Is Student Achievement Immutable? Evidence From International Studies on Schooling and Student Achievement

Abstract

International comparative studies of student achievement that have been conducted since 1965 have influenced education policy and research issues in the United States. This article reviews the contribution of recent international studies to an understanding of the role of content in curriculum and thus the way in which schools have an impact on student learning. Studies conducted of U.S. schools during the 1960s by James Coleman and his associates and schools of other countries by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement concluded that student performance was determined more by family background than by school characteristics. However, Coleman himself later recanted that finding in a reanalysis of international studies. Recent international studies of student assessment have demonstrated that between-countries differences in how the science and mathematics curriculum is presented may account for differences in student performance. This finding has had an effect on national policy by supporting efforts to reform the content of subject matter introduced in schools.