5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

Benchmarking Definitions “A process of comparing the quality of a specific process or method to another that is widely considered to be an industry standard or best practice.” “Benchmarking is the practice of being humble enough to admit that someone else has a better process and wise enough to learn how to match or even surpass them.” American Productivity and Quality Center from Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education a report by the NGA, CCSSO and Achieve 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 Gain insight to improve educational systems  Access global knowledge and best practices  Necessary to compete in our global economy  Compare educational performance over time 5/16/ Goals of International Comparisons © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 Standards  Accountability  Educator workforce  Assessment International Comparison: Areas of Educational Benchmarking 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 Focus: Deeper  Rigor: Complex and challenging  Coherence: Orderly progression  Fluency: Proficient and automatic 5/16/ Characteristics of Standards in the best-performing nations © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

Mathematics Benchmarking International Standards 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

Focus for Math Assessments 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

International Assessments: Mathematics Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Assessments: Focus on determining if students can use what they have learned in the situations they are likely to encounter in their daily life Have students analyze, reason, and communicate effectively as they pose, formulate, solve and interpret mathematical problems in a variety of situations Test how students apply skills to real-world problems 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

PISA Sample Problem 5/16/ What is the approximate distance from the starting line to the beginning of the longest straight section of the track? 2.What is the lowest speed recorded during the second lap? 3.What can you say about the speed of the car between the 2.6 km and 2.8 km marks? © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

International Assessments: Mathematics Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Assessments: Place emphasis on questions and tasks that offer better insight into students’ analytical, problem solving and inquiry skills and capabilities Test both content and cognitive domains Content: Number, Geometry, Algebra, Data and Chance, etc. Cognitive: Knowing, Applying, Reasoning 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 John and Cathy were told to divide a number by 100. By mistake John multiplied the number by 100 and obtained an answer of 450. Cathy correctly divided the number by 100. What was her answer?  If n is a negative integer, which of these is the largest number? a) 3 + n b) 3 × n c) 3 − n d) 3 ÷ n TIMSS Sample Problem 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 A model to compare US standards with three high-performing countries: Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea.  Focus on learning progressions  Transform the Asian standards into an organization of mathematics content  Create a set of composite standards by topic and grade. Informing Grades 1-6 Mathematics Standards Development: What Can be Learned from High-performing Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore. American Institutes for Research /16/ International Benchmarking: Composite Standards for Mathematics © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 Identify the core mathematics topics taught within each strand across countries  Identify each country’s grade-by-grade sequence of mathematical competencies for each core topic  Create composite standards for each core topic by drawing from the learning progressions in the standards in each of the three countries 5/16/ Composite Standard Development © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

Benchmarking International Standards 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

Focus on Reading Literacy Assessments 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

Introduction: Reading Literacy Major international assessments: The Progress in Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

The Progress in Reading Literacy Study: PIRLS 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

5/16/  Measure trends in reading literacy achievement.  Improve the teaching of reading and the acquisition of reading skills around the world.  Assess reading achievement for students in their fourth year of school. © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

PIRLS defines reading literacy as the ability to understand and use those written language forms required by society and/or valued by the individual. Young readers can construct meaning from a variety of texts. They read to learn, to participate in communities of readers in school and everyday life, and for enjoyment. 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 The PIRLS assessment focuses on the two overarching purposes for reading : Reading for literary experience (50%) Reading to acquire and use information (50%) 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 Focus on and retrieve explicitly stated information (20%)  Make straightforward inferences (30%)  Interpret and integrate ideas and information and textual elements (30%)  Examine and evaluate content, language, and textual elements (20%) PIRLS: Comprehension Processes 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

Programme for International Student Assessment: PISA 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 Measure how well students are prepared to meet the challenges they may encounter in future life.  Tested Age-15 PISA: Purpose 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

Reading literacy is understanding, using, reflecting on and engaging with written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate in society. PISA: Reading Literacy Definition 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 Access and retrieve  Integrate and interpret  Reflect and evaluate PISA Skills 5/16/ © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association

 Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring U.S. Students Receive a World-Class Education. National Governors Association, Council of Chief State School Officers, and Achieve, Inc., 2008 (  Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Counties: 2009 (  IEA’s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study in Primary School in 40 Countries (  Overview of IEA’s PIRLS Assessment PIRLS2011_Framework.pdf) PIRLS2011_Framework.pdf  PISA 2009 Assessment Framework: Key competencies in reading, mathematics and science (  Informing Grades 1 – 6 Mathematics Standards Development: What Can Be Learned From High-Performing Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore? (  The Second Derivative: International Benchmarks in Mathematics for U.S. States and School Districts (  U. S. Performance Across International Assessments of Student Achievement: Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2009 National Center for Education Statistics (  Foundations for Success: The Final Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel. US Department of Education, 2008 ( ) 5/16/ References © 2011 California County Superintendents Educational Services Association