International Benchmarking
State Governments Respond to Globalization
States are now realizing that they are no longer competing just with their neighboring states, but with countries around the world. Increasingly, they will need to benchmark themselves against human resources policies in other countries — these are the educational levels and skills that students will need to succeed. Just as business leaders benchmark their companies against the best in the world, so too state education leaders need to study where U.S. schools stand in relation to the rapidly expanding educational systems of other countries. In addition, the exchange of ideas about best practices in, for example, math/science, languages, and teacher recruitment and professional development not only heighten appreciation of the strengths of U.S. education, but also expand the range of ideas about how to improve areas of weakness.
- Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
has engaged in international sharing of best practices
in Singapore, India, and China with Asia Society
and will be doing so with Finland. CCSSO is also
working with the National Governors Association and Achieve, Inc. to explore how to benchmark state standards against the best performing nations in the world. - North Carolina has led many delegations of key
stakeholders — policymakers, business leaders, and
educators — on study tours to key trading partners
including India, China, and Mexico and to countries
like Singapore, England, and the Netherlands, that demonstrate best practices in education. These have resulted in education-related Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) to create sister school
partnerships and allow for world language teachers from those countries to teach in North Carolina. These delegations have also raised awareness about the need for international knowledge and skills and produced publications on best practices. - Ohio was the first state to participate in a study comparing its education system to international benchmarks. The work was conducted by McKinsey& Co. on behalf of Achieve, Inc., with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It considered standards and assessments, school leadership, professional development, funding, and accountability in order to provide a blueprint for conceptualizing this international benchmarking process. New York is now undertaking a similar study.
- The West Virginia State Board of Education is
reviewing the statistical linking of state performance
to NAEP and TIMSS (Trends in International
Mathematics and Science Study) as a tool to continue
to measure West Virginia performance against international benchmarks. The state is investigating the possibility of conducting PISA assessment with a small sample of West Virginia 15-year-olds
to further benchmark student performance against international indicators. - In Wisconsin, international professional development teacher seminars have been conducted with partner regions in Germany, France, and Japan on an ongoing basis since 1990.