Question

Given the topic "American children score lower on standardized tests compared to children in other industrialized nations". What are two questions you would ask if it was your responsibility to solve the problem and explain why you would ask those questions.

Answer 1

First question I would ask if I had to solve the problem is the age group that is being tested. In the US a huge number of teenagers drop out of school and college. More than 60% population in the US does not have a college degree. Therefore if college students (17-21) are being tested with a similar population in another industrialized country, it wuold give very different results.

The second question I would ask is whether students who are being tested go to community schools, state run schools or private school sin the US. This is because the curriculum is different in across all schools. Unlike in India where all CBSE run schools will have the same pattern and curriculum, this is not the case in the US. As this differs, the students performance also differs accordingly. Therefore we will need to check which students are taking the standardised test. Whether they belong to a community college or private one etc. is important for the result.