the population lacks basic skills, a country’s long-term economic growth is severely compromised.””(more)