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Which Secondary Education Systems Work Best? The United States Or Northern Europe, John H. Bishop
Which Secondary Education Systems Work Best? The United States Or Northern Europe, John H. Bishop
John H Bishop
Northern European teenagers are 10+ percent more likely to graduate from secondary school than their American counterparts and learn considerably more as well. This paper explains why Northern Europe’s upper-secondary schools have achieved school cultures that accomplish so much more than typical American secondary schools. The keys to N. Europe's success are: 1. Parents/students decide which program of study to enter. 2. Programs have well signaled reputations that influence access to occupations/professions and higher education programs. 3. Undertaking a challenging program confers prestige. 4. If the program turns out to be too difficult or poorly taught, transfers to a more …
Are National Exit Examinations Important For Educational Efficiency?, John H. Bishop
Are National Exit Examinations Important For Educational Efficiency?, John H. Bishop
John H Bishop
“This paper analyses effects of national or provincial exit examinations on education quality. On theoretical grounds, the paper argues that such examinations should increase high school achievement, particularly in examination subjects, and that teachers and students and parents and school administrators should focus more on academic achievement when making school-quality decisions. On the negative side, exit examinations may lead to a tendency to concentrate on learning facts, rather than understanding contexts.”
Secondary Education In The United States: What Can Others Learn From Our Mistakes?, John H. Bishop , Ferran Mane, Michael Bishop
Secondary Education In The United States: What Can Others Learn From Our Mistakes?, John H. Bishop , Ferran Mane, Michael Bishop
John H Bishop
Secondary schools are the least successful component of the U.S. education system. Students learn considerably less than in other industrialized nations and dropout rates are significantly higher. This paper provides an explanation for this failure, describes the standards based reforms strategies that many states are implementing to attack these problems, and evaluates the success of these efforts.
The Role Of End-Of-Course Exams And Minimum Competency Exams In Standards-Based Reforms, John H. Bishop, Ferran Mane, Michael Bishop, Joan Moriarty
The Role Of End-Of-Course Exams And Minimum Competency Exams In Standards-Based Reforms, John H. Bishop, Ferran Mane, Michael Bishop, Joan Moriarty
John H Bishop
[Excerpt] Educational reformers and most of the American public believe that most teachers ask too little of their pupils. These low expectations, they believe, result in watered down curricula and a tolerance of mediocre teaching and inappropriate student behavior. The result is that the prophecy of low achievement becomes self-fulfilling. Although research has shown that learning gains are substantially larger when students take more demanding courses2, only a minority of students enroll in these courses. There are several reasons for this. Guidance counselors in many schools allow only a select few into the most challenging courses. While most schools give …
Incentives For Learning: Why American High School Students Compare So Poorly To Their Counterparts Overseas, John H. Bishop
Incentives For Learning: Why American High School Students Compare So Poorly To Their Counterparts Overseas, John H. Bishop
John H Bishop
[Excerpt] The scientific and mathematical competence of American high school students is generally recognized to be very low. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports that only 7.5 percent of 17 year old students can "integrate specialized scientific information" (NAEP 1988a p.51) and 6.4 percent "demonstrated the capacity to apply mathematical operations in a variety of problem settings." (NAEP 1988b p. 42) There is a large gap between the science and math competence of young Americans and their counterparts overseas. In the 1960s, the low ranking of American high school students in such comparisons was attributed to the fact …