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The Case Study Project is a component of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and this volume-To Sum It Up-is one of five publications in the Case Study Project. The Project was designed to provide in-depth information on education in three nations: Germany, Japan, and the United States. The four research topics which were the focus of the case studies in each of these countries were selected by the U.S. Department of Education in an effort to collect qualitative data which would complement and amplify the quantitative information obtained through the main Third International Mathematics and Science Study. The topics investigated in the Case study Project were: education standards, dealing with differences in ability, the place of school in adolescents' lives, and the training and working conditions of teachers.
The purpose in conducting the case studies was to describe the education processes that exist in a sample of cities in each of the three countries. The goal was to select research sites that were as comparable as possible among the three countries in terms of such factors as size, geographic distribution, and economic base. The primary sites where most of the data were collected were large metropolitan areas with populations of several million persons, while the secondary sites had populations of at least several hundred thousand. Within each site an effort was made to select a range of primary and secondary schools that represented successful, average, and less successful schools, in terms of such indices as scores on achievement tests, scores on college or high school entrance tests, and percentages of students entering colleges or universities.
Extensive interviews, discussions, and classroom observations were conducted in the TIMSS case studies in 1994-1995 to provide needed information about how three industrialized countries cope with several critical issues in education. In Germany, over 366 hours of interviews were conducted with 199 parents, teachers, students, principals, counselors, and assistant principals. A total of over 494 hours of interviews were held in Japan, with 247 persons. In the United States, researchers conducted over 542 hours of interviews with 271 persons.
This volume reports the main findings about the education systems and the practices, attitudes, and beliefs of the participants in the education of primary and secondary students in the three countries. From the discussions and observations that were conducted, it is obvious that there are both remarkable commonalities and striking differences among the three countries in many aspects of education. This publication may offer tentative suggestions about ways in which we may gain a better understanding of the process of education in the United States, and of topics that merit further exploration and research.
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[Chapter 1 - Introduction]