If you’re feeling refreshed after the long holiday weekend, here’s a meaty new report to tackle: The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has just released its Education at a Glance 2010, a bit of a misnomer for the 470-page tome.
Education at a Glance provides a buffet of more than 100 indicators on everything from international teacher salaries (still below comparable fields in most countries) to school choice (on the rise, with more than half reducing barriers to choice among public schools and 10 countries providing new choice money.) It covers information from the 31 mostly European OECD member countries, as well as eight non-members including Brazil, China, India and Indonesia.
This year the OECD seems to echo President Obama’s push to improve college graduation rates, with a highlighted section connecting overall average education levels to global unemployment rates during the economic crash. While students who did not complete secondary school have seen unemployment rates topping 9 percent in the past year, only 4 percent or fewer of those with a college degree (which the OECD calls a tertiary education) have faced the same problem.
“With the worldwide recession continuing to weigh on employment levels, education is an essential investment for responding to the changes in technology and demographics that are reshaping labor markets,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría in a statement on the report’s release.
I’ll be digging into the report throughout the week; in the meantime, let me know your thoughts on any of the indicators: What surprised you?