What is the Big Idea? 

Chinese parents have always placed a high premium on education and now they have the numbers to show for it. Shanghai's students scored the highest in the most recent round of math, reading and science tests conducted in 2009 by OECD's Program for International School Assessment (PISA).

Effective strategies, proper implementation and well-designed programs are some of the reasons why Shanghai's school system, along with Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore land firmly at the top, according to a report released earlier this month by the Grattan Institute, an Australian think tank.

Here are some of the highlights from the report:

High Performance

• In Shanghai, the average 15-year old mathematics student is performing at a level two to three years above his or her counterpart in Australia, the US, the UK or Europe.

• Korean students are at least a year ahead of USA and EU students and 7 months ahead of Australian students in reading.

• Hong Kong and Singaporean students are at least a year ahead of the USA and EU students in science.

• Between 2000 and 2009, Korea’s mean reading score improved by 15 points (equivalent to nearly 5 months learning), on top of decades of improvement. Hong Kong improved by 8 points.

• Shanghai and Singapore participated in PISA for the first time in 2009 and ranked 1st and 5th in mean reading scores of countries tested.2

High Levels of Equity

• These four systems have successfully increased performance while maintaining, and often increasing, equity. Compared to Australia and most OECD countries, a child from a poorer background in these systems is less likely to drop out or fall behind.

• Low performing students are also better prepared for their future. The bottom 10 percent of maths students in Shanghai perform at a level that is 21 months ahead of the bottom 10 percent of students in Australia. This gap rises to 24 months in the U.K., 25 across the average of the OECD, and 28 months in the U.S.

High Efficiency

• The world’s best school systems are rarely the world’s biggest spenders. Korea spends much less per student than other education systems, yet achieves far better student performance.

• Australian school expenditure has increased dramatically. Between 2000 and 2009, real expenditure on education increased by 44 percent. The average cost of non-government school fees rose by 25 percent. Despite this increase, Australia was only one of four countries that recorded a statistically significant decrease in PISA reading scores from 2000 to 2009.

 

What is the Significance?

Experts agree that education reform is the key to keeping the U.S. competitive in the global economy. There are disagreements as to what works best, but one thing is certain: The U.S.  has one of the highest annual expenditures per student in the world - second only to Switzerland - yet its PISA scores are below average. China, on the other hand, has the lowest per student expenditure among OECD countries.

Factors like salaries, pension plans and working hours affect expenditures, but in general increased spending doesn't necessarily lead to better learning.

So what does?

The Grattan Institute offers insight as to what works in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore and there are several takeaways that western countries can adopt and tailor to the needs of its own school systems. 

Common characteristics of high-performing systems