A Collaborative Agenda for Improving International Comparative Studies in Education

The introduction described a vision of what international comparative research and data collection might produce in the next 20 years. It is questionable, however, whether existing organizations within the United States or international organizations possess the full infrastructure required to accomplish the vision that we have projected.

There is a need either to expand the role of existing organizations for cross-national research in education or to create new ones. The ideal would be something similar to what was envisioned originally in the late 1940s for the education sector of UNESCO--a forum in which the best ideas on education could be researched and shared, in which jointly financed projects could be identified and appraised, and in which professionals from many disciplines could discuss results, publish freely, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of such work. UNESCO did not carry out this mandate because many member states placed a low priority on the importance of education research, a situation that severely limited the fiscal and personnel resources available for the activity.

In short, what is needed now for education is similar in many respects to what is already available in epidemiologic research through the World Health Organization (WHO); demographic research through the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); and food plant research through the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Prerequisite to achieving such an infrastructure would be to diversify the institutional relationships beyond those that now typify education research and, in particular, to incorporate the views of not only recognized scholars in diverse disciplines but also such parties as business and labor leaders, educational managers and teachers, and a wide range of political authorities.

Nongovernmental agencies comprise a critical segment of this infrastructure. Priority should be given to developing centers of excellence, whether in universities or elsewhere, that are independent of policy imperatives. Such centers, given appropriate support, could be a catalyst for identifying and training people with the right skills and sensitivities. Ultimately it would be desirable to have a network of education research centers that would enable scholars from around the world to undertake, more readily than is now the case, cross-national studies in societies other than their own.

Since the task of establishing a more coherent and effective worldwide system for cross-national research and data collection in education will be neither straightforward nor easy, it must be shared among many organizations in many countries. One possible approach would begin with consultations and alliances among stakeholders and other interested parties; first steps in this direction are the two conferences described in the preface. These consultation meetings should result in a report, perhaps issued jointly by several organizations or agencies, on what a better infrastructure to conduct cross-national studies in education might look like, what it might cost, and what it might produce. Before its release, ideas from the report should be shared with senior policy makers whose interests in education are known. Discussion should take place at ministerial level, since government ministers clearly do have interest in these matters, especially the matter of policies, and if possible should include heads of government. The purpose of the discussion would be to interest the ministers in building the capacity for meeting these information needs.

The ultimate goal to be pursued through consultation and the formation of alliances would be the establishment, maintenance, and improvement of networks, organizations, and other institutional mechanisms internationally, within the United States, and in other nations for funding, managing, conducting, and disseminating cross-national educational studies. Sound cross-national research and data collection require stable institutional mechanisms, both to secure the cooperation of different nations and to ensure adequate, reliable funding for technically sound planning, execution, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination.

These mechanisms must also be designed in such a way that the education community identifies and prioritizes the research issues, questions, and topics to be investigated. The infrastructure would provide a forum for education researchers to deliberate research agendas and priorities, as well as the objectives of specific studies. Priority projects could be selected from any of the three categories of projects described earlier in this report:

• Projects to develop and produce education indicators;
• Comparative education assessments (with associated explanatory research and curriculum analyses) that are better organized, with more justifiable and precise objectives, more valid designs and measures, more rigorous quality control and more adequate funding, and conducted on a regular basis; and
• Other types of studies that can help interpret much of the variation revealed through education indicators and cross-national assessment data, as well as investigations of other comparative questions and issues.

The agendas would serve both of the purposes for international educational research identified earlier in this paper: (1) long-term development of knowledge and (2) knowledge for policy makers. Knowledge for policy makers can be derived either from studies to respond to particular policy needs for data or from policy-relevant data not tied to any specific current issue (e.g., data provided by education indicator systems featuring regular, recurrent data collections to permit analysis of trends). Education researchers can, do, and should respond to information needs connected to current policy questions. A sound infrastructure would also provide a mechanism for channeling and responding to policy-relevant questions.

In summary, the process of establishing a more coherent and effective worldwide system for cross-national research and data collection in education will have to be one that takes into account the views of interested parties, the technical and substantive state of the art, and the promise of cross-national studies for responding to policy needs and advancing knowledge.

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