Dubai finds out how much its
15-year-olds know
- United Arab Emirates: Wednesday, December 08 - 2010
For the first time ever, Dubai has a clear picture of how its 15-year-old students are performing at school, with the announcement yesterday of the PISA 2009 assessment results worldwide.In its first participation in the worldwide assessment, Dubai was placed top of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries that took part.
Of the 65 countries that were assessed, Dubai came 42nd in reading proficiency with a score of 459, 41st in mathematics with a score of 453, and 41st in science with a score of 466.
PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment) measures how well students have absorbed their schooling, and how well they are able to apply their knowledge in life outside school. PISA 2009 focused on reading skills, which account for 80% of the results. Previous rounds of PISA have focused on mathematics and science.
These scores are against a scaled average of 500 set by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a long-term target. Dubai was placed higher than MENA countries Jordan, Tunisia and Qatar. It also outperformed other major countries including Bulgaria, Romania, Chile, Thailand and Mexico.
In reading and science, Dubai's female students outperformed male students. In mathematics, there was no significant difference between the average scores for males and females.
(Please see attached factsheet for graphs and details about how PISA was conducted)
The assessment was carried out by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), and follows its pioneering work with TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study), and ongoing school inspections. KHDA will also administer PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) and a second cycle of TIMSS between February and April 2011, involving around 9,000 of Dubai's pupils.
Approximately two-thirds of Dubai's 15-year-olds were tested for PISA in April and May 2009; 5,620 students from 134 schools took part, and they were chosen by the OECD's scientific sampling to reflect accurately Dubai's diversity of language, nationalities, and school curricula. They were tested in their language of instruction, either Arabic or English.
Given the wide variety of curricula on offer in Dubai, it is not surprising that the international report has identified that Dubai has one of the highest levels of variation in its scores.
Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors at KHDA, said: "Taking part in PISA is another big step in KHDA's commitment to drawing a clear picture of how our schools are performing at an international level. Unless we know areas of strength and weakness, we cannot accurately work on improving the service our schools provide to the young people of Dubai. It is satisfying for us to know that Dubai came out top of the MENA countries taking part.
"We have already completed one cycle of TIMSS, and we have another cycle as well as a PIRLS assessment early next year. These are all very different measures of our children's abilities. They have not been chosen for us to compare the findings, but so that we get a broad range of data for the fullest possible analysis.
"It was important for us to complete PISA. As a young nation, we need policies in place that will help schools to prepare our children properly for the world outside school, whether their choice is further education or the workplace. We believe young people will need to be flexible in the future, and they will need skills to move from job to job as well as the mental capacity to flourish in a fast-changing world."
Fatma Al Marri, CEO of the Dubai Schools Agency at KHDA, added: "We need to measure the performance of our schools so that we can monitor their improvement, which is why at KHDA we feel international assessments are so important. They are the cornerstone of our work. Of course, it has been good to discover with PISA 2009 that we are outperforming the Arab countries which were assessed.
"Our principals and teachers are the key to improving the quality of education in our schools, and we thank those who supported us through PISA. We will be sharing our analysis of the findings with them as we work together in the future."
Fatma Al Janahi, KHDA's Head of International Assessments, said: "When we started international assessments with TIMSS 2007 this was a breakthrough for Dubai, and it was a learning curve for all of us. Now principals and teachers understand the importance of what we are doing, and they see the value of assessments. In fact, some schools contacted us at KHDA last year to ask to be included in our various assessment cycles.
"This co-operation between schools and KHDA shows that we are now all heading in the same direction, learning about where we stand and then taking that information forward into our policies and our decision-making. I want to thank everyone who helped us with PISA 2009, and my team is now looking forward to PIRLS and TIMSS next year."
Internationally, OECD made the PISA 2009 results public yesterday. KHDA will undertake detailed analysis of Dubai's full results, and will be releasing further information over the next few months.
PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment) measures how well students have absorbed their schooling, and how well they are able to apply their knowledge in life outside school. PISA 2009 focused on reading skills, which account for 80% of the results. Previous rounds of PISA have focused on mathematics and science.
These scores are against a scaled average of 500 set by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a long-term target. Dubai was placed higher than MENA countries Jordan, Tunisia and Qatar. It also outperformed other major countries including Bulgaria, Romania, Chile, Thailand and Mexico.
In reading and science, Dubai's female students outperformed male students. In mathematics, there was no significant difference between the average scores for males and females.
(Please see attached factsheet for graphs and details about how PISA was conducted)
The assessment was carried out by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), and follows its pioneering work with TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study), and ongoing school inspections. KHDA will also administer PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) and a second cycle of TIMSS between February and April 2011, involving around 9,000 of Dubai's pupils.
Approximately two-thirds of Dubai's 15-year-olds were tested for PISA in April and May 2009; 5,620 students from 134 schools took part, and they were chosen by the OECD's scientific sampling to reflect accurately Dubai's diversity of language, nationalities, and school curricula. They were tested in their language of instruction, either Arabic or English.
Given the wide variety of curricula on offer in Dubai, it is not surprising that the international report has identified that Dubai has one of the highest levels of variation in its scores.
Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors at KHDA, said: "Taking part in PISA is another big step in KHDA's commitment to drawing a clear picture of how our schools are performing at an international level. Unless we know areas of strength and weakness, we cannot accurately work on improving the service our schools provide to the young people of Dubai. It is satisfying for us to know that Dubai came out top of the MENA countries taking part.
"We have already completed one cycle of TIMSS, and we have another cycle as well as a PIRLS assessment early next year. These are all very different measures of our children's abilities. They have not been chosen for us to compare the findings, but so that we get a broad range of data for the fullest possible analysis.
"It was important for us to complete PISA. As a young nation, we need policies in place that will help schools to prepare our children properly for the world outside school, whether their choice is further education or the workplace. We believe young people will need to be flexible in the future, and they will need skills to move from job to job as well as the mental capacity to flourish in a fast-changing world."
Fatma Al Marri, CEO of the Dubai Schools Agency at KHDA, added: "We need to measure the performance of our schools so that we can monitor their improvement, which is why at KHDA we feel international assessments are so important. They are the cornerstone of our work. Of course, it has been good to discover with PISA 2009 that we are outperforming the Arab countries which were assessed.
"Our principals and teachers are the key to improving the quality of education in our schools, and we thank those who supported us through PISA. We will be sharing our analysis of the findings with them as we work together in the future."
Fatma Al Janahi, KHDA's Head of International Assessments, said: "When we started international assessments with TIMSS 2007 this was a breakthrough for Dubai, and it was a learning curve for all of us. Now principals and teachers understand the importance of what we are doing, and they see the value of assessments. In fact, some schools contacted us at KHDA last year to ask to be included in our various assessment cycles.
"This co-operation between schools and KHDA shows that we are now all heading in the same direction, learning about where we stand and then taking that information forward into our policies and our decision-making. I want to thank everyone who helped us with PISA 2009, and my team is now looking forward to PIRLS and TIMSS next year."
Internationally, OECD made the PISA 2009 results public yesterday. KHDA will undertake detailed analysis of Dubai's full results, and will be releasing further information over the next few months.
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