Education in States and Nations: 1991
One intention behind the design of this report was to make comparisons among "like-sized" entities. Thus, whenever possible, the United States is compared to other countries with large economies, such as those of the G-7, and the U.S.states are compared to countries with both large and small economies, such asthose of the OECD or those that participated in the IAEP. Each of these country groupings is described below. The careful reader might also appreciate the clarification of the status of Germany as used in this report, also provided below, since data are used from both before and after that country's reunification.
The Group of Seven (G-7): This group is composed of seven nations with large economies, the seven largest economies in the world at the time of the group's formation. Officials of each country meet periodically to discuss mutually beneficial agreements, most conspicuously in G-7 Economic Summits. The member countries are: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): The OECD is an organization of 24 nations whose purpose is to promote trade and economic growth in both member and non-member nations. OECD's activities cover almost all aspects of economic and social policy. The member countries in 1991 were: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Greece and Iceland did not participate in the data compilation used for this report, whereas Czechoslovakia and Hungary, which had applied for membership in the OECD at the time of the data compilation, did participate.
The International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP): In 1990-91, as part of an international effort coordinated by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), 20 countries assessed the mathematics and science achievement of their 13-year- old students. In addition, the students spent about 10 minutes responding to questions about their backgrounds and home and school experiences. School administrators completed a school questionnaire. The participating countries included: Brazil (the cities of São Paolo and Fortaleza), Canada, China, England, France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy (the province of Emilia Romagna), Jordan, Korea, Portugal, Scotland, the Soviet Union, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States.
Germany: In 1990, the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) acceded to the Federal Republic of Germany. Some indicators presented in this report use data that predate the reunification and use the country names "Germany (West)" or "Germany (East)." Indicators with data from the entire reunified country use the country name "Germany." Still other indicators use data from the period after reunification but prior to the combination of the relevant education statistics of the two former, separate countries. These indicators also use the country name "Germany (West)" to indicate that the data refer only to the former territory of the Federal Republic, that is, West Germany.
Other international organizations whose data are also used in this report include: Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the European Community (EC), the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the World Health Organization (WHO). International data collections of the American Federation of Teachers, the National Science Foundation, and the Census Bureau are also used in this report.
Introduction and Overview
