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Table 390. Characteristics of educational systems participating in theInternational Assessment of Educational Progress: 1991

_________________________________________________________________________________________
                        | 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.)

National Center for Education Statistics - http://nces.ed.gov
U.S. Department of Education