Seventy BHS students recently participated in a test that is currently the benchmark for academic prowess throughout the world, and school officials couldn’t be more pleased with the results.
The Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, is a triennial international survey, which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students.
Superintendent Mark Miear said that, upon returning from a trip to Finland last year to study the high-performing Scandinavian country’s school system, he wanted to try the test in Montgomery County.
“Finland has been considered one of the top educational countries in the world in terms of their system and the way that has been determined has been the PISA test,” he said. “While I was there, I saw some things they were doing and, honestly, they aren’t doing things that much differently than we are.”
Miear came back wanting to take the test. The US usually finishes somewhere around 15th in the world.
He said that Blacksburg High School was chosen to take the test because it is the biggest school in the county with approximately 1200 students.
The top 20 percent of the 10th grade class of 2017-2018 (70 students) was chosen to take the three-part exam that tests proficiency in math, reading and science. Miear said that the students received no additional prep for the exam.
He said that it is common for school systems in the US as well as abroad to choose student participants.
According to the PISA website, approximately 500,000 students from around the globe took the test in 2015.
According to a results packet given to MCPS earlier this month (the test was taken in January), the BHS students finished much higher than the scores in the US and higher than the average scores of any other country in the world.
Students did not see their individual scores, but rather a school score.
BHS finished with scores of 596 in reading (US AVG. 497), 650 in math (US AVG. 470) and 608 in science (US AVG. 496).
Singapore was the top overall country with scores of 535 in reading, 564 in math and 556 in science. Other top countries were: Hong Kong, Japan, Finland, China and Canada.
School Board Member Connie Froggatt (District F) said that she was thrilled with the results
“The results were even better than we could have hoped for. We didn’t know what to expect,” she said.
Miear said that while test results are only published every three years, schools do have the option to take the test annually, and he hopes to add CHS in addition to BHS next year.
