BEST WERE TESTED IN FOREIGN SCHOOLS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1992                   TAG: 9202260346
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
BEST WERE TESTED IN FOREIGN SCHOOLS
YOUR HEADLINE Feb. 7 (page A9) read: "U.S. pupils lag in global testing." It should have been followed by another headline: "But foreign countries chose which students would take the test."
That information was given in one of the last paragraphs of the article: "Iris Rothberg of the Rand Corp. . . . said that all of America's fourth- and eighth-graders were tested. Italy, Spain, Israel and other nations tested only their best schools."
If the statement by Rothberg is correct, then I challenge the Roanoke Times & World-News to investigate more fully the report and expose the possible misrepresentation of American students. It doesn't take a mathematician or statistician to know that if you choose the test participants, you will significantly increase the test scores.
Fourth-graders know that! Just as they can rank classmates in ability to play baseball, they can rank classmates in their ability to read or do math. Students at any level know which ones will most likely do best on the test.
If nations are going to do comparative testing, let's at least start with a level playing field. If it is not level, the people have the right to know, and the media have a responsibility to provide that information. VIVIAN SHERIDAN WIRTZ

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB