EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective
U.S. business leaders, policymakers, and researchers have expressed great interest in understanding how the U.S. education system compares with those of other countries. Why is so much importance placed on international comparisons? Simply stated, understanding others helps us to better understand ourselves. International indicators provide the United States with the opportunity to compare its performance with that of other countries, to identify similarities and differences between our system and others, and to suggest new approaches to the challenge of providing a world-class education in the United States.
While this publication provides data on many countries, the primary comparisons are among the Group of Seven or G7 countries. These are seven industrialized nations with large economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Comparisons between the United States and other G7 countries are generally more informative than comparisons with other countries, as the G7 countries are more similar to the United States in terms of size and are viewed as our major economic competitors.
Cross-country comparisons in education have focused on indicators of achievement and of finance. A prime example is the attention devoted to international comparisons of student achievement. The information that these comparisons provide about the performance of students in other countries is valuable to U.S. educators as they work toward establishing high standards for U.S. student achievement. Similarly, information about other countries' financial investment in education is of interest to U.S. policymakers.
This publication presents a wide range of indicators, including several in both of these key areas. The achievement indicators show that the performance of U.S. students is mixed; they perform well in comparison with their peers in other countries in reading and less well in geography and science. Their weakest area relative to students in other countries is mathematics. (For more information about student performance, see the section entitled Achievement and Attainment.) The finance indicators presented in this publication show that public financial investment in education in the United States is among the highest of the G7 countries on multiple measures. (For more information about education finance, see the section entitled Societal Support for Education.)
Purpose and Goals of This Publication
The purpose of this publication is to expand the discussion of education indicators in three key ways:
Comprehensive set of indicators
International education indicators are available from a number of sources, but many of these sources are not readily accessible to U.S. readers; we have compiled a large collection of these indicators for use in this publication. No other U.S. publication to date provides as comprehensive a selection of international indicators related to education.
Presentation geared to the U.S. audience
Whereas publications prepared by international groups are careful not to focus on any one country, this publication presents indicators and results geared to a U.S. audience. For example, decisionmaking in education is an area of policy interest in the United States. In the United States, the local level plays a key role in education decisionmaking and includes the school level in the decisionmaking process by consulting with the school on many decisions. The presentation of the indicator on decisionmaking highlights the finding that no other country relies more heavily on local-level decisionmaking or includes consultation with those at the school level to the extent that the United States does (for details, see Indicator 20).
Background information
Countries' education systems and societies operate differently in many important ways, and awareness of these differences has a bearing on the interpretation of the indicators. The intent of this publication is to provide everyoneincluding policymakers, business people, researchers, and concerned citizenswith both the data and the contextual information that they need to make informed judgments about the successes and failures of the U.S. education system.
Education Indicators: An International Perspective provides readers with relevant material about the education systems and social structures of other countries, specifically designed for readers who are knowledgeable about the United States. To illustrate, in spite of the fact that there is an international system for classifying levels of education (International Standard Classification of Education [ISCED]), schools in different countries that are classified at the same ISCED level may not provide the same programs or have the same functions. In the United States, for example, nurses receive their qualifying training in posthigh school vocational training programs, nonbaccalaureate higher education programs, or baccalaureate programs. Comparable training in other countries rarely takes place in baccalaureate programs. In Austria and Germany, for instance, nurse training takes place at institutions classified as upper secondary school level (the level at which U.S. high schools are classified) in full-time nurse training schools. Upper-secondary-level apprenticeship and vocational programs in several countries, including Germany and Austria, provide the type of specialized occupational training that in the United States does not take place until after high school. Interpreting student enrollment rates at different levels of education requires an understanding of these differences. (For further information, see sidebars entitled ISCED levels of education and Differences in programs offered across education levels.)
Throughout this publication, background information is interspersed with the indicators, appearing in overviews that introduce sections of indicators and in sidebars. It is only with this background that the reader can fully understand the meaning of the indicators. In addition, a separate section at the back of the publication provides comparative descriptions of education systems, along with technical notes and other reference materials.
Structure of This Publication
This publication presents:
The individual indicators
With few exceptions, each indicator includes:
In addition, sidebars accompany several of the indicators. The sidebars provide explanatory material to help readers better understand the context surrounding certain indicators, so that readers can interpret these indicators more accurately.
The indicators are divided into the following sections:
Each section begins with an overview, which summarizes key results and introduces selected information from the sidebars and from the reference sections at the back of the publication.
Introduction
Reference material
At the back of the publication, four separate sections provide additional information:
[Partcipation and Student Flows]
