WCA March 2011

From the americas

scored 500 for 17 th place, placing them on a par with students in the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and several other countries In science, Shanghai students scored 575. In second ❖ ❖ place was Finland, where the average score was 554. The United States scored 502 – for 23 rd place – with a performance indistinguishable from that of Poland, Ireland, Norway France and several other countries

the difficulty of using a standardised test to compare countries and cities of vastly different sizes. Still, Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the PISA testing programme, called the results from Shanghai “stunning.” He told the Post ’s Mr Anderson that the city has been especially adept at moving talented educators into the most challenging assignments through career and pay incentives. For those interested in an alternative view of the PISA ❖ ❖ 2009 results, “On Those ‘Stunning’ Shanghai Test Scores” may be read free on www.theatlantic.com. The author, James Fallows, is a national correspondent for the Atlantic magazine and was a speechwriter for former US president Jimmy Carter.

[Note: India is not a member of the OECD and Indian students did not participate in PISA 2009]

To US Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the OECD report was “a massive wake-up call.” To President Barack Obama, it was a warning that the United States faces “a Sputnik moment” – a reference to the shock experienced by Americans when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into orbit in 1957. Writing in the ❖ ❖ New York Times , Sam Dillon observed that American officials and Europeans involved in administering the PISA test in 65 countries acknowledge that the scores from Shanghai are not representative of China because the programme did not canvass the entire country. He declared Shanghai “an industrial powerhouse with some 20 million residents and scores of modern universities that is a magnet for the best students in the country.” (“Shanghai Test Scores Stun Educators,” 7 th December). Experts consulted by Mr Dillon also noted

The economy

The comeback in tech jobs in the US may seem ❖ ❖ unimpressive in terms of absolute numbers – about 47,000 jobs created last year – but it is enough to point a trend and to brighten what had been a very bleak picture. According to economy tracker Moody’s Analytics, that represents 15% growth in tech jobs, compared with an 11% jobs growth in the economy overall since the beginning of 2009. From a peak at the end of 2007, the tech industry had lost 307,000 jobs nationwide in the economic downturn.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2011