US should look abroad for ed lessons

In a report titled "Benchmarking for Success," high-level state officials call for action to ensure that American students are globally competitive. Education leaders, the report advises, should renew the focus on international benchmarking and look toward other countries for help in drafting state achievement standards. The report's advisory group, which consisted of governors, state education commissioners, business executives, researchers, and other officials, identified five transformative steps the U.S. education system should take to produce more globally competitive students. The group was convened by the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and Achieve. The five steps American education should take to produce more globally competitive students:

1) Upgrade state standards by adopting a common core of internationally benchmarked standards in math and language arts for grades K-12;

2) Leverage states' collective influence to ensure textbooks, digital media, curricula and assessments are aligned to internationally benchmarked standards and draw on lessons from high-performing nations;

3) Revise state policies for recruiting, preparing, developing, and supporting teachers and school leaders to reflect the 'human capital' practices of top-performing nations and states around the world;

4) Hold schools and systems accountable through monitoring, interventions, and support to ensure consistently high performance, drawing upon international best practices; and

5) Measure state-level education performance globally by examining student achievement and attainment in an international context to ensure that students are receiving the education they need to compete in the 21st century economy.