Asserting that the development of educational theory requires scientific study based on comparative data, the author analyzes the objections to data comparison between societies and finds this to be a nonissue. This is the Presidential Address, delivered to the Comparative and International Education Society, Mexico City, March 1978. (SJL)

Analyzes the concept of comparison as a methodological problem in cross-cultural studies and comparative education. Outlines five types of relationships that rely on equivalence or comparability. Discusses the questions of whether the concepts under comparison correspond, how to measure correspondence, and how to resolve linguistic difficulties.…

A former member of the IEA's global "invisible college" reflects on some aspects of the organization's work and findings, pointing out that international differences in achievement are generally smaller than within-nation differences and that national differences in context and input are associated with broadly similar outcomes. Also…

Examines implications of IEA international educational research for educational policies in three areas: overall quality of the national educational system, including success in achieving social and economic objectives; structure of the formal system and its influence on student achievement; and influence of school resources and instructional…

Discusses the IEA Written Composition Study in relation to other IEA studies, national cultural patterns, and research on writing in general. Describes research design problems, development of representative writing tasks, and a scoring scheme based on a system of writing competencies and preferences and their elements. Summarizes preliminary…