Characteristics of educational systems participating in theInternational Assessment of Educational Progress: 1991

Table 390.

_________________________________________________________________________________________
                        | Ethnic  |Age for | Average  | Average   |Nation-| Percent of
        Country         | homogen-|starting| days in  |minutes of |  al   |schools with
                        | eity\1\ | school |  school  |instruction|curric-| one or more
                        |         |        |  year\2\ | in school | ulum  | problems\2\3\
                        |         |        |          |    day\2\ |       |
________________________|_________|________|__________|___________|_______|______________
           1            |    2    |   3    |     4    |      5    |   6   |     7
________________________|_________|________|__________|___________|_______|______________
Populations             |         |        |          |           |       |
 (comprehensive)        |         |        |          |           |       |
                        |         |        |          |           |       |
Canada\4\ ..............|   No    |   6    | 188 (0.2)|  304 (0.8)|  No   |  13 (1.3)
France..................|   Yes   |   6    | 174 (1.7)|  370 (3.4)|  Yes  |  29 (4.9)
Hungary.................|   Yes   |   6    | 177 (1.5)|  223 (1.3)|  Yes  |  32 (4.2)
Ireland ................|   Yes   |   6    | 173 (0.9)|  323 (4.4)|  Yes  |  39 (5.8)
Israel\5\ ..............|   No    |   6    | 215 (2.2)|  278 (6.5)|  Yes  |  46 (6.7)
Jordan..................|   Yes   |   6    | 191 (0.9)|  260 (2.9)|  Yes  |  63 (5.3)
Korea...................|   Yes   |   6    | 222 (2.5)|  264 (2.4)|  Yes  |  24 (4.9)
Scotland................|   Yes   |   5    | 191 (0.9)|  324 (2.3)|  Yes  |  23 (4.0)
Slovenia................|   Yes   |   7    | 190 (1.5)|  248 (2.5)|  Yes  |  50 (5.3)
Spain\6\ ...............|   No    |   6    | 188 (2.3)|  285 (3.2)|  Yes  |  33 (5.0)
(Former) Soviet Union\7\|   No    | 6 or 7 | 198 (2.1)|  243 (2.6)|  Yes  |  72 (5.1)
Switzerland\8\ .........|   No    | 6 or 7 | 207 (3.2)|  305 (7.4)|  No   |  11 (3.5)
Taiwan..................|   No    |   6    | 222 (2.5)|  318 (6.9)|  Yes  |  10 (2.8)
United States...........|   No    |   6    | 178 (0.4)|  338 (5.0)|  No   |   5 (2.2)
                        |         |        |          |           |       |
                        |         |        |          |           |       |
Populations             |         |        |          |           |       |
 (with exclusions or    |         |        |          |           |       |
 low participation)     |         |        |          |           |       |
                        |         |        |          |           |       |
Brazil, Fortaleza.......|   No    |   7    | 183 (1.1)|  223 (9.8)|  No   |  62 (5.3)
Brazil, Sao Paulo.......|   No    |   7    | 181 (0.2)|  271 (9.3)|  No   |  60 (4.6)
China...................|   Yes   |6.5 or 7| 251 (2.1)|  305 (7.1)|  Yes  |  43 (6.3)
England.................|   Yes   |   5    | 192 (1.8)|  300 (4.4)|  Yes  |  24 (8.3)
Italy\9\ ...............|   Yes   |   6    | 204 (0.5)|  289 (5.0)|  Yes  |  18 (5.1)
Mozambique, Maputo,     |         |        |          |           |       |
 and Beira .............|   No    |   7    | 193 (0.0)|  272 (0.0)|  Yes  |  92 (0.0)
Portugal................|   Yes   |   6    | 172 (1.1)|  334 (6.5)|  Yes  |  56 (7.9)
________________________|_________|________|__________|___________|_______|______________

\1\90 percent of entire population from one ethnic group.
\2\For 13-year-olds.
\3\Problems included: overcrowded classrooms, inadequate facilities and maintenance, shortages of textbooks and other educational materials, student absenteeism, lack of discipline, and vandalism of school property.
\4\Four provinces assessed 9-year-olds. Nine provinces assessed 13-year-olds.
\5\Schools where instruction is in Hebrew.
\6\Schools where instruction is in Spanish, in all regions except Cataluna.
\7\Schools in 14 republics, where instruction is in Russian.
\8\Fifteen Cantons.
\9\Emilia-Romagna province only.

NOTE.--Standard errors appear in parentheses.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, International Assessment of Educational Progress, "Learning Science" and "Learning Mathematics," by Educational Testing Service. (This table was prepared February 1992.)

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