dv9, thanks again for posting this type of information. You make educational research easy for me.
I believe this is the first year that the DR is participating with the OECD countries. Prior to this year, it was not part of the group.
Still, no excuse.
I can give countless examples of how sad the system of education is. And I fault the system.
Example 1: Strength for the Journey holds classes for the poor. We are now in Jamao. Kids in Jamao do not go to school if it is raining. Rule for my classes is rain or shine, you are obligated to come or bring a written excuse. As a result, kids do not attend school, but they DO show up for SFTJ classes. My kids walk as much as 2 miles in rain without umbrellas to attend. SFTJ attendance rate is about 95%.
This experience includes my teen volunteers. Instead of going to school on a rainy day, they come to assist in SFTJ classes.
The Lesson: Set the expectation high. Follow through. Students will meet the expectation.
Example 2: Students must arrive on time for my classes. If they are 10 minutes late, they may stay, sit, and observe, but not participate.
Most kids don't have clocks in their houses. They don't know what time it is. To compensate, they arrive for class as much as 2 hours early and wait.
Example 3: Problem solving skills are horribly lacking.
Kids in SFTJ classes are mixed ages, 5 - 13. I purchased board puzzles, similar to what is used in Canada, US, UK pre-schools. The puzzles had 8, 12, 18 pieces. The first time the kids went to use them, they had no idea that the pieces with a straight edge would fit onto the side of the puzzle and 2 straight edges indicated a corner piece. They had no plan in assembling the puzzle. They did not sort pieces by color. They did not look at the picture of the puzzle. It was taking ALL the kids, including the 13 year olds, as much ad 30 minutes to put together a simple puzzle.
After one or two weeks, they caught on, working harder and harder puzzles. They can now almost complete a 200 piece puzzle in one hour, working in a group of 4.
All, in all, I believe high expectations, strict rules that are enforced, access to textbooks and educational materials, and exposure to problem solving would alone increase these pathetic OECD test scores. If kids are not expected and motivated to achieve, you won't get much more than results at rock bottom of the list.