The decline continues. Once again, the performance of American students reveals how a nation that once prided itself on its educated citizenry has been brought down to a disgraceful level of performance.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an internationally standardised assessment that was jointly developed by participating countries and administered to 15-year-olds in schools, and given to about 4,500 to 10,000 students in each nation.

More than 250,000 students in 41 countries took part in PISA 2003, the second three-yearly survey of its kind. The survey involves pencil and paper tests lasting two hours, taken in the students' schools. In the 2003 cycle, results were reported for 40 nations.

The domains of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy are covered not merely in terms of mastery of the school curriculum, but in terms of important knowledge and skills needed in adult life. In the PISA 2003 cycle, an additional domain of problem solving was introduced to continue the examination of cross-curriculum competencies.

PISA tested for how much students enjoy studying, math, for example. Perhaps surprisingly, enjoyment does not seem to produce better results. U.S. students are at or above average in enjoyment of math and in believing that math is an important subject for them.

In a nutshell, this massive study produces a voluminous amount of information but precious little wisdom. In most of the 40 nations, government school systems are dominant, but the differences both between and within nations make arriving at wise policy decisions almost impossible. I skimmed through the entire 471-page report (PDF), searching for clues that might explain the poor U.S. showing, and found none. For the most part, the information pertaining to our students is AVERAGE... not abnormal in any way.

U.S. results are, however, less than average

U.S. students gave teachers above average marks:

The teacher gives students an opportunity to express opinions.  69%
The teacher shows an interest in every student ’s learning.  78%
The teacher gives extra help when students need it.  84%
The teacher helps students with their learning.  71%
The teacher continues teaching until the students understand.  63%

U.S. students said that these factors affected their performance,
with the average for all nations shown in parentheses:

Student absenteeism.  69%  (48%)
Disruption of classes by students.  27%  (40%)
Students skipping classes.  36%  (30%)
Students lacking respect for teachers.  22%  (22%)
Student use of alcohol or illegal drugs.  21%  (10%)
Students intimidating or bullying other students.  14%  (15%)

And U.S. students reported these results:

Students don ’t listen to what the teacher says.  32% (31%)
There is noise and disorder.  34%  (36%)
The teacher has to wait a long time for students to quiet down.  26%  (32%)
Students cannot work well.  19%  (23%)
Students don ’t start working for a long time after the lesson begins.  27%  (29%)

The morale of teachers in this school is high. 88%  (87%)
Teachers work with enthusiasm.  95%  (90%)
Teachers take pride in this school. 96%  (90%)
Teachers value academic achievement. 99%  (93%)

I did find one comment that verifies what many teachers have told me, and that may help explain why the performance of U.S. students has suffered over time:

In most of the countries that performed well, local authorities and schools also have substantial responsibility for educational content and/or the use of resources, and many set out to teach heterogeneous groups of learners.

Over our history of public schools, control and responsibility over educational content has been shifted, through the use of tax-money leverage, away from local schools and toward both state and federal agencies. We are an extremely diverse people, and that includes our children, and conditions vary widely from state to state and even district to district. The best educational response to local conditions is going to come from educators at the local level, not from state and federal agencies trying to impose one solution for all schools. Not only does one solution not fit all cases, but only those involved locally can even KNOW what local conditions are.

If you read the tedious, cautious statements of the PISA report, which is a report to member governments, you will get an idea of the kind of statistical abstraction that state and federal "experts" try to make decisions from. The report is a massive statistical mess, and decisions made from it are likely to be no more than guesswork, which is what our schools have been increasingly inflicted with as local school control has been diminished.