Eric.ed.gov – Cross Cultural Comparison of Rural Education Practice in China, Taiwan, and the United States

The purpose of this research is to compare the rural education practices of China, Taiwan, Canada and the United States. International comparisons of mathematics achievement find that students in Asian countries outperform those from the USA. Excluded from these studies, however, are students from rural areas in China. This study compares the math abilities of 272 selectively chosen 5th grade students from rural, central China, 361 students from rural, northern Taiwan and 95 students from rural, central Pennsylvania. The test instrument was the same as used in previous China vs. USA comparisons and focused on four subtopics: computation, number concepts, geometry and problem solving. The results showed that rural Chinese and Taiwanese students outperformed similar American students in the area of mathematics achievement. The rural Chinese and Taiwanese students were also found to be more focused on school and academics and less on social aspects of school life. Their parents held higher expectations for them to do well in school. However, these cultural differences were not able to explain away the overall math achievement gap among the Chinese, Taiwanese and American students. It is recommended that further study be conducted to explore possible factors that contribute to different math achievement among the countries by interviewing students, teachers, and the parents. Appended is: Math Achievement Test and Questionnaire. (Contains 8 tables.)