‘Coherence, focus and rigor’

The trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) Tests are held every four years by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). It is part of several activities conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the United States to answer one fundamental question: “How does the achievement of American students compare with that of other countries?”

The TIMSS rankings that the Philippines has been turning in since the time it took part in this study have been, for lack of a kinder word, abysmal. Both education reform advocates and local chief executives with education reform agendas have used TIMSS data to underscore the overall weakness of our basic education system. Quite a few senators and congressmen have elevated our dismal performance into a cause for national shame.

It would be better, however, if we look at TIMSS the way it was intended to be seen. The NCES supported it because of two things: first, they were already painfully aware that American schools were facing a crisis of learning; and second, a scholarly inquiry like TIMSS provides a very good opportunity for every participating country to share their best practices as well as learn from the best among them.

Singapore has consistently occupied the top spot in the the TIMSS tests, especially in Math. If memory serves, some local chief executives here even organized special educational visits to Singapore for their public school teachers, ostensibly so they could observe how schools and classes are run in that island nation. Back here, we have privately run “Singapore Math” enrichment classes that are carefully designed to strengthen our students’ competencies using Singapore’s textbooks and teaching methods.

In their analytical piece titled “Beyond Singapore’s Mathematics Textbooks,” noted educators Patsy-Wang Iverson, Prof. Perla Myers and Edmund Lim W.K. reveal that in the TIMSS in-depth analysis of mathematics curricula of participating countries, those of Singapore, Korea, Japan, Belgium, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic – top performers all – stood out because of their coherence, focus and rigor.”

To get an idea what this means, let’s look first at the Revised Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC) for Philippine public schools, which enumerates the following Math learning goals:

(1) At the end of Grade 1 — an understanding of basic concepts and skills on whole numbers up to 100 including money and measurement, addition and subtraction of 1- to 3-digit numbers; and apply the concepts learned to solve problems.

(2) At the end of Grade 2 – an understanding of concepts and skills on whole numbers up to 1,000 including basics of geometry; perform addition and subtraction of 3- to 4-digit numbers, understand basic facts of multiplication and division; and apply the concepts learned to solve problems.

(3) At the end of Grade 3 – an understanding of concepts and skills on whole numbers up to 100,000, fractions, measurement and graphs; perform the four fundamental operations of whole numbers and measurement; and apply the concepts learned in solving problems.

(4) At the end of Grade 4 – understand concepts of and perform skills on whole numbers up to millions and billions including money, decimals, fractions, geometry, graphs and scales; exact and estimated computation on the four fundamental operations; and apply the concepts learned to solve problems.

(5) At the end of Grade 5 – mastery (emphasis supplied) of the concepts and operations of whole numbers; demonstrate understanding of concepts and perform skills on fractions, decimals including money, ratio, percent, geometry, measurement and graphs; exact and estimated computation of the four fundamental operations on rational numbers including money and measurement and apply the concepts learned in solving problems.

(6) At the end of Grade 6 – mastery (emphasis supplied) of the concepts and operations of whole numbers; demonstrate understanding of concepts and perform skills on decimals, fractions, ratio and proportion, percent, integers, simple probability, geometry, measurement, and graphs; integers; exact and estimated computation of the four fundamental operations involving decimals, money, fractions and measurement; and apply the concepts learned in solving problems.

As you can see, our RBEC starts slowly and builds on more complex concepts as the student progresses. Mastery of concepts are expected later, at Grades 5 and 6. Singapore’s curriculum on the other hand is designed around what Wang-Iverson, Myers and Lim W.K. call “the pentagonal framework – five interrelated components that are all essential to students’ ability to solve problems, including non-routine, open-ended and real-world problems.” A detailed syllabus guides teachers in planning, preparing and implementing math programs in their schools. Wang-Iverson, Myers and Lim W.K. point out that “teachers are encouraged to be flexible and creative in implementing the syllabus in the classroom, but they must be careful to maintain its scope and sequence so as to prepare students for high-stakes national exams at the end of the primary (Grades 1-6) and secondary (Grades 7-10) school.” (Singapore has a 12-year basic education cycle. The final two years—Grades 11 and 12—are post-secondary school.)

(Next week: A closer look at the Pentagonal Framework)

Butch Hernandez ([email protected]) is the executive director of the Eggie Apostol Foundation