Ready or not?
International studies say Canada’s high-school students are tops—so why do so many struggle in university?
Are you smarter than a 10th grader? Try this math problem: Nick wants to pave the rectangular patio of his new house. The patio is 5.25 metres long and three metres wide. He needs 81 bricks per square metre. How many bricks does Nick need for the whole patio?
The preceding is a sample question from the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, a two-hour test that measured the math, science and literacy levels of 15-year-olds. More than 400,000 students from 57 countries took part, and Canadian kids were once again among the best in the world, finishing third in science (behind Finland and Hong Kong), fourth in reading (behind Korea, Finland and Hong Kong), and seventh in mathematics.
Want to know how Canadian students measure up? Check out the charts in our 18th Annual Rankings issue, on newsstands now!
Canada’s impressive PISA results are not an aberration: when international studies of teenage and elementary student achievement are conducted, Canadian students and the Canadian education system shine. Over the past decade, Canadian elementary- and secondary-school students have repeatedly ranked among the world’s best in mathematics, science, reading and writing.
But while international tests say that our kids and our high schools are tops, there’s compelling evidence from universities and colleges that paints a very different picture. “[High-school] students have done math programs that are supposed to have prepared them for post-secondary,” says Memorial University mathematics and statistics professor Sherry Mantyka, “and they’re desperately not prepared.” Before students at Memorial can take a math credit course, they must take a math placement test; each year, 25 per cent to 50 per cent score at a Grade 6 level or lower. A study of more than 10,000 students who entered college in 2006 in the Toronto area showed that 35 per cent earned a D or an F in first-term college math.
And it’s not just math: at the University of Ottawa, to catch the large number of students falling behind and falling through the cracks, the administration in the last few years has felt it necessary to expand its student help centres and hire hundreds of student tutors. The University of Waterloo has first-year students write a five-paragraph essay, which is graded on grammar, punctuation and structure. Each year, roughly one-quarter fail. Waterloo is a university where admission is highly competitive, and generally awarded to only well-above-average high-school grads.
What’s going on? Are Canadian high-school students among the best prepared on earth—or are many shockingly unprepared for higher education? The answer is yes. And yes.
Many people think that Canada’s high standing on the recent PISA tests means that Canadian students are doing well academically. But there is more to this story than meets the eye. In fact, the PISA tests say nothing about advanced academic learning – like, say, the ability to read sophisticated text or explain E=MC2. Rather, the tests measure how well students can use very simple arithmetic and literacy skills to solve everyday problems.
Calculators are allowed on the tests, spelling and grammar mistakes are not penalized, partial marks are liberally awarded for incorrect answers, and the students are never asked to write answers of more than a few words.
The PISA sponsors make it clear that they are not trying to assess the skills and knowledge that one would normally expect to be taught to 15-year-olds. Instead, their test is designed to find out how well students are prepared “to meet the challenges of the future”.
This means that the tests are designed to discover how intelligently students can tackle practical tasks, like interpreting diagrams or estimating results. In contrast, skills like the ability to craft a persuasive argument or solve quadratic equations are irrelevant to the PISA.
Here’s an example of a typical PISA question. “A pizzeria serves two round pizzas of the same thickness in different sizes. The smaller one has a diameter of 30 cm and costs 30 zeds. The larger one has a diameter of 40 cm and costs 40 zeds. Which pizza is better value for money? Show your reasoning.”
The simplicity of the PISA tests means that they neutralize much of the advantage enjoyed by students with advanced skills and knowledge. These tests simply do not tell us how well our students stack up against their counterparts in India and China (countries which, by the way, don’t take part in the PISA tests).
If we want to know how well Canadian students are prepared in terms of more difficult material, we must look at other international tests, such as the 2005 Adult Literacy and Life Skills survey. This test measured both the literacy and numeracy of more than 23,000 Canadians, as well as students in other countries.
Canada ranked roughly in the middle of the countries that chose to participate in this test. According to Statistics Canada, the test showed a decline in literacy scores among young people aged 16 to 25. It also confirmed the results of an earlier study which showed that approximately “42% of Canadian adults aged between 16 and 65 years are below the level of literacy considered appropriate in order to function effectively in today’s society”.
Another more rigorous test is the Third International Mathematics and Science study. The results of the latest iteration of this test were announced last week. Overall, the students in every single participating province (Ontario, Alberta, Quebec, and BC) scored worse than they did on the last test in 2003. At the same time, many of Canada’s major economic competitors – Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, England, China, even the United States – improved their results, significantly out-performing our students. Canadian students were well down in the pack, and the the fact that they outperformed countries like Slovenia, Armenia, Slovak Republic and Sweden should not be cause for complacency.
I hope this clears up the mystery of why Canadian students do well on the PISA tests but struggle in math when they get to university.
PISA is garbage. It is testing grade 10 students on how well they perform doing basic grade 7&8 math. It really measures how many students in grade 10 can function at a grade 7&8 level and nothing more. Can they do grocery store math? If cans of baby mush have measurements …(blah,blah) and costs …(blah,blah) which is the better deal. This is not grade 10 math! Does this sound like testing our students on their preparedness for the future….maybe if we have a global depression and soup kitchen work is the only work available. Lets get real.
There is a real problem in Ontario with mark inflation, a weakened curriculum, a system that punishes teachers for making hard tests and even punishes them if they teach. Lets not forget the get rid of Calculus in high school political balloon. The government of Ontario gave as a reason – Why there is a math anxiety crisis. So a imposed compromise -get rid of Algebra instead since the Engineering societies complained about removing Calculus.
Have a look at Ontario’s proposed Science curriculum for next year, have the students write stories about the Social impact of forces, dynamics etc see (C1.2 of proposed curriculum documents). Does this sound like grade 11 physics? C1.2 “Evaluate the impact on society and the environment of technologies that use the principles of force.” Curriculum proposed E1.2 (“analyse the negative impact that mechanical waves and/or sound can have on society…”) Another example F1.1 “analyse the social and economic impact of technologies related to electromagnetism.” Do we want our students in grade 11 science classes like physics to write stories or to DO real problem solving and real science instead of social studies. Where is Ontario’s next generation of doctors, engineers, pharmacists, scientists etc. going to come from ….(sarcastic answer – Alberta,BC or is it fantasy island)? The US experimented with this type of curriculum and it was disastrous, so why are we repeating their mistake? We have too many social engineers trying to create an education system that will create nothing more than more social engineers. Get your head out of the sand/@$$ Ontario and stop dumbing down the next generation. Ignorance is not bliss its just ignorant.