A Framework and Principles for International Comparative Studies in Education (1990) / Chapter Skim
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A Framework for International Comparative Studies in Education
A Framework for International Comparative Studies in Education
Pages 1-13
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Participation in International Studies The most important reason for United States participation in international studies of education is to improve understanding of our own education system, that is, as an extension of and complement to studies within the United States. Since there are no absolute standards of educational achievement or performance, comparative studies are vital to policy makers in setting realistic standards and in monitoring the success of educational systems.
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Studies that explore the relationship between school achievement and such factors as curricula, amount of time spent on school work, teacher training, classroom size, parental involvement, and a host of other possible explanatory variables profit from expanding the range of variation in such factors to the international level. While there is some variation in the characteristics of school systems in the United States, they are not radically different from each other.
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studies are quite limited. Careful international comparative studies can help identify the factors that promote educational achievement and those that do not make a difference.
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Many of the advances in the theory and practice of comparative educational research have come from innovations developed during international comparative studies in which the problems of comparison are most challenging. In many countries, working on an international research project helps to disseminate rapidly new models, new computer programs, and new statistical techniques.
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Many of these studies consist of eclucational information that can be periodically monitored: the level and variation of teacher salaries; the number and kind of available reading materials; and the level and variation in learning achievement in the more common subjects such as mathematics, science, and reading. Much of this information enrollment, dropout rates, budgetary statistics, etc.—can be obtained from official sources and does not require special data collection, although there are often problems in the comparability of official statistics due to differing definitions of data elements.
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Informative studies of educational achievement often include attention to students' motivation to learn and to expend the effort necessary to perform well on tests. There is no commonly agreed upon measurement scale for educational achievement analogous to the thermometer or the yardstick.
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In this form of testing, results are reported as the proportion of items that a particular pupil answered correctly or the proportion of students in a particular classroom, grade, or school system that reached a designated criterion level: for example, "80 percent of the students in the fourth grade of a particular school system know the multiplication tables through go, The two approaches yield somewhat different information. The first, sometimes called "norm-referenced testing," shows how particular students or groups of students compare with a reference population, for example, fourth graders.
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Progress has been made in developing performance tests that meet the measurement criteria necessary for valid comparisons, but further developmental work is necessary before they can be easily accommodated in international comparisons. Performance testing is also more expensive and makes more logistical demands on test administrators, which create further barriers to their widespread use.
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Participation in International Studies The board's concerns embrace the mix of international comparative studies in which the United States participates as well as the merits of particular studies. Generally speaking, comparative studies supported by the United States should address a range of content areas and grade levels and should encompass quantitative survey research studies as well as more intensive studies that use a range of qualitative research methods.
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Studies that explore influences on learning in some clepthby investigating such factors as details of school management, curricular diversification, classroom interaction patterns, community and parental influences, classroom material resources, or teacher quality should be done from time to time as relevant theoretical models or significant new educational practices are developed. Every effort should be made to coordinate the administrative mechanisms for these two types of studies so that
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These special studies may not require national representative samples and need not occur on a regular basis. Examples of questions addressed by such studies are: Does classroom competition affect ethnic groups differently?
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Reasons for accelerating or delaying studies might include: · Effects on the participation of nations and of sampled units within nations if too many cross-national studies are carried out simultaneously; · The opportunity to evaluate specific, significant educational policies or investments in the United States or abroad; · The expected impact on the diagnosis of major shortcomings of educational systems and on the development of remecliating strategies and policies; · Desirability of timing the release of findings to maximize impact; · Documentation of educational systems or practices soon to be altered or eliminated; · Likelihood that resources available for studies may be diverted to other purposes if there are undue delays, or conversely, that additional resources may become available at some future date. Proposers of studies should also consider the potential overlap of any new study with other recent or ongoing studies.
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From page 13... ...
In the light of the enormous economic importance of a sound educational system, leaders in business and industry may wish to consult comparative educational studies in their international planning. Textbook publishers, developers of educational software, and other educational vendors may use these studies to identify needs and markets for new products.
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