The Insubstantial Link Between Test Scores and Worker Productivity - Op-Ed - US News

16/6/2021 The Insubstantial Link Between Test Scores and Worker Productivity | Op-Ed | US News
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The Link Between Test Scores and

Worker Productivity
The U.S. may have lower test scores than other countries. It might not matter much.
By Henry M. Levin Contributor
March 30, 2017, at 9:53 a.m.
( G E T T Y I M AG E S )
Many nations seek recognition in the quality of their educational systems and the
reported test score accomplishments of their students. Although much of this
ii i f b i i h b h l h i li i d di
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competition is for bragging rights about schools, the implicit understanding is that
these test scores will translate into the quality of a country's labor force.
But using the U.S. as an example, the strength of that link may be tenuous.
International comparisons of achievement began in the 1960s, when the International

Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievement undertook a comparative
study of mathematics test results in 12 countries. Throughout the next decades, the
testing industry grew, and so did the number of attempts to compare student
achievement between countries. Today, the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development tracks the academic achievement of 15-year-olds in reading,
mathematics, and science for more than 70 nations.
[ READ: Education Must Focus on Globalization ]
The results have routinely been astoundingly disappointing for the U.S.: The richest
country with the most productive workforce consistently finishes in the middle of the
pack, well behind countries like Japan, South Korea, Finland and Canada.
Government and industry critics forewarned U.S. educators in the late 1960s and early
1970s that future studies had better show improved results. But with U.S. labor
productivity being the highest in the world, there was little concern beyond politicians
and education spokespeople about how the country's students were performing.
That changed in the early 1980s, when the fear of mediocre test results undermining a
productive labor force and economic competitiveness began to circulate throughout
the media, culminating in the widely publicized 1983 report, "Nation at Risk."
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The report was sponsored by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, a

task force convened by President Reagan's secretary of education. It argued that the
educational foundations of the U.S. had been eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that
h d f i d d h h dd l d "
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threatened our very future as a nation and asserted that we had declared a "unilateral
disarmament" in international economic competition. Deteriorating economic
competitiveness of the U.S. in automobiles and manufacturing was blamed not on
managers, government or investors – but rather on the failure of schools to forge a
productive labor force.
States responded vigorously to the criticism by setting out new requirements,

including longer school days and school years, improved teacher training, better
curriculums, increased testing, and more required courses in the sciences, foreign
languages and mathematics. With this frenzy of activity, the uproar died down. And
both federal and state governments set targets for when the U.S. would have the
highest achievement in the world – the country's Sputnik moment – usually set at
year 2000.
The reforms happened, but not the desired result. Since 2000, the U.S. hasn't broken
into the top tier of countries in terms of rest results.
After 60 years of unremarkable test scores, the U.S. should have lost its labor force
productivity advantage. But this is not what happened. To this day the U.S. still has the
most productive labor force in the world. As the chart below shows, the U.S had
substantially higher worker productivity, measured in gross domestic product per hour
of labor, than high academic achievers South Korea, Japan, Canada and Finland. And
the differences favoring the U.S. were substantial – twice the labor productivity of
South Korea and 40 percent more than Japan.
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How can one explain this apparent anomaly, which seems to defy conventional
wisdom? Statistically, conventional test scores are only a minor determinant of labor
productivity, accounting for only about 10 percent of the variation in earnings or
supervisory ratings. They also account for less than 20 percent of the total effects of
educational attainment on earnings, according to "The Determinants of Earnings: A
Behavioral Approach," an article in the Journal of Economic Literature.
Test scores do not account for such prominent dimensions of personal development
that affect productivity such as complex problem solving, creativity, judgment, effort,
collaboration and self-discipline. Furthermore, macroeconomic studies find that in
addition to capital investment and the size and skills of the workforce, worker
productivity is higher in countries with strong property rights, little corruption, an
effective judiciary and productive use of technology. Many countries with high test
scores lack these advantages.
There may be many good reasons for raising student achievement, especially for
those from the least-advantaged backgrounds. Not only can this have some positive
effect on labor productivity and earnings, but also a positive influence on improving
equity of educational outcomes, civic participation and social cohesion. However, the
evidence suggests that high test scores alone are far from the panacea for a
productive economy that many assume.
Tags: education, labor, GDP, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Finland, Japan, global economy,
globalization, economy, productivity
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16/6/2021 The Insubstantial Link Between Test Scores and Worker Productivity | Op-Ed | US News

Webinar: The Future of Rural Health »

The Link Between Test Scores and

By Henry M. Levin Contributor

March 30, 2017, at 9:53 a.m.

International comparisons of achievement began in the 1960s, when the International

[ READ: Education Must Focus on Globalization ]

Canada Is the Best Country for Education

The report was sponsored by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, a

States responded vigorously to the criticism by setting out new requirements,

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