Educators and governments are paying increasing attention to international comparisons as they seek to develop effective policies to improve the performance of their education systems. Data from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are useful in revealing best practices across the world. Current data show that the United…

Despite a policy focus on educating the whole child, China continues to struggle with a culture of testing, placing a premium on academic knowledge to the detriment of a more well-rounded curriculum. Students are overworked, lack adequate sleep, and have little time for anything beyond school work. The Chinese Ministry of Education has enumerated…

The current preoccupation in the United States with test-based accountability is founded on a set of faulty assumptions--about education practices elsewhere in the world, about international test score comparisons, and about the extent to which test scores are valid indicators of the quality of education or the state of the economy. For example,…

More than 20 years ago, A Nation At Risk warned that "a rising tide of mediocrity" threatened the U.S. education system and that the United States would be unable to effectively compete with other economies because of a scarcity of graduates in science and technology. In 2001, No Child Left Behind reiterated that message, pushing through…