EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective

Foreword

The need to compete in foreign markets with advanced technology has convinced U.S. business, economic, and political leaders of the importance of understanding the education systems of other industrialized nations. The awareness of how other countries educate their citizens provides insight into the competitiveness of those nations, and it provides a benchmark with which to compare our own education system.

Education Indicators: An International Perspective expands on the traditional interest in student achievement and education finance by including a broad range of indicators, such as "Gender differences in earnings," "Time spent on homework," and "Home and school language," among others. The indicators focus primarily upon comparisons between the United States and other industrialized nations with large economiesparticularly those that most closely resemble the United States in terms of size and are viewed as our major economic competitors.

Among a multitude of sources used in this report, the most comprehensive is Education at a Glance (1995), the international education indicators report produced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Other data sources include the International Assessment of Educational Progress, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, and the International Assessment of Adult Literacy.

The importance of Education Indicators: An International Perspective lies in its ability to provide a comprehensive selection of international indicators geared toward a U.S. audience. This particular set of indicators is presented together for the first time and much of the data are derived from sources not readily accessible to U.S. readers. The publication, then, contributes to the continuing effort to make comparative information accessible and useful to U.S. leaders.

John H. Ralph, Acting Associate Commissioner

[Table of Contents]

[Acknowledgment]