This section will provide you with information on the growing field of comparative education.  Here you will find several books on comparative education as well as professional journals on the subject.  There is also a link to the Comparative and International Education Society of the United States and brief information about the Bologna Process.

http://books.google.com/books?id=nJVDAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=comparative+education:+studies+of+the+educational+systems+of+six+modern+nations

• This is a Google Book website for the book Comparative Education: Studies of the Educational Systems of Six Modern Nations by H.W. Foght, A. H. Hope, I. L. Kandel, W. Russel, and Peter Sandiford. It compares the educational systems of the United States, Germany, England, France, Canada, and Denmark.

http://www.cies.us/

• This is the website for the Comparative and International Education Society of the United States. This website allows for online conferences and has discussion boards, an online newsletter, and other documents important to understanding and promoting studies in comparative and international education.

http://books.google.com/books?id=urCHH10HK_0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=pedagogy+and+ict+use+in+school+around+the+world#PPT1,M1

• This is a Google Books website for the book Pedagogy and ICT Use in Schools around the World by Nancy Law, Willem J. Pelgrum, and Tjeer Plomp. This book explores the impact the pedagogical use of information and communication technology in schools around the world.

http://www.tc.columbia.edu/CICE/index.html

• This is the website for Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE), an international online, open access journal. It contains diverse articles on current comparative education issues and is an open forum for discussion of such issues.

http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/mainframe.htm

• This is the website for the International Education Journal. It provides free access to the journal. The focus of the journal is to further debate on a wide range of international educational issues.
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLBZqrzZvk8

• This short video introduces statistics of America’s education and the need for a change.

www.greatschools.net

• This website allows you to compare K-12 school ratings, view parent ratings, and contains reviews and test scores. This website also advocates for trying to improve American schools so that we can compete with those outperforming us around the world.
  
  

The goal of the Bologna Process, named after the place of its proposal, was to create a standardized and quality system for achieving a degree in Europe. Until this time it was difficult to compare degree standards. It was initially signed by 29 European countries in 1999 but was opened to new signatories in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007. Goals were ease in inter-country for further study or employment; increase attractiveness of European higher education to foreigners; provide a quality knowledge base to promote Europe as a stable, peaceful, tolerant country benefiting from it’s education system; and decrease the distance between US and European higher education by adopting aspects of the American system.

Though many look at the Bologna Process as a positive measure it does have critics. One problem is it’s lack of differentiation between vocational and academic higher education. It is particularly problematic when compared to the old engineers degree. Vocational students who wish to advance to a masters degree are disadvantaged because they have only received three years degrees. This makes a master’s degree the minimum qualification to be a professional engineer; it had been the bachelor’s degree. Three-year academic degrees would also give the same title as a full vocationally-trained engineer though they would not be fully prepared to fill that role.