"They (standards) have to be there, especially for the inner city. Not everyone is highly motivated to perhaps take that difficult child and bring him to a certain level. Those situations need national standards. They have to be sure that they’re met. We need standards so that children are not cheated because of their environment."
(Parent in the United States)
"All schools are supposed to give children an equal education. That is, all the Gymnasien should be equal in quality; all the Hauptschulen should be equal in quality according to their own standards."
(Teacher in Germany)
"Japan is a small country and when someone moves out of a prefecture or city, he or she does not need to worry about going to a different prefecture or city and having to fulfill a different set of standards."
(Teacher in Japan)
"The object of the curriculum [at the high school level] is to give everyone exposure to the curriculum, not to demand that they have to achieve up to a certain level. I think that every school adjusts what it teaches according to the level of the school. There are schools that do a whole lot of the curriculum and there are schools that only do the simple problems."
(Two teachers in Japan)
We begin our discussion of the results with the topic that is the most fundamental, but also perhaps the most complex of the four we investigated: education standards. It is difficult to gain a shared idea of what is meant by education standards for there is always the question of what to include. Decisions inevitably must be made about the relation of standards to guidelines, the evaluation of adherence to standards, the universal versus selective application of standards, the consequences of failing to meet standards, and many other important but complicated questions.
A brief review of the organization and structure of the education systems in all three countries provides helpful background information. Without this information it is difficult to evaluate the status and influence of education standards on a country’s schools. Although most readers have personal familiarity with what exists in the United States, Americans generally have little information about the contemporary education systems of Japan and Germany.
The major dimension of difference among the three education systems is the degree to which control and support of schools is placed in the hands of the central, versus regional or local governments (see figure 1). Japan lies at one end of the continuum and the United States at the other, with Germany in between. Such matters as age of starting school, dominance of public versus private schools, years of compulsory education, and organization of schools into elementary, middle, and high schools do not differ greatly among the three countries. However, the Ministry of Education (Monbusho) of the Japanese central government maintains close supervision and provides significant financial support for schools in Japan. In Germany, a great deal of control is given to the states, but at the same time, a national coordinating agency, the Conference of Ministers of Education, attempts to ensure a high degree of comparability in the education systems of the various states. As a coordinating agency, the Conference can only make recommendations. To gain legal status the recommendations must be enacted into law by the individual states. In the United States, major control and financial support of public schools is under the jurisdiction of state and local governments.
SOURCE: Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Case Study Project, 1994–1995.
Japan. Public education in Japan consists of three levels: elementary (grades 1 through 6), middle (grades 7 through 9), and high school (grades 10 through 12). Attendance at elementary and middle schools is compulsory. At the end of the ninth grade, students take an entrance examination that determines the high schools they are qualified to enter (U.S. Department of Education 1987). Most students (75.7 percent) attend public schools, but students (24 percent) also attend private schools and a few nationally funded schools (Shimizu, Akao, Arai, Ito, Sato, & Yaosaka 1995).
Although students are free to leave school after completing the ninth grade, 96 percent continue their education through the high school years. About 26 percent of the students eventually enter a nonacademic track by enrolling in vocational or technical high schools, and a small number choose to work during the day and attend night courses offered by some public high schools. Correspondence and evening courses also are available to students who fail to find a place elsewhere in the system (Monbusho 1993).
Germany. Beginning at age 6 and ending 4 years later, German children are enrolled in elementary school (Grundschule). In most states, students then transfer to one of three types of school: Gymnasium (for students who receive the highest grades during the 4 preceding years), Realschule (for students who receive average grades), and Hauptschule (for the least academically qualified students). In addition, some students attend a Gesamtschule, a comprehensive school which enrolls students of all ability levels. Gesamtschule have not, however, gained great popularity compared to the other three types of school (Conference of Ministers [KMK] 1993a; KMK 1993b).
The rigor and length of education differs among the three types of secondary schools. The German Gymnasium, which encompasses grades 5 through 13, has traditionally been considered the most academically rigorous of the secondary schools. The Realschule, which goes only through grade 10, emphasizes academic subjects, but covers them at a less theoretical level than occurs in the Gymnasium. Hauptschule students study the same primary academic subjects taught at Gymnasium and Realschule, but at a slower and more basic level. The Hauptschule typically enrolls students from grades 5 through 9, but some states require attendance through 10th grade. The organization of the schools in the three countries is depicted in figure 2.
United States. Students in the United States are expected to begin school by the age of 6 and enrollment is mandatory in most states until the age of 16. The remaining states require students to attend school until they are 17 or 18.
There is no uniform configuration throughout the country in the organization of primary and secondary education. Elementary school begins with kindergarten, but may continue through grades 5, 6, or 8, depending on decisions made at the local level. High school typically begins at grade 9 or 10, with middle or junior high schools usually covering the intervening years between elementary school and high school. Students graduate from high school following grade 12. In some locations, a single school may enroll students from kindergarten through grade 12.
SOURCE: Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Case Study Project, 1994–1995.
National Governments and Education Standards
Japan. Control over education standards by the Japanese Ministry of Education is exerted in several ways. The Ministry develops national curricular guidelines that define the education standards. The Ministry revises the curricular guidelines every 10 years and is thereby able to be responsive to changes in national priorities concerning education. In addition to establishing the guidelines, the Ministry assumes further control of academic standards by certifying all textbooks used in schools, overseeing regional and national entrance examinations, and regulating the training of teachers.
No effort is made in devising the curricular guidelines to define exactly what should be taught. (The only exception concerns the kanji [Chinese characters] that are to be taught at each grade.) Rather, the guidelines consist of general descriptions of what students are expected to accomplish during each year of schooling. The time and manner in which the material is presented are decided by the school administration or by the individual teacher. Similarly, the content and design of textbooks are determined by private publishing companies. As long as the textbooks conform to the general guidelines, decisions about which textbooks will be adopted are made locally.
Information about revisions in Monbusho’s curricular guidelines reaches the schools through inexpensive publications that are widely available and through workshops designed to inform schools of the changes in the curriculum. The guidelines, published as paperbacks, are used by teachers, schools, regional education authorities, and textbook publishers to develop curricular materials.
Germany. Established in 1948, the Conference of Ministers of Education is charged with overseeing the policies of all states within a framework of cultural sovereignty guaranteed by the German constitution. Through the Conference, the individual states coordinate the structures, institutions, curricula, and school-leaving certificates of the primary, secondary, and higher education systems. The result is that Germany has developed a set of de facto national standards that form the basis for a degree of comparability among the states. Even so, the autonomy of states to formulate policy based on these national standards has led to variability across the states.
United States. The United States Government has created no mechanism at the federal level for developing and enforcing uniform standards of education throughout the country. The closest the country has come to establishing national standards or guidelines occurred in 1989 when President George Bush and the 50 state governors agreed upon 6 national education goals to be achieved by the year 2000. Two more goals were added in 1994, and Congress codified these eight goals as the National Education Goals, with federal funds to be allocated through the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. A Goals Panel was established as an independent federal agency.
Even though the goals were considered to be national goals, funds were to be used to support meritorious plans developed by individual states rather than to support the state’s adherence to federally defined criteria. State education standards included, in addition to content standards in core subjects, performance standards for students and standards related to the students’ opportunities to learn. In other words, the content of the curricula, the academic achievement of students, and the opportunities provided to students were all considered to be part of national goals for education standards. The Goals Panel was given responsibility for many activities related to Goals 2000, ranging from building a consensus for reforms necessary to achieve improvement in education to monitoring and reporting progress toward the eight goals.
A national initiative concurrent with the Goals 2000 activities was the development of voluntary standards for mathematics, science, and history. Content standards in these and other areas have typically been proposed by professional societies, such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Funding has come from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Department of Education and various non-governmental organizations. Additional evidence of the public’s acceptance of the value of national standards is apparent in the initiation of additional projects aimed at developing standards for the arts, geography, civics and government, and English and foreign languages.
States, Prefectures, and Districts
Complementing national efforts are activities taking place at the state and district levels. Even when an agency of the national government is primarily responsible for the development and implementation of standards, adjustments must sometimes be made by agencies at lower levels of government, such as by the prefectures (states) in Japan.
Japan. Monbusho policy allows schools and local boards of education to modify national curricular guidelines in ways that are considered to be more appropriate at the local level. Even so, our discussions with regional officials indicated that regional boards of education typically tended to interpret the Monbusho guidelines strictly, making few adjustments.
Monbusho also relies on regional and local boards of education to disseminate information about modifications in the guidelines published every decade. This is accomplished through Monbusho-sponsored workshops attended by representatives of regional boards of education and teachers. In turn, these participants conduct workshops for teachers in their own school districts.
Germany. All German states follow basically the same education structure and core curriculum, abide by uniform requirements for the school-leaving examination (Abitur) for Gymnasium students, and recognize the credentials certifying completion of school. Because implementation of the laws and regulations governing education is in the hands of each state’s Ministry of Education, it is the state rather than a national Ministry that possesses the authority to develop and enforce curricular guidelines. These guidelines generally describe the required number of units for students, and the objectives, content, and periods of instruction.
United States. Most U.S. states have curriculum guidelines to assist schools and school districts in providing academic standards in four core academic subjects: English, mathematics, science, and social studies. Initiatives also have been proposed by local school boards and administrators to help schools reach the national goals of Goals 2000. Even as state guidelines and voluntary national standards have influenced school curricula, there has been a concurrent emphasis on the return of decision-making powers from the district to the school level. As a result, the introduction of local and district efforts to improve the academic environment and raise achievement levels has led to the development of many diverse programs.
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[Chapter 2 - Education Standards (Part 2 of 3)]