Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2011

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This report describes key education outcomes and contexts of education in the Group of Eight (G-8) countries—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The report is organized into five topical areas: population and school enrollment, academic performance, contexts for learning, expenditures for education, and educational attainment and income. Results are drawn from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) ongoing Indicators of Education Systems (INES) program, as well as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is also coordinated by the OECD. Findings include:

• From 2000 (the first time PISA reading was assessed) to 2009, the only measurable change in students’ average performance in reading literacy among the G-8 countries was in Germany, where the average score rose.

• In every G-8 country reporting data in 2000 and 2009 (except Japan in 2000), a greater percentage of 15-year-old females than males reported reading for enjoyment. For example, in the United States, the male-female difference in reading enjoyment was 22 percentage points in 2009 (47 percent of males vs. 69 percent of females).

• The United States awarded the lowest percentage (15 percent) of first university degrees in science, mathematics, and engineering-related fields among all the G-8 countries in 2008. In the other G-8 countries, the percentages ranged from 22 percent in Canada and Italy to 29 percent in Germany.