Re: Countries Struggle to Help Low-Performing Math Students
U.S. Russia Agree on 'Cessation of Hostilities' in Syria
The U.S. and Russia have agreed on a framework for a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria that would allow for the flow of humanitarian aid into key areas of the war-ravaged country.
Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other world powers agreed on a plan that would begin delivering relief to besieged cities with a nationwide halt in fighting to follow in a week and a resumption of the peace process.
Both sides chose their words carefully, resisting using the phrase "cease-fire." Lavrov, speaking at a press conference in Munich where the daylong talks ended after midnight Thursday local time, said some members of the international coalition that was party to the talks did not like the term. A joint statement released following the talks used "cessation of hostilities" throughout.
As he has during the diplomatic process, Kerry appeared cautiously optimistic about the fragile agreement.
"If everybody honors this process, hopefully there will be a transformation," Kerry said. "If they don't, there will be continued war."
Although the agreement itself was not presented as a cease-fire, the countries agreed in the joint statement to establish a "cease-fire task force" led by the U.N. and co-chaired by Russia and the U.S.
The two sides earlier in the day appeared far apart, with the U.S. insisting on an immediate halt to the bombing campaign and Russia having proposed a pause that would take effect March 1. Russian forces have intensified their strikes in Syria in recent weeks, handing Syrian President Bashar Assad key gains. The U.S. worried that the delay Moscow sought would allow too much time for government troops to make irreversible advances against moderate U.S.-backed rebels.
The intensified military campaign came as U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva stalled at the end of January, even though the effort was expected to falter before it began. Opposition groups did not want to participate until their requests for humanitarian access to besieged areas were met, and members backed out of the talks in light of a recent Russian-backed government offensive against the heavily populated city of Aleppo.
Reuters quoted a Syrian opposition spokesperson saying they would return to the discussions if in the coming days they saw evidence of "concrete results" with regards to humanitarian access.
"This will be measured by what happens on the ground," Kerry said. "This will be measured by the steps that people take in the next days."
Lavrov denied Russia's responsibility for the bombing in Aleppo. The Russian foreign minister seemed to suggest that his country was being unjustly blamed by the media for the siege of the city, which has been well-documented by human rights groups with a presence on the ground. Moscow has continually maintained their bombing campaign is aimed at terrorist groups, although the West says it has proof opposition groups are more frequently targeted.
The cessation of hostilities would not apply to ongoing military actions by the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group.
Many teenagers in developed countries are struggling with math studies, according to a report released this week by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The report, which analyzed data from the 65 countries that administered the latest international education assessment, known as the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, estimated that about 4.9 million 15-year-olds in OECD countries and economies are not proficient in math. While the analysis touched on low-preforming students in science and reading, it focused primarily on struggling math students.
The report, entitled "Low-Performing Students: Why They Fall Behind and How to Help Them Succeed," found that between 2003 and 2012, only nine countries reduced their share of low performers in mathematics: Brazil, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Tunisia and Turkey.
The success of these countries, which are culturally and socioeconomically diverse, offers a lesson to the rest of the world, says Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director for education and skills: All countries can improve education, as long as they have the right policies and the will to implement them.
Poland, which saw an 8 percentage point decrease in low performers from 2003, and Germany, which saw a 4 percentage point decrease, were successful in raising math scores among low performers due in part to their efforts to "invest in teaching capacity and deliberately attract the most talented teachers to the most challenging schools," says Schleicher, who wrote the foreword to the report. Germany also saw progress as a result of investing in early childhood education.
The East Asian regions – which include cities and territories – that have the highest overall math scores didn't make the list of most improved, but they also didn't have much room to grow, says Schleicher. "Certainly the Asians are ahead. The 10 percent of the most disadvantaged in Shanghai tend to do better than the 10 percent most advantaged children in the U.S."
Sweden had the highest increase in the rate of struggling math students, with an increase of almost 10 percentage points from 2003 to 2012.
"It's a very sad story," Schleicher says. "The school system there has a lot of privatization going on but in a bad way."
Schleicher says Sweden had devolved decision-making to schools and local communities without building oversight capacity and accountability. "This has induced new school providers to compete on services that did not relate to student learning outcomes."
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