Students from a country that doesn't have standardized tests, and where teachers help make key decisions about budget and curriculum, once again topped their peers from around the globe in a test of academic abilities.
            Finland's 15-year-olds earned the No. 1 spot on the Programme for International Student Assessment, according to a report released today by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, followed by their counterparts in Hong Kong and Canada.
            U.S. students again ranked in the lower half among the other 56 countries participating and scored below average in student achievement, according to the report.
            The report assesses how students around the world fare in relation to each other in math, reading, and science, based on the performance of a randomly selected group of 400,000 teenagers. Testing occurred in 2006 in the 57 countries that account for nearly 90 percent of the world economy.
            NEA President Reg Weaver said, "It cant be a coincidence," that Finland operates its education system in a manner so differently than the one mandated by proponents of NCLBs standardize test-obsessed approach. Weaver also is the vice president of Education International, which represents more than 30 million teachers and education workers.
            Proponents call the report the only comparable international yardstick for high school students. In the science literacy exam, new this year, students were required to demonstrate they understand scientific concepts and can apply them to real-life situations. American students ranked 21st.
            "Our students performance today is the best indicator of Americas global competitiveness tomorrow," said Raymond C. Scheppach of the National Governors Association.
            While the United States currently has the largest supply of high-level skills in its adult labor force of any country in the world, the rate of students not completing a degree here is growing. A 2003 report indicated that the U.S. is 19th in high school graduation rates, and other countries are rapidly catching up to or overtaking us.
             "No Child Left Behind has left teachers teaching to the test and narrowing curricula so they cannot provide kids with the well-rounded education they need," Weaver said. "We must provide our teachers with the resources and time they need to teach--not test--our students. Teachers also must have ongoing training opportunities so they can keep up with constant innovations in science."
            Other Education International leaders expressed concerns today that the results of the survey are increasingly politicized. General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen urged parents and policy-makers to review the PISA results skeptically. "The complexities of education cannot be reduced to sports scores," said Van Leeuwen. He added that educator unions around the country are gravely concerned by national governments implementing education reforms with the stated objective of ranking higher on the survey.
            "Such superficial objectives are deeply threatening to quality of education and access to education for all," Van Leeuwen said.
--Cynthia Kopkowski