EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective

Education Institutions

Countries throughout the world have addressed the issue of educating their youth by establishing education institutions. Fundamentally, these institutions are very much the same, although the details may differ. International comparisons often focus on differences that emerge between countries, although many important similarities exist. Thus, it is not surprising that U.S. schools are generally similar to those in most other countries on the indicators presented in this section.

Similarities among the G-7 countries are evident in the matrices describing various aspects of the education systems in these countries. At the most general level, there are similarities in many aspects of these countries' education systems, including ages of compulsory schooling, structure of the system by levels, and school schedules. Further, in all of the G-7 countries, formal examinations play an important role in the transition from upper secondary to higher education.

On many available indicators of school processes, the United States does not stand out from other countries and is often in the middle range of the countries reported. For example, in terms of the number of hours of instruction provided for 13-year-olds each year, the United States is in the middle of the range of countries for which data are available. The United States has more hours of instruction than the former Soviet Union, Canada, and Japan and fewer than France and the former West Germany. Of all the countries with data available, Taiwan has the highest number of hours of instruction per year, almost 200 hours more than the United States (Indicator 24). With regard to instructional practices, the United States is in the middle of the countries reported in terms of in-school use of science experimentation (Indicator 27) and calculators (Indicator 28).

Preprimary through secondary education institutions in the United States are larger (as measured by the average number of students per school) than those of many other countries, including Canada, France, and Germany. But the average school in the United States is similar in size to schools in Japan and about half the size of schools in Taiwan (Indicator 23). Additionally, classes of U.S. 13-year-olds are, on average, smaller than average classes in many other countries; however, with the exception of comparisons between the United States and Asian countries (Korea, Taiwan, and Japan) and, to a lesser degree, Spain, the differences are not significant (Indicator 21). Further, the average number of years of experience for U.S. teachers of 9- and 13-year-olds is relatively low compared with other G-7 countries for which data are available, although it is not drastically different from that of a wide range of non-G-7 countries (Indicator 22).

Although in many ways the education system in the United States is generally similar to that of other countries, in some areas it is quite different. One of the most distinctive characteristics of the education system in the UnitedStates is the decisionmaking process (Indicator 20). In the United States, the district level plays a key role in educational decisionmaking but includes the school level in the decisionmaking process by consulting with the school on many decisions. While few decisions in the United States are made autonomously at the school level, no other country relies more heavily on district level decisionmaking or includes the school level in decisions through consultation to the extent that exists in the United States.

The United States is also one of the few countries with primarily comprehensive high schools, often providing all academic programs and some vocational courses within the same school. Most other countries have differentiated schools as students get older. The United States also differs from other countries in several other specific areas, including use of computers in the schools (Indicator 29), amount of homework performed (Indicator 25), and in-class testing in mathematics and science (Indicator 26). In elementary schools, the United States and France have the lowest student/computer ratio of any country reported with the exception of Japan (Indicator 29). With regard to homework, U.S. students (9- and 13-year-olds) are more likely to spend 1 hour or less on homework than are students in most other countries reported. Finally, with few exceptions, more 13-year-old students in the United States were tested at least weekly in mathematics and in science than were their counterparts in most other countries reported.

When comparing education systems, it is important to maintain the two perspectives. Recognizing similarities across countries helps to avoid overemphasizing differences that exist. On a basic level, countries throughout the world have addressed the issue of educating young people by establishing institutions that are fundamentally very much the same. At the same time, there are also important differences between and among schools in different countries. Understanding these differences can be a source of ideas and help us understand our own system better.

[Indicator 19] Previous

[Indicator 20]