In this paper, the author asks what education policy might look like in the United States if it was based on the experience of its most successful competitors. He relies on research conducted by a team assembled by the National Center on Education and the Economy, at the request of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),…

Linking country-level educational achievement with other country-level indicators has the potential to drive systemic educational changes, as these correlates may reflect characteristics relevant for policy-making decisions to improve educational effectiveness. This study establishes a nomological network of educational achievement at the country…

Many American authors expressed their concern that US competitiveness in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is losing ground. Using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 data, this study investigated how academic self-concept and instrumental motivation influence science test performance among…

This investigation compared the influence of public and Christian high schools on the spiritual formation and academic achievement of college students. Recent high school graduates who attend a private, liberal arts university in the southeastern United States responded to an online survey and interview questions related to the influence of one's…

This study investigates inter-school variations in several dimensions of opportunity to learn as well as examines the extent to which these measures significantly affect students' performance on grade 7 literacy and numeracy exams. After situating the study within the global discourse emphasizing the importance of providing access to quality…

Although the construct of student climate has been studied extensively in the United States, we know little about how school climate is perceived in other countries. With large class sizes yet higher academic achievement and less disruptive and aggressive student behaviors, schools in China present a contrast to many schools in the United States.…

Understanding how well English education performs compared with other countries is a valuable exercise, particularly because the information can help England and other countries learn from successful systems. The most recent international league tables of pupil performance differ considerably. England languishes well down the list in PISA 2009,…

One of the educational reform methods sanctioned under No Child Left Behind legislation is the development of charter schools (King, 2007). While many studies have focused on comparing the student academic achievement rates of charter schools to traditional public schools, little empirical research exists comparing student academic achievement…

Finland has, as of late, become an inspiration for American school reform. There is no denying that we have much to learn from the Finnish system and it rightly deserves its global accolades. However, over the course of the following pages, I would like to suggest that it is also lucrative to look north of the 49th parallel and consider the…

Teachers might be working significantly more with one another, but principals are not. Superintendents might bring principals together for district meetings or even to expose their performance results to colleagues in public, but principal collaboration is too often trumped by district control. Even worse, more and more schools and their…

15 European countries were classified into four types in an international comparative study. The country profiles are based on indicators of the key concepts' funding, governance and choice. This research attempts to answer the question of how the quality of schooling of these types of education systems progressed as from 1995 and what…

Comparative and international research in education has a well-established history, and one that has seen the changing fortunes of a diversity of research approaches and paradigms. As Epstein (forthcoming) demonstrates, much can be gained from critical reflection upon philosophical and epistemological "benchmarks" in this field, and from…

With an ever growing diverse population and access to new technologies, it is no revelation that education is undergoing a significant transformation in the twenty-first century. What remains a struggle is equipping students to meet modern expectations while trying to provide a platform for learning that does not perpetuate the same inequalities…

The purpose of this investigation is to determine the incidence of school infrastructure and resources and its impact on the academic performance of primary education students in Latin America. A 4-level multilevel model was applied to the data of the Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (SERCE) conducted by UNESCO, which researched…

Global research has shown the persistence of inequality with regard to accessing curriculum with a view to obtaining suitable work and making useful contributions to society. The intersection of race, gender, language and low socio-economic levels creates situations which often marginalize ethnic minorities in school settings (Freire, 1968; Nieto…