tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545607.post4371717726834319071..comments2024-03-09T10:26:48.789+00:00Comments on economics, psychology, policy: The news from PISAEmma Watsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11466193733741012673noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38545607.post-25799367797578189672010-12-08T18:25:33.093+00:002010-12-08T18:25:33.093+00:00Kevin, I certainly agree with Sean Flynn that ther...Kevin, I certainly agree with Sean Flynn that there should be more focus on measuring outputs in the Irish education system.<br /><br />On whether PISA only tells us where we are relative to others, there is an article in The Economist from yesterday which apparently uses scores normed to have an overall mean of 500:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2010/12/education?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/ar/eductaionchart" rel="nofollow">The Economist: An international report card </a> <br /><br />I think an important point is that while we don't know whether Irish students are doing worse or whether other countries are doing better, one can still say that we are now further away from being the best. This is important, as according to Sean Flynn, a world-class education system is "the magnet that helped to draw inward investment to our shores". Obviously, he hasn't done an econometric analysis, but I think there is merit in what he says.<br /><br />One question I have is whether PISA tells us where we are in relation to where we were in the past? That is, what is the potential for repeated cross-section analysis, comparing not just the overall mean over time - but also school performance over time.<br /><br />Finally, Mick O'Connell frpm UCD gave an interesting talk recently at the Economics and Psychology One-Day Event on "Variation in Returns to Education and academic performance by country in OECD's PISA science scores". I can't remember the specifics in relation to what he said on the comparison of countries with different education systems, different cultures, different curricula and so on. But he did touch on it from what I remember.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com