International School Finance MS Word PDF - Public interest has put significant focus on how the United States education system compares with those around the world. This ECS StateNote uses data collected and published by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to show how America's school funding system compares with other developed countries’ systems from around the world. (Mike Griffith, Education Commission of the States, April 2010)...

International Benchmarking--Time MS Word PDF - Comparisons of U.S. schools and those in top-performing counties have proliferated in the past few years. The paper reports on a handful of potential drivers on which leaders might consider spending time: (1) time spent learning; (2) establishing world-class standards; (3) teacher selection and preparation; (4) professional development; (5) assessment and curriculum review. (Melodye Bush, Education Commission of the States, May 2009)...

Progress of Education Reform: International Benchmarking PDF - If the United States wants to compete in the worldwide market again, "... it would have to adopt internationally benchmarked standards for educating its students and its workers, because only countries with highly skilled workforces could successfully compete in that market." What is more important — teaching content or teaching skills? Do they have equal value? Should 21st century skills be taught separately or in concert with content? (Barbara Thompson, ECS, April 2009)...

International Benchmarking Toolkit - Access ECS' unique resource for state policymakers, school district officials, principals and teachers looking to raise the bar in America’s classrooms. The toolkit responds to growing concerns that U.S. students may lack workforce competitiveness and are lagging behind those from high-performing countries. (Barbara Thompson, Education Commission of the States, 2009)...

Lessons from abroad: International review of primary languages - This report covers international research and developments in early language learning and focuses on the issues and challenges which are common to all education systems and need to be addressed if primary language teaching is to be a success. (CfBT Education Trust, Nov 2012)...

Education at a Glance 2012: Highlights - The 2012 edition of Education at a Glance: Highlights summarizes the OECD’s flagship compendium of education statistics. It provides easily accessible data on key topics in education today, including: education levels and student numbers; economic and social benefits of education; education spending; the school environment; and equity. (OECD, 2012)...

The Competition that Really Matters: Comparing U.S., Chinese, and Indian Investments in the Next-Generation Workforce - This report takes stock of the United States' human capital challenges, and explores the competitive strategies underway in India and China. The authors underwent a comprehensive review of economic literature to create a broad set of principles for U.S. lawmakers and policy experts to tackle the greatest economic challenge in a generation: how to ensure that all American children have the opportunity to become high-skilled workers prepared to compete in a global economy. (Center for American Progress, August 2012)...

Achievement Growth: International and U.S. State Trends in Student Performance - To find out whether the United States is narrowing the international education gap, this report estimates learning gains over the period between 1995 and 2009 for 49 countries from most of the developed and some of the newly developing parts of the world. The report also examines changes in student performance in 41 states within the United States, allowing the authors to compare these states with each other as well as with the 48 other countries. (PEPG, July 2012)...

Starting Well: Benchmarking Early Education Across the World - This report ranks preschool environments in 45 countries using the Starting Well Index, which assesses the extent to which governments provide a good, inclusive early childhood education environment for children between the ages of 3 and 6. The U.S. ranked 24th of 45 in terms of overall score, 31st in availability, 16th in affordability, and 22nd in quality. (The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited, July 2012) ...

International Data Table Library - Over 100 statistical tables present data from a range of sources and compare different facets of education in the United States with those of other countries. Tables are organized by topic and are regularly updated as new data become available. Topics include participation in education; educational outcomes; school contexts; students' experiences and attitudes about education; and education system characteristics. Recent additions (Spring 2012) have been made available that highlight in-school and out-of-school instructional time per week allocated to core subjects, which can be found in Section C, subsection c3. (NCES, 2012)...

Teaching and Leadership for the Twenty-First Century: The 2012 International Summit on the Teaching Profession - Delegations comprised of education ministers, leaders of national teachers' organizations, and other teacher leaders from countries and regions with high-performing and rapidly improving education systems gathered in New York City in March 2012. This year's theme, Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders, examined how to improve teacher preparation and school leader development to better address the needs of 21st century learning environments and changing expectations. (Asia Society, 2012) ...

Center on International Benchmarking: Learning from the World's High Performing Education Systems - This site is home to the Center on International Education Benchmarking (CIEB), a new Center launched by the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) that will conduct research on the world’s most successful education systems. It will also offer access to information, analysis, and opinion on the education systems of the top-­‐performing countries from all over the world. (Center on International Benchmarking, Feb 2012)...

On Her Majesty's School Inspection Service - The author argues that education policymakers should take a closer look at another accountability system—on-site inspections. In the report, Jerald examines the rigor involved in a school inspection in England, a system that aims to give parents better information about schools and to hold schools accountable for performance. (Education Sector, 2012) ...

A Public Education Primer: Basic (and Sometimes Surprising) Facts About the U.S. Educational System PDF - This report pulls together recent data about students, teachers, school districts, schools, and other aspects of elementary and secondary education in the U.S. Included are facts and figures on the distribution of students, student demographics, educational entities and their responsibilities, funding, student achievement, teachers, and other school services. (Center on Education Policy, 2012)...

Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2011 - This report describes key education outcomes and contexts of education in the Group of Eight (G-8) countries—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The report is organized into five topical areas: population and school enrollment, academic performance, contexts for learning, expenditures for education, and educational attainment and income. Results are drawn from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) ongoing Indicators of Education Systems (INES) program, as well as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is also coordinated by the OECD. (National Center for Education Statistics, October 2011)...

Building a High-Quality Teaching Profession: Lessons from Around the World - This OECD report draws on the organization’s international research on principles, practices, and innovations in teaching. (OECD, June 2011)...

What the U.S. Can Learn From the World's Most Successful Education Reform Efforts - This report explains the significant benefits the United States could realize by improving its educational achievement, specifically examining how the nation can learn from high-performing PISA countries. (McGraw-Hill Research Foundation, March 2011)...

Teacher and Leader Effectiveness in High-Performing Education Systems - The report outlines lessons learned from three of the highest-performing education systems in the world: Finland, Ontario and Singapore. These systems demonstrate that states and national governments can develop policies that create a highly effective educator workforce that produces improvements in achievement for all students. (Alliance for Excellent Education, March 2011)...

Does Participation in Pre-Primary Education Translate Into Better Learning Outcomes at School? - An analysis of PISA, an international standardized assessment of 15 year olds in 65 countries, revealed that, after accounting for differences in socioeconomic backgrounds, children who participated in early education programs scored an average of 33 points higher -- representing a gain of about one additional year of schooling -- than those who didn't enroll in such programs. The report found the strongest relationship between early education and better PISA performance in countries that offer early learning programs with small child-adult ratios, have higher per-child spending and enroll more children over a longer period of time. (OECD, February 2011)...

Highlights from PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context - This report focuses on the performance of U.S. students in the major subject areas. Key finds from PISA 2009 include the following: (1) There was no measurable difference between the average score of U.S. students in reading literacy in 2000; (2) U.S. students' average scores in mathematics literacy were lower than the OECD average scores in 2003, 2006 and 2009; and (3) U.S. students scored lower than the OECD average in science literacy in 2006 and the 2009 scores for U.S. students was not measurable different from the 2009 OECD average. (NCES, December 2010)...

Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education - A video series profiling policies and practices of education systems that demonstrate high or improving performance in the PISA tests. The school systems featured were chosen for their strong performance in OECD's PISA 2009. Around a half million students from 70 countries participated in the 2009 PISA. Videos are included for Ontario Canada, Finland, Shanghai and Poland. By showing what they achieve, the PISA tests provide a mirror to all countries and demonstrate what is possible. Others can learn from those that do well. The purpose of these videos is to transmit ideas and stimulate debate. (Pearson and OECD, 2010)...

How the World's Most Improved School Systems Keep Getting Better - Based on over 200 interviews with system stakeholders and analysis of some 600 interventions carried out by these systems this report identifies the reform elements that are replicable for school systems elsewhere as they move from poor to fair to good to great to excellent performance. There is also an executive summary.(McKinsey & Company, November 2010)...

International Activities Program - Institute for Education Sciences website has been updated and reorganized with tools and resources. The site allows users to view and download: (1) Ready-made statistical tables of internationally comparative data from the International Report Library; (2) data from a range of sources comparing different facets of education in the U.S. with those of other countries in the International Data Table Library; (3) NCES international assessment--PIRLS, PISA and TIMSS--and indicator reports statistical tables from a range of sources comparing different facets of education in the U.S. with other countries Assessments and Surveys; and (4) other sources for international education information and data in the Other Sources. (National Center for Education Statistics)...

The High Cost of Low Educational Performance: The Long-Run Economic Impact of Improving PISA Outcomes - This report uses recent economic modelling to relate cognitive skills – as measured by PISA and other international instruments – to economic growth, demonstrating that relatively small improvements to labor force skills can largely impact the future well-being of a nation. The report also shows that it is the quality of learning outcomes, not the length of schooling, which makes the difference. (OECD, January 2010)...

Informing Grades 1-6 Mathematics Standards Development: What Can Be Learned From High-Performing Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore? - AIR chose the three Asian countries because of their high performance on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assessments. The analysis finds a number of features that can inform an international benchmarking process for the development of K–6 mathematics standards in the United States. (American Institutes for Research, December 2009)...

A Snapshot of Early Childhood Development in Australia - Australia uses a national measure of children's development at school entry called the Early Development Index. This report is the first snapshot of young children's progress in various domains of growth based on this index....

Spaces Between Numbers: Getting International Data on Higher Education Straight - This research report reveals that U.S. graduation rates remain comparable to those of other developed countries despite news stories about our nation losing its global competitiveness because of slipping college graduation rates. The difference: The United States measures its attainment rates by "institution" while other developed nations measure their graduation rates by "system." (Clifford Adelman, Institute for Higher Education Policy, November 2009)...

U.S. Performance Across International Assessments of Student Achievement--Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2009 - A special analysis which examines the performance of U.S. students in reading, mathematics and science compared with the performance of their peers in other countries that participated in PIRLS, PISA, and TIMSS. It identifies which of these countries have outperformed the United States, in terms of students' average scores and the percentage of students reaching internationally benchmarked performance levels, and which countries have done so consistently. (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009)...

Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Environments: First Results from TALIS - OECD's Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) provides insights into how education systems are responding by providing the first internationally comparative perspective on the conditions of teaching and learning. This initial round focused on lower secondary education in both the public and private sectors. TALIS examines important aspects of teachers' professional development; teacher beliefs, attitudes and practices; teacher appraisal and feedback; and school leadership in the 23 participating countries. (OECD, June 2009)...

Cost, Commitment, and Attainment in Higher Education: An International Comparison - This report moves away from the more traditional approach of comparing countries on the basis of college entry rates and focuses instead on completion rates. The authors look at the amount that countries spend on tertiary education per student; the share of GPD a country spend on tertiary education; and the share of working-age adults holding a tertiary education degree. They conclude by recommending more resources for community colleges, more attention to developing strategies to improve completion rates, and increasing enrollments to moderate costs. (Arthur Hauptman and Young Kim, Jobs for the Future, May 2009)...

Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools - Many discussions have been held on the causes of the achievement gap and on what the nation should do to address it. We know there are four distinct achievement gaps: (1) Between the U.S. and other countries; (2) between white, black and Latino students; (3) between students in different income levels; and (4) between similar students schooled in different systems or regions. This report shines the spotlight on the economic impact of the achievement gap. The authors point out that the persistence of these educational achievement gaps imposes on the country the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession. (McKinsey and Company, April 2009)...

Preschool Influences on Mathematics Achievement - A longitudinal study from the United Kingdom of about 3,000 children from the Effective Preschool and Primary Education (EPPE) project found that participation in high-quality pre-k is significantly associated with higher math scores at age 10 --even for middle- and upper-income children. (American Association for the Advancement of Science, August 2008)...

Bologna Process - The Bologna Process is an intergovernmental initiative which aims to create a European Higher Education Area by 2010 and to promote the European system of higher education worldwide. The broad objectives of the Bologna Process are: to remove the obstacles to student mobility across Europe; to enhance the attractiveness of European higher education worldwide; to establish a common structure of higher education systems across Europe; and for this common structure to be based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. ...