A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

      FOR RELEASE                                          Contact: David Thomas     August 16, 1996                                               (202) 401-1576

New Report Compares Education in States, Nations; 20 States Top 20 Industrialized Nations in Attaining Secondary Degrees by Age 34 [Figure 21b]

That's true virtually everywhere, but according to a new report released today by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics, the link between education and earnings is stronger in the U.S. than in most other countries.

"We cannot allow the education gap to widen," said U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. "Increasingly, everyone needs at least two years of education beyond high school. We must be working diligently to open doors of opportunity for a college education, and we must constantly stress that the more you learn, the more you earn."

The U.S. was second only to Portugal in the income gap between high school dropouts and college graduates in a comparison of 12 industrialized nations. And there were 18 U.S. states that reported a greater earnings premium for more education than 10 of the 12 countries included. [Indicator 27a]

Education in States and Nations: Indicators Comparing U.S. States with Other Industrialized Countries in 1991 provides 37 indicators comparing U.S. states with other industrialized countries. The indicators are grouped into six categories: background; participation; processes and institutions; achievement and attainment; labor market outcomes; and finance.

"Because of the increasing internationalization of the economy, many people want to know how their state stacks up compared to other states and nations," Riley said.

For example, in U.S. states and Canada, higher education enrollment rates are much higher than in other industrialized countries. [Indicator 8] In some countries, higher education is mainly career oriented and admission often very selective, while in U.S. states, higher education is available to almost any qualified high school graduate.

Poverty, teen pregnancies and safety are issues that continue to adversely affect American education in most states. Thirty eight of the U.S. states had higher percentages of children living in poverty than all 17 of the other countries to which they were compared. Births to teen mothers generally constituted a higher percentage of all births in the states than in many of the industrialized nations. And a greater percentage of youth died violently from accidents, suicides and homicides in the U.S. states than most other nations.

Preschool education varied widely across states and nations. In the G 7 countries for which data are available, enrollment for three year olds ranged from about 20 percent in Japan to almost 100 percent in France. In the U.S., about one third of three year olds were enrolled. And none of the states had an enrollment rate higher than 39 percent among three year olds, while seven of 14 other countries did. [Indicator 9]

While U.S. students generally have a shorter school year, they often had more hours of instructional time in school than students in other developed countries. The average hours of instruction per year in the U.S. (1,003) exceeded that of 13 of the other countries. Only France, Taiwan, China, Switzerland, and Scotland had more instructional hours annually. [Indicator 20]

Across the states, average hours of instruction per year ranged from 936 in Idaho and Massachusetts to 1,092 in Mississippi.

However, U.S. students tend to spend less time studying while out of school and more time watching television, according to the report. Across the states, only between 19 and 34 percent of 8th grade students reported that they did two or more hours of homework each day. And they spent more time watching television than did students in most other countries for which data are available. [Indicator 18]

"As we start a new school year, I urge parents to establish a regular time and quiet place for their children to do homework, to monitor television watching of their children, and to read together," Riley said. "It's hard to be a parent, but no task is more vital -- vital to children and vital to the future of the nation."

Additional highlights from Education in States and Nations:

Full time enrollment rates of 18 to 21 year lds varied widely in non university higher education in both U.S. states and other countries. The range was wider across the states, however. The states ranged from 0.3 percent in South Dakota to 18.3 percent in Wyoming , while the countries ranged from 0.7 percent in Denmark to 14 percent in Belgium [Indicator 12]

Among the G 7 countries, only Canada had a greater university completion rate than the U.S. (33 versus 30 graduates per 100 persons at the graduation reference age). The rate for the United States was more than twice that of Germany and more than triple that of Italy.

Nine of the 14 countries represented in Indicator 33a spend a greater percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP) on primary through higher education than the U.S. Sweden, Denmark and Norway spend a higher percentage of their GDP than any state. Finland, Canada and Hungary spend more of their GDP than 46 U.S. states.

The difference in unemployment rates between those having completed high school and college ranged across the states from about 1.5 percentage points in Hawaii and Nebraska to over 5 percentage points in Alaska and West Virginia. The range across countries was wider and lower, from 0.7 in Switzerland to 4.9 in Finland [Indicator 26]

For ordering information, call the National Library of Education (800) 424 1616. Copies will be available through the U.S. Government Printing Office at (202) 512 1800, or on the department's website at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs/esn.

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