In a time when high-stakes testing is changing the culture of American schools, Christopher Bjork has been following the effects of new education reforms in Japan that push in the opposite direction-reforms that are moving schoolsaway from testing to try to institute a new "relaxed" school culture. For years, the Japanese education system has been held up as a model deserving emulation. Why would a system that was enjoying such success undertake such an ambitious reform project? Could a system anchored by an examination regime that produced cohesion and dependability-but also great stress-be reshaped to nurture children's individuality, creativity, and intellectual curiosity?
Over a six-year period, Bjork traveled around Japan interviewing students, parents, teachers, administrators, academics, and Ministry officials about their experiences. What he discovered is that, though "relaxed education" is now mandated, Japan's stressful, high-stakes testing culture has essentially become part of the national culture-despite the country's dissatisfaction with a nation of stressed-out children, the system appears to be unable to right itself. Japan's story is a most useful cautionary tale for the US. With each year that standardized tests continue to determine the opportunities provided to students and teachers, the more difficult it becomes to retreat from policies like NCLB and Race to the Top. We would be wise to think carefully about the direction of the US school system because, as we see in Japan, once an education system becomes tethered to standardized tests, it is remarkably difficult to cut those cords.
Industry Reviews
"[A] stimulating account of recent developments in Japanese compulsory education, especially the response of teachers and parents to the Ministry of Education's call for a more relaxed, exam-free educational experience....It is especially helpful in portraying the diversity of Japanese education depending on whether a school provides primary or secondary education and whether it is in a competitive urban setting."
-- "Journal of Japanese Studies"
"Chistopher Bjork's High Stakes Schooling is several books in one: a nuanced ethnography of pedagogical practices in contemporary Japanese elementary and middle schools; an ethnographic case study of how elementary and middle school teachers in a region far from Tokyo are coping with a top-down reform mandate; an analysis of the links between high stakes testing, classroom practices, and learning outcomes, based on a review of data from Japan, Singapore, Korea, China, Finland and the US; and a cautionary tale for educators and policy makers in the United States and other countries tempted to use high stakes testing to leverage educational achievement."-- "Schools"
"The Japanese Ministry of Education enacted a series of reforms in 2002 that Bjork (education, Vassar College) calls 'relaxed education.' The school week was shortened. The teachers covered fewer concepts, and students could explore topics that interested them. Since the Japanese system had been built on rigorous testing, Bjork sought to understand whether the teachers and students could adjust, and whether educators in the US could learn from the experience. He spent a year in six schools in a medium-sized city in northern Japan interviewing administrators, teachers, students, and parents. He observed lessons, and he looked at reformed curricula. In the elementary school, the reforms improved student learning; however, the reforms exacerbated the differences in middle schools between achievement-oriented students and those who were less motivated. . . . Recommended."
-- "Choice"
