Are political motivations behind Obama's 'educational trash talk'?

May 20, 5:38 AMNY Education ExaminerLorri Giovinco-Harte

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AP Educational Writer, Libby Quaid has written commentary in response to President Obama's comments about the dire state of our educational achievement - comments, which she basically equates to being 'educational trash talk.'

In her piece, entitled, "Fact Check; Are US students really that bad?", Quaid challenges some of the president's statements about the state of our academic achievement and provides some context for her refutations.

On the subject of test scores, the president told the National Academy of Sciences:

"Our schools continue to trail other developed countries and, in some cases, developing countries.  Our students are outperformed in math and science by their peers in Singapore, Japan, England, the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Korea, among others."

Quaid, however, challenges the president's statements:

The U.S. does trail the most high-achieving countries, mostly developed nations in Asia such as Singapore, Taiwan and Japan.

But the U.S. holds its own in the group that comes next, a group of developed countries that, depending on the test, includes England, Germany and Russia.

In fact, the U.S. has gained on some of its toughest competitors since 1995, making bigger strides in math than Singapore and Japan, and in science than Japan.

That is according to the most recent international tests, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, the study Obama was citing. A lead TIMSS researcher took issue with the idea the U.S. is trailing.

"Certainly, our results do not show the United States trailing the developed world by any stretch of the imagination," said Ina V.S. Mullis, a Boston College research professor and co-director of the study.

"The Asian countries are way ahead of the rest of developed countries, but mostly the developed countries are relatively similar," Mullis said. "And the United States might be one of the leaders of that group, depending on whether you're talking about math or science in the fourth- or the eighth-grade."

The president also quoted similarly negative statistics about student achievement in math and science - statistics also used by the Gates Foundation:

"Another assessment shows American 15-year-olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science when compared to nations around the world."

Yet, Quaid points out, the president's information is somewhat misleading:

At issue is the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which is given to 15-year-olds in 30 developed countries.

Obama's numbers are correct, but perhaps misleading. PISA is not designed to measure what children have learned in school. Instead, it measures how well kids apply math to real-world problems, which could be learned in school, but also at home or elsewhere.

In contrast, the other test Obama cited, TIMSS, is designed to measure how much math children have learned in school.

Because of that difference — a big one in the world of educational research — experts including the Brookings Institution's Tom Loveless have cautioned against lumping PISA results together with other test scores. Loveless serves on the U.S. advisory board for PISA and is a representative to the group that administers TIMSS.

Quaid also refutes Obama and Secretary Duncan's statements about our short school year by comparing the length of time that American children spend in school to children in other countries.  In March, Obama stated:

"Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea every year. If they can do that in South Korea, we can do it right here in the United States of America."

However, Quaid points out that although South Korean children have a longer school year, American children actually have more instructional time:

South Koreans do have a longer school year, measured in days. But Americans actually spend more time in school. The average U.S. eighth-grader has 1,146 instructional hours a year, compared with 923 hours a year in South Korea.

So why is the President of the United States trying to portray our students' academic achievements in such a poor light?

Quaid implies that there may be some political motivation:

Educational trash talk is not new. It is typical at both ends of the political spectrum. Liberals use poor performance to justify school spending. Conservatives use it to make the case for private-school vouchers and tax credits.

Already, Obama is responsible for the biggest increase in federal education spending because of his economic stimulus law.

Something to think about - that is, unless our thinking is under question as well.

Read more from the Associated Press.