International House of Education Statistics

I'll be doing the #soschat tonight on the Twitter machine, which should be fun (if TweetDeck for Mac stops acting so quirky). Stop in if you can: 9:00 PM EDT.

We needed a topic, and I'm sick of talking about Chris Christie, so I thought we'd talk about international comparisons. Why? Because they seem to be a lynchpin of the entire reformy argument: "Our kids suck compared to the rest of the world! Even our kids who we say don't suck really suck! 'Cause their teachers suck!" Blah, blah, blah...

It's just not true, and we need to say so. I thought it might be helpful, therefore, to have some links to my stuff and others about this topic.

First, here's me:

• International Test Score Comparison Fail - Part I
• International Test Score Comparison Fail - Part II
• Poverty, Shmoverty!
• Poverty, Shmoverty! Part II
• Poverty, Shmoverty - Part III
• Poverty, Shmoverty: Part IV
• Dare To Compare
• Poverty Matters

Tino Sanandaji is an economist who has blogged about this stuff before. He hasn't had a lot of play in the debate, but I find his work to be fascinating. Here are just a few of his posts:

• The amazing truth about PISA scores: USA beats Western Europe, ties with Asia.
• How well do above average American States do compared to above average countries in test scores?
• Breaking Matt Yglesia's Heart

Valerie Strauss has had some excellent posts about international comparisons:

• What international test scores really tell us: Lessons buried in PISA report
• Hysteria over PISA misses the point
• You MUST read this one! Do international test comparisons make sense?

Of course, any time Matt DiCarlo tackles a topic, it's worth reading:

• PISA For Our Time: A Balanced Look

Same with Bruce Baker:

• Ed Next’s triple-normative leap! Does the “Global Report Card” tell us anything?

Here's Paul Thomas:

• High-Stakes Testing: Lessons Ignored

And Mel Riddille:

• PISA: It's Poverty Not Stupid

It occurs to me I have a lot of reading to do before tonight. See you there.

Zombies, pancakes, and test scores: bringing the world together.