The letter below outlines how PISA and OECD are damaging the morale of Ministries of Education world wide, Boards of Education, educators, and students. It's systems for assessment are outdated.
This letter to the PISA administration is signed by a number of International Academics that say PISA testing results are not the standard to which we should aspire. It is an incompetent measuring tool and does not take the whole child into account or the real purpose of education. Isn't education at the elementary and secondary level, meant to prepare students for participation in democratic self-government, with a well developed moral compass, ready for a life of personal development, growth and wellbeing, and to ready oneself for further education or career choices? Isn't about developing the skills necessary for the 21st century, and resilience for a world of rapid growth and change?
If you want to improve the standards of education world wide, and improve teaching pedagogies and best practices, then a collaborative, teacher performance appraisal framework, by highly trained administrators that are focussed on improving educators as role models of the Standards of Practice, is most effective.
Look at the top education systems in the world. They use personal performance appraisal systems at the school level. They don't need international testing devices to plan their next steps.
Read this short assessment of PISA and the impact it is unfortunately having.
How do we better assess our international performance in education if that is necessary.
It surely can be done without ruining student self images and the morale of hard working teachers.
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academics
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