Comparing American and Japanese Achievement: Is the United States Really a Low Achiever?

Abstract

It is widely accepted that the Japanese educational system is more effective than the U.S. system and that this greater effectiveness produces across-the-board higher achievement. Using the data from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA.) Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS), this paper examines both curriculum and achievement in Japan and the United States in grade 7/8 algebra and grade 12 elementary functions and analysis (calculus). The results suggest that overall, the lower achievement of the United States is the result of curricula that are not as well matched to the SIMS tests as are the curricula of Japan. Where the American curriculum is comparable to both the "curriculum" of the test and the curriculum of Japan, that is, in grade 8 algebra classes, U.S. achievement is similar to that of Japan. These findings suggest that the analytic methodology of cross-national achievement Studies like those of IEA or International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP) with their focus on the undifferentiated variable of "country" as a unit of analysis needs to be rethought. While the emphasis on comparative national standings that emerges from such studies may excite political and public interest, it cannot be regarded as a legitimate approach to comparative analysis.