More about the NCES International Activities Program

NCES coordinates the participation of U.S. adults, students, teachers, and schools in various international education studies. This activity entails:

• Collaborating with international organizations to design and develop international studies;
• Overseeing the national implementation and data collection of these studies.

On behalf of the United States, NCES participates in the International Indicators of Education Systems (INES), an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) program. The main product of this work is the Education at a Glance report, an annual education indicator report, which includes indicators of participation, achievement, contexts, resources, expenditures, and economic and social outcomes of education.

NCES produces indicator reports of international data on education, such as the biennial Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G8 Countries. It also hosts a library of international data tables and is developing a web-based International Data Explorer to allow users to analyze data and customize tables and figures from PISA, PIRLS, and TIMSS.

Another major NCES effort in this area is through the International Indicators of Education Systems (INES), an OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) program. NCES staff and contractors join colleagues from other participating countries in working groups centered on education topics of mutual interest and work to develop measures, collect data, and produce indicators. The main product of this work is the annual OECD publication, Education at a Glance.

NCES coordinates the participation of U.S. adults, students, teachers, and schools in various international education studies. NCES oversees the national implementation of these studies and the national analysis and reporting of the data collected. It contributes to the design and development of all international assessments in which the United States participates. It publishes U.S. results from the international assessments. NCES also encourages the analysis of international assessment data by researchers through data dissemination and training.

NCES currently coordinates the U.S. participation in four international studies. Click here to see an overview of these international studies.

In addition earlier international assessments are available at: