Achievement at the Upper Quarter Benchmark
As may be seen in Exhibit
2.7, students performing at the Upper Quarter Benchmark typically
showed a developing understanding of biological systems. Example Item
6 (see Exhibit
2.8) required students to apply knowledge of energy flow to complete
a food web diagram. Internationally, 55 percent of students indicated
the correct order of energy flow from the providers to the consumers.
Among the comparison countries, performance on this item was best
in Chinese Taipei, Singapore, and Korea, with least at 85 percent
of the students responding correctly. Students in Naperville performed
about as well as students in those three countries. Other Benchmarking
entities with performance significantly above the international average
were the Academy School District, the Michigan Invitational Group,
the Project smart Consortium, and the state of Michigan. Those with
significantly below-average performance were the public school systems
of Jersey City, Chicago, Rochester, and Miami-Dade.
Even though students at the lower benchmarks demonstrated practical
knowledge of rusting and burning, only at the Upper Quarter Benchmark
did they typically recognize these as chemical reactions. As shown
in Example Item 7 in Exhibit
2.9, 55 percent of students internationally recognized that burning
releases energy. Performance in the United States (64 percent correct)
and many Benchmarking jurisdictions was significantly above the international
average. Miami-Dade was the only Benchmarking participant with below-average
performance.
In Example Item 8 (see Exhibit
2.10), students were required to identify rusting as a chemical
reaction from a list of chemical and physical changes. On average,
slightly less than half the students internationally (49 percent)
selected the correct response, compared with 87 percent in top-performing
Chinese Taipei. A common misconception demonstrated by students in
many countries was that the dissolving of sugar is a chemical reaction
(option B). Performance in the United States overall was near the
international average, although in six of the Benchmarking entities
– the First in the World Consortium, the Academy School District,
Michigan, Guilford County, Idaho, and Oregon – performance was
significantly above average.
Example Item 9 in Exhibit
2.11 required some knowledge of insect populations, natural selection,
and the effect of human control on the environment. Students at the
Upper Quarter Benchmark recognized that insecticides become less effective
over time because some insects pass their resistance to their offspring.
While internationally slightly less than half the students (48 percent)
chose the correct response, performance in the United States as a
whole (62 percent) and in many of the Benchmarking jurisdictions was
significantly above the international average. First in the World
and Naperville had particularly good performance on this item, comparable
to that in Chinese Taipei. Internationally, many students selected
option C, which is a true statement on the effect of insecticides
on the environment, but is not the correct explanation for the stated
problem.
Students performing at the Upper Quarter Benchmark demonstrated basic
scientific inquiry skills such as recognizing the variables to be
controlled in an experiment and drawing conclusions from a set of
observations. In Example Item 10 (see Exhibit
2.12), students identified the correct conclusion that can be
drawn from observing the evaporation of two different liquids. Although
internationally less than half the students (48 percent) chose the
correct response, students in the United States performed very well
(76 percent correct). All of the Benchmarking participants had significantly
above-average performance on this question, with 17 of them performing
comparably to or better than the two highest-performing countries,
England and Singapore.
