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Argues that gaps persist across schooling years and that unequal opportunity to learn (OTL) mathematics helps explain why disadvantaged students remain behind. Using 2012 PISA student-level measures, it shows variation in exposure to math content, strong links between OTL and performance, and a global pattern where socioeconomic background relates to OTL and leads to different outcomes.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/puzzling-out-pisa-what-can-international-comparisons-tell-us-about-american-education/591487/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/puzzling-out-pisa-what-can-international-comparisons-tell-us-about-american-education/591487.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"supergirl","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why do disadvantaged students continue to struggle over time, according to the article?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The article states that differences at age 18 remain roughly the same size as those seen at age 6, meaning background inequalities do not shrink with schooling.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What role does unequal opportunity to learn (OTL) mathematics play?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"OTL mathematics is presented as a key driver of inequality because students are unlikely to learn material they are not exposed to, and disadvantaged students are systematically tracked into classrooms with weaker math content.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does PISA suggest about whether inequality is mainly between schools or within schools?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"PISA indicates that a large share of variation in math performance occurs within schools (and much within classrooms), challenging the focus on simply “good schools” versus “failing schools”.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},591487,1792160893,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":39,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":46,"preview_page_count":4},962088121634,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Puzzling Out PISA  \nWhat Can International Comparisons TellUs about American Education?  \nILLUSTRAT IONS BY SALLY VITSKY  \nBy William H. Schmidt and Nathan A. Burroughs  \nt is no secret that disadvantaged children are more likely to struggle in school. For decades now, public policy has focused  \nIon howdents ao red murec-eath􀀈eueacntitevemeudentsnt gDaesppbeiteeen pooremerous resoum  \ne􀀞orts, these gaps remain virtually unchanged—a fact that is deeply frustrating and also a little confusing. It would be reasonable to  \nWilliam H. Schmidtis a University Distinguished Professor, a codirector of the Education Policy Center, and the lead principal investigator of the Promoting Rigorous Outcomes in Mathematics and Science Education project at Michigan State University. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and a fellow of the American Educational Research Association. Nathan A. Burroughs is a research associate with the Center for the Study of Curriculum at Michigan State University. Parts of this article appeared in two posts on the Albert Shanker Institute’s blog: “PISA and TIMSS: A Distinction without a Di􀀜erence?” on December 4, 2014, at [http://shankerblog.org/?p=10989](http://shankerblog.org/?p=10989); and “ e Global Relationship between Classroom Content and Unequal Educational Outcomes” on July 29, 2014, at [http://shankerblog.org/?p=10262](http://shankerblog.org/?p=10262).  \nassume that background inequalities would shrink over the years of schooling, but that isnot what we 􀀜nd. At age 18, rather, we 􀀜nd di􀀞erences that are roughly the same size as we see at age 6.  \nDoes this mean that schools can’t e􀀞ectively address inequality? Certainly not. One of the key factors driving inequality in schools is unequal opportunity to learn (OTL) mathematics. In previous articles for American Educator and elsewhere, we de􀀜ne OTL as the important yet often overlooked relationship between mathematics performance and exposure to mathematics content.*  \nAs we will explain, it is very unlikely that students will learn material they are not exposed to, and there is considerable evidence that disadvantaged students are systematically tracked into classrooms with weaker mathematics content (e.g., basic arithmetic taught in a so-called algebra class) . Rather than mitigating the e􀀞ects of poverty, many American schools are exacerbating them.  \n*See “Equality of Educational Opportunity” in the Winter 2010–2011 issue of American Educator and “Springing to Life” in the Spring 2013 issue, both available at [www.aft.org/ae](www.aft.org/ae).  \n24 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | SPRING 2015  \nPrevious work in this area has been limited by the data available,1 but the most recent Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), opens up new opportunities for analysis. e 2012 PISA includes student-level measures of mathematics OTL and provides powerful evidence of inequality in OTL and its relationship to student performance. Speci􀀜cally, the latest PISA data 􀀜nd that:  \n• ere is large variation in exposure to mathematics content;  \n• OTL is strongly related to student performance; and  \n• Lower-income students are generally exposed to less-rigorous math.  \nIt’s not just that lower-income students are less well prepared when they enter school; the weakness of their math coursework actually keeps them from catching up.  \nWhat is truly fascinating about the PISA results is that this is a global phenomenon. In every country, more exposure to formal math content was related to better math performance, and almost every country showed a statistically significant relationship between student socioeconomic background and OTL. In other words, the problem we identi􀀜ed in the United States turns out tobe a problem everywhere.  \nOne interesting 􀀜nding of PISA was that most of the variation in student performance was within schools rather than between them. Here in the Uni","cbCaifHb4rbJYXaq","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifHb4rbJYXaq","pdf",215923,"English","# Puzzling Out PISA\n## Unequal opportunity to learn (OTL) mathematics\n## Global patterns revealed by PISA\n## Dispelling PISA myths","[{\"question\":\"Why do disadvantaged students continue to struggle over time, according to the article?\",\"answer\":\"The article states that differences at age 18 remain roughly the same size as those seen at age 6, meaning background inequalities do not shrink with schooling.\"},{\"question\":\"What role does unequal opportunity to learn (OTL) mathematics play?\",\"answer\":\"OTL mathematics is presented as a key driver of inequality because students are unlikely to learn material they are not exposed to, and disadvantaged students are systematically tracked into classrooms with weaker math content.\"},{\"question\":\"What does PISA suggest about whether inequality is mainly between schools or within schools?\",\"answer\":\"PISA indicates that a large share of variation in math performance occurs within schools (and much within classrooms), challenging the focus on simply “good schools” versus “failing schools”.\"}]","Puzzling Out PISA - What Can International Comparisons Tell Us about American Education? | PDF",1792072588]