QUESTION SUBMITTED BY REP. JOSE SERRANO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

QUESTION: Did UNESCO validate these results by retesting Cuban students?

ANSWER: Yes. The evaluators retested the Cuban students to confirm the results of the first testing reflected in the study.

QUESTION SUBMITTED BY REP. JOSE SERRANO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

QUESTION: Were the students from any other nation retested?

ANSWER: No. The report concluded that, with the exception of Cuba, the differences noted among the countries included fell within expected statistical deviations.

QUESTION SUBMITTED BY REP. JOSE SERRANO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

QUESTION: Given the economic conditions in Cuba and the generally poor results detailed by UNESCO in other Latin American countries, can you speculate as to how Cuba achieved these education results?

ANSWER: We do not know. The report did not attempt to explain the results and commented that comparing countries is a complex process stemming from the differences among Latin American countries on a number of cultural, social, geographic, economic, and political dimensions.

QUESTION SUBMITTED BY REP. JOSE SERRANO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

QUESTION: Are there lessons in the Cuban example that the U.S. and the UN can use to promote education in other developing countries?

ANSWER: The authors of the study did not attempt to draw conclusions from the results about how best to promote education beyond noting that communication and consultation within countries can strengthen the priority of education in developmental strategies. Since the Cuban Government is extraordinarily closed in terms of providing basic and statistical information, the U.S. Government does not have the basis to make independent value judgments about the quality of Cuban education or any lessons which might be taken from it.