World Class K-12 Mathematics: International Lessons Learned

From APEC HRDWG Wiki

In the presentation World Class K-12 Mathematics: International Lessons Learned, the importance of having an international perspective is addressed. An international viewpoint allows countries to evaluate their performance more broadly by benchmarking their own practices against those of the highest performers. Also, an international perspective offers the opportunity to share new ideas which leads to continuous improvement.

Teachers

The area of teaching is important when it comes to international benchmarking. We are able to look to the teaching practices of the highest performers in order to improve. Through lesson study, teachers are able to model the best teaching practices as well as correct their own practices through peer review.

Assessments

An international view of assessments provides a guide to the many different ways to measure student growth. For example, Assessments of the highest performers include questions that stretch the students understanding. There are two different types of assessments, formative and summative. Formative assessments are used to collect useful feedback that will guide instruction. Summative assessments on the other hand, cover a full range of skills such as basic mental computation and higher-order reasoning.