By Julie Davis Bell

You may have read stories about how students in the U.S. are achieving at lower levels than their counterparts in other countries, and you probably approached that news with some skepticism. 

How are comparisons between countries even possible given vastly different education systems? 

Many Asian countries have long held values about education and family involvement that aren’t as entrenched in U.S. culture. Other countries, such as Finland, are so much smaller than the U.S. How can these comparisons be fair?

The comparisons are certainly not perfect but there are important lessons for education that U.S. policymakers can learn from the world’s top performing countries. This is the finding from nearly two years of study by the NCSL International Education Study Group. 

The report, "No Time to Lose: How to Build a World-Class Education System State by State," is based on the culmination of nearly two years of study by the NCSL International Education Study Group, a bipartisan group of state legislators and legislative staff representing 26 states.  The report explains the commonalities between the top performing countries, and details what steps states can take to once again compete internationally.

While international comparisons may not be perfect, for both cultural and historical reasons, the best tool we have to understand how students around the world compare is the PISA—Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)—that is administered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 

At NCSL’s Fall Forum in 2013, state legislators heard about the latest PISA scores from lead researcher Andreas Schleicher, as well as Marc Tucker from the National Center on Education and Economy. The tests showed an alarming stagnation of U.S. student performance.

The countries that fare well on the PISA approached education reform as the key to strengthening economic development and international competitiveness. They used common building blocks to dramatically improve performance for all students. Following that session, leaders of the NCSL Education Standing Committee recommended that NCSL study this further to try to understand what lessons from other countries were fair and relevant for the states.

The NCSL Study Group was organized in 2014 and was made up of 22 savvy and experienced state legislators—11 Republicans and 11 Democrats—and six senior legislative staff representing a total of 28 states. 

The group began studying PISA research—how it was conducted, what conclusions could and couldn’t be drawn from it—and what other countries were doing in education reform. Legislators and legislative staff formed into teams to study in-depth the top performing countries and report back their findings to the full study group.

The group, pictured above observing an elementary class in Shanghai, heard from many of the top people in the world who study education and who implemented education reform in the top countries. 

The ongoing debate and discussion was a fascinating journey around the world to learn what strategies top performing countries—and top performing states—had in common. Democrats and Republicans had refreshing debates about how international reforms compared to reforms targeted and implemented in the states. 

And now, at the end of the study period, members of the group have come together to report to their colleagues about important lessons learned for the states. 

After nearly two years of study, the study group will release its findings next week at the NCSL Legislative Summit in Chicago. The event will be held from 10:45 a.m. to noon CT on Tuesday, Aug. 9, in room W185bc of McCormick Place, site of NCLS's Legislative Summit. The event will be live streamed to a national audience. 

Join us at the Summit to learn more about the recommendations or follow our blogs about the study group. The report and other information about the findings will be posted on NCSL.org immediately following the release event. Stay tuned.

Julie Bell is director of NCSL's education program.

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