EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective
Achievement test: An examination that measures the extent to which a person has acquired certain information or mastered certain skills, usually as a result of specific instruction.
American College Testing Program (ACT): The ACT assessment program measures educational development and readiness to pursue college-level coursework in English, mathematics, natural science, and social studies. Student performance on the tests does not reflect innate ability and is influenced by a student's educational preparedness.
Apprenticeship: In calculating the indicators, youth apprenticeship programs are classified as belonging to formal education. Such programs typically involve an alternation between learning in an educational institution (ordinary or specialized) and learning through work experience programs, which may include highly organized training in a firm or with a craftsperson. The apprentices and the firm (or craftsperson) are bound by a legal agreement. Even though only a part of the training occurs in schools, it is considered as a full-time activity, because it covers both theoretical and practical training. Apprenticeship programs are classified as technical or vocational programs in upper secondary education.
Abitur: Germany's secondary school leaving certificate.
Baccalauréat: French exit examination from lycée, and the university entrance examination.
Bachelor's degree: A degree granted for the successful completion of a baccalaureate program of studies, usually requiring at least 4 years (or equivalent) of full-time college-level study. This includes degrees granted in a cooperative or work-study program.
CAP (Certificat d'Aptitude au Professionelle): France's Certificate of Vocational Qualification. It is earned from technical schools (upper secondary).
CAPES (Certificat d'Aptitude au Professorat de l'Enseignement Secondaire): France's Certificate of Qualification to Teach Secondary Education.
Center for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI): The CERI is an organization within OECD that promotes and conducts cooperative educational research activities among the OECD member nations.
Class size: The number of students faced by each teacher during a period of instruction.
Cohort: A group of individuals who have a statistical factor in common, for example, year of birth.
Comprehensive schools: Schools that offer a general curriculum, rather than a curriculum intended to prepare students for specific occupations, types of higher education, or training. In most cases, students within a comprehensive school may choose courses that serve such a purpose, but comprehensive schools as a whole serve students with a variety of career and educational plans. (See Differentiated schools.)
Compulsory education: Education mandated by law.
Confidence interval: An interval of values within which there is a specified probability that the true value lies. For example, in the case of a 95 percent confidence interval, there is a 95 percent probability that the true value lies within the interval.
Constant dollars: Dollar amounts that have been adjusted by means of price and cost indexes to eliminate inflationary factors and allow direct comparison across years.
Consumer price index (CPI): This price index measures the average change in the cost of a fixed market basket of goods and services purchased by consumers.
Current dollars: Dollar amounts that have not been adjusted to compensate for inflation.
Current expenditures: These expenditures represent educational goods and services whose lifespan should not, in theory, exceed the current year, such as salaries of staff, educational supplies, scholarships, minor repairs and maintenance, and administration. Conventionally, minor items of equipment are treated as current expenditure, even if the corresponding physical asset lasts longer than one year. Current expenditures exclude capital expenditures, which are for assets that will be used for many consecutive years, such as buildings, major repairs, major items of equipment, and vehicles, even if the financing of such assets is reported in a single financial year.
Current expenditures per student: Current expenditure for the regular school term divided by the total number of students registered in a given school unit at a given time, generally in the fall of a year.
Differentiated schools: Schools offering a particular type of curriculum, such as college preparatory or vocational. For example, secondary school students in Germany enroll in differentiated schools, including those that prepare them to enter apprenticeship programs or those that prepare them for university education.
Diplôme d'Études Universitaires Générales (DEUG): France's Diploma of General University Studies, generally earned after the first 2 years of university.
Dual system: A system of apprenticeship which combines part-time study with part-time work in a specific occupational field, such as the one found in Germany.
Ecoles Maternelles: Nursery schools in France.
Education at a Glance (EAG): This publication came out of CERI's (see CERI) International Indicators Project, initiated in response to the demand for comparative information on education in the OECD member nations. The project develops and reports on indicators of participation, attainment, finance, learning outcomes, education and the labor market, the functioning of schools and school systems, and attitudes toward education. The first volume of EAG was published in 1992; subsequent volumes are being published on a regular basis.
Educational attainment: The highest grade, year, or level of regular school attended and completed.
Educational expenditures: The sum of expenditures on instruction, research, public service, academic support, student services, institutional support, operation and maintenance of plant, and awards from restricted and unrestricted funds.
Employed: Includes civilian, noninstitutional persons who (1) worked during any part of the week in which data were collected as paid employees; worked in their own business, profession, or farm; or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in a family-owned enterprise; or (2) were not working but had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent due to illness, bad weather, vacation, labor-management dispute, or personal reasons whether or not they were seeking another job.
Engineering and engineering technologies: Instructional programs that focus on the application of the mathematical and the natural sciences for practical purposes (i.e., to develop ways to utilize the materials and forces of nature economically). Include programs that prepare individuals to support and assist engineers and similar professionals.
Enrollment: The total number of students registered in a given school unit at a given time, generally in the fall of a year.
Enrollment rate: This rate is calculated by dividing the number of enrollments at a given level of education and at a specified age range by the whole population in the same age range.
Esame di licenza: Italy's exit examination from lower secondary school and entrance examination to upper secondary school.
Esami di maturita: Italy's university entrance examination. It is being implemented on an experimental basis.
Fiscal year: The yearly accounting period for the federal government, which begins on October 1 and ends on the following September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 1992 begins on October 1, 1991, and ends on September 30, 1992. (From fiscal year 1844 through fiscal year 1976, the fiscal year began on July 1 and ended on the following June 30.)
Full-time/Part-time enrollment: Students are enrolled full-time if they attend a program that is classified as such by the institution. Otherwise, they are considered part-time students. In the United States, higher education students are enrolled full-time if their total credit load is equal to at least 75 percent of the normal full-time course load. In some countries, no distinction is made between full-time and part-time students at certain levels.
Full-time-equivalent (FTE) enrollment: For institutions of higher education, the enrollment of full-time students, plus the full-time equivalent of part-time students as reported by institutions equals the FTE. In the absence of an equivalent reported by an institution, the FTE enrollment is estimated by adding one-third of part-time enrollment to full-time enrollment.
G_7 countries: See Group of Seven.
Graduate: An individual who has received formal recognition for the successful completion of a prescribed program of studies.
Graduation: Formal recognition given an individual for the successful completion of a prescribed program of studies.
Gross domestic product (GDP): The GDP is equal to the total of the gross expenditure on the final uses of the domestic supply of goods and services valued at price to the purchaser minus the imports of goods and services.
GDP per capita: The GDP of a country divided by its total population yields per capita GDP.
Group of Seven (G_7): This group is composed of seven industrialized
nations with large economies: Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the United States,
the United Kingdom, and Germany. Those countries are, coincidentally, all
members of the OECD. However, the G_7 and
the OECD are not related
organizations.
Grundschüle: Primary school in Germany; generally includes grades 14.
Gymnasium: The German secondary school, graduation from which is a prerequisite for study at a university. It includes grades 513.
Hauptschüle: The German general secondary school providing full-time compulsory education in grades 59 for students not planning to enter higher education.
High school: A secondary school offering the final years of high school work necessary for graduation, usually including grades 10, 11, 12 (in a 6-3-3 plan) or grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 (in a 6-2-4 plan).
Higher education: This form of education includes study beyond secondary school at an institution that offers programs terminating in an associate, baccalaureate, or higher degree, or equivalent degrees in other countries.
Hoikuen: Japanese daycare centers for the children of working mothers.
Income: Includes all forms of income plus food stamps and similar benefits in other nations, minus federal income and payroll taxes.
Indicators of Education Systems Project (INES): INES refers to the
specific office within CERI and the OECD that is responsible for producing the
Education-at-a-Glance series of
reports (see CERI and OECD).
Instituti magistrali: Four-year, upper secondary teacher preparatory programs at which primary school teachers in Italy receive general academic and pedagogical training.
International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP): See the section of this publication entitled Sources of Data.
IRRSAE: Regional Institutes for Research, Experimentation and Refresher Courses found in Italy. They organize the regular in-service training and development courses for teachers, focusing on subject-area knowledge and teaching practice required by law.
ISCED: International Standard Classification of Education levels.
See sidebar entitled
ISCED levels of education for additional details.
Juku: Found in Japan, these are typically private schools offering instruction to help students (typically primary and lower secondary students) get ahead in their school work and prepare for the large numbers of entrance examinations that help determine students' chances to enter particular high schools or colleges and universities. This instruction generally takes place after school and on weekends.
Labor force: Persons aged 1564 who are either employed or actively seeking work comprise a labor force.
Land (plural = Länder): This is the German term for State.
Laurea: Italy's higher education degree, granted after 4 or 5 years of study in a university. It requires a dissertation.
Licence: One of the French higher education degrees. It is earned at the end of the first year of study after earning the DEUG and the prerequisite for admission to the next year of study leading to the Maîtrise (see DEUG and Maîtrise).
Lower secondary education: Education equivalent to middle/junior high school (grades 7, 8, and 9) in the United States.
Lycée: French academic high school.
Maîtrise: In France, this is the higher education degree earned after earning the DEUG and the Licence (see DEUG and Licence).
Migration: Geographic mobility involving a change of usual residence between clearly defined geographic units, that is, between countries, states, or regions.
Minimum-competency testing: Measuring the acquisition of competence or skills to or beyond a certain specified standard.
Monbusho: The Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
Natural sciences: A group of fields of study which includes the life sciences, physical sciences, and mathematics.
Nonuniversity higher education: Education above or beyond the secondary school level involving programs that terminate in a less-than-4-year degree. In some systems, the programs at this level (i.e., those not leading to a university degree or equivalent) do not lead on to other programs in higher education; in other systems, such programs allow students who successfully complete their studies to proceed to university degree programs in the same field. The former is called a "terminal" program while the latter is called an "articulated" program. For example, the "Associate Degree," awarded after 2 years of study in the United States, is not regarded as a university degree for international purposes. This also applies to the diplôme d'études universitaires générales (DEUG) in France.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): The OECD is an organization of 25 nations (as of 1995) whose purpose is to promote trade and economic growth in both member and nonmember nations. OECD's activities cover almost all aspects of economic and social policy. The member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Part-time enrollment: See Full-time/Part-time enrollment.
Pedagogy: The art, profession, or study of teaching.
Poverty: The "poverty line," for the purposes of this publication, is defined as 40 percent of median income. (See Income.)
Preprimary education: Preprimary education (public and private) may either be part-time or full-time and can cover young children participating in programs intended to foster learning and emotional and social development. Preprimary education is not compulsory in most countries. Day nurseries, childcare centers, and similar institutions that predominantly provide custodial care are not included. In some countries, it is difficult to distinguish among the various programs.
Primary education: This includes all forms of education prior to secondary education; it is equivalent to elementary education in the United States.
Private expenditures: This includes expenditures funded by private sourcesmainly households, private nonprofit institutions, and firms and businesses. Private expenditures include school fees, materials such as textbooks and teaching equipment, transport to school (if organized by the school), meals (if provided by the school), boarding fees, and expenditure by employers for initial vocational training.
Private schools: Private schools are normally organized independently of the public authorities, even though they may receive a small amount of public funding.
Private schools predominantly publicly funded: These are schools that obtain most of their funding from public authorities, even though these schools are not formally part of the public school sector.
Professeurs agrégés: Upper secondary level teachers in France. Distinguished from professeurs certifiés according to their degrees. Professeurs agrégés hold the agrégation certificate.
Professeurs certifiés: Upper secondary level teachers in France. Distinguished from professeurs agrégés according to their degrees. Professeurs certifiés hold one of the the following certificates: Certificat d'Aptitude au Professorat de l'Enseignement du Second Degré (in arts and sciences), Certificat d'Aptitude au Professorat de l'Enseignement Technique (in technical education), or Certificat d'Aptitude Professionnelle de l'Education Physique et Sportive (in physical education).
Public expenditures: These are expenditures funded by public authorities at all levels. Expenditures on education by public agencies other than education departments, ministries, or boards are included. Expenditures of education departments, ministries, or boards that are not directly related to education are generally not included.
Public schools: Public schools are organized by public authorities. They normally provide open access without any distinction of race, sex, or religion.
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) index: The PPP index is composed of the rates of currency conversion that equalize the purchasing power of different currencies. This means that a given sum of money, when converted into different currencies at the PPP index rates, will buy the same basket of goods and services in all countries.
Realschule: Germany's middle school, grades 510 for those planning on entering higher education.
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT): An examination administered by the Educational Testing Service and used to predict the facility with which an individual will progress in learning college-level academic subjects.
Schulkindergarten/Vorschulen: In Germany, these are preschool classes for children who are of school age but not yet ready for school.
Scuole materne: Italian nursery school.
Sources of funds: The origins of education expenditures can be found among the several levels of government and between public and private sources. Further, the initial sources of money for education sometimes differ from the ultimate spender. For example, though local school districts in the United States generally operate and fund the local public schools, much of the financing arrives in the form of transfers from state governments. Some of the state money, in turn, arrives in the form of transfers from the federal government. The initial source of those transferred funds, then, are state and federal governments. Moreover, the initial source of funds spent on public schools can be public or private. Student tuition and fees are one example of a private source of public expenditure. Funding by private firms of youth apprenticeship programs in Germany is another example. Likewise, the initial source of funds spent on private schools can be public or private.
Special education: Direct instructional activities or special learning experiences designed primarily for students identified as having exceptionalities in one or more aspects of the cognitive process or as being underachievers in relation to general level or model of their overall abilities. Such services usually are directed at students with the following conditions: (1) physically handicapped; (2) emotionally handicapped; (3) culturally different, including compensatory education; (4) mentally retarded; and (5) learning disabled. Programs for the mentally gifted and talented are also included in some special education programs.
Standard error: An estimate of the sampling error of a reported mean, proportion, or other statistic, based in part on the number of observations. Ordinarily, the larger the sample is, the smaller the error will be. There are several techniques used in estimating standard errors, including jackknifing and bootstrapping.
Student: An individual for whom instruction is provided in an educational program under the jurisdiction of a school, school system, or other education institution. A student may receive instruction in a school facility or in another location, such as at home or in a hospital. Instruction may be provided by direct student-teacher interaction or by some other approved medium such as television, radio, telephone, and correspondence.
Studentenwerk: A federally funded organization in Germany that oversees university student housing, meal services, and financial aid.
Student/teacher ratio: The enrollment of students at a given period of time, divided by the full-time-equivalent number of classroom teachers serving these pupils during the same period. Student-teacher ratio reflects teacher workload and the availability of teacher services to students. However, this measure differs from class size. The relationship between the two is affected by a variety of factors, including the number of classes for which a teacher is responsible and the number of classes taken by students.
Unemployment rate: The percentage of the labor force without work, actively seeking work, and currently available for work yields the unemployment rate.
University: University education is defined here as education leading to a 4-year undergraduate degree or graduate degree.
Upper secondary education: This is a level of education equivalent to grades 10, 11, and 12 in the United States. Upper secondary education may include general, technical, or vocational education.
Vocational education: Organized educational programs, services, and activities that are directly related to the preparation of individuals for paid or unpaid employment, or for additional preparation for a career requiring other than a baccalaureate or advanced degree.
Vorklassen: In Germany, these are preschool classes with special emphasis on preparation of 5-year-olds for school (in some Länder only).
Yochien: Japanese kindergarten.
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