Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) director for education and skills and international education expert Andreas Schleicher argues that survey data from the international PISA assessment supports his belief that the United States tests its students less than other countries.

Despite the popular belief held by Americans that the U.S. over-tests its students, Schleicher argues this a deep-rooted misconception and nothing more.

To support this, Schleicher points to data based on survey questions administered to 15-year-olds during the PISA; one survey question asked how often students were given standardized tests.

Though this data is unpublished and from 2009, Schleicher says the data indicates that U.S. students are tested less frequently than other countries.

"More than a third of 15-year-olds in the Netherlands said they took a standardized test at least once a month. In Israel, more than a fifth said they took a monthly standardized test. In the United States, only 2 percent of students said they took standardized tests this frequently, well below the OECD average of 8 percent,” he said, according to the Hechinger Report.

While some may argue that the data is less significant now because it is from 2009, Schleicher doesn’t expect to see any changes when data from 2015 is made available next year.

Schleicher told the Hechinger Report he believes that the U.S. does not have the strong culture of assessment as many believe it does; he says assessment is not pushed by the education system, but mostly from standardized-test makers, where the issue itself lies.

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

12/07/2015