Since the 1960's, the United States has participated actively in international projects that are designed to provide key information about the performance of the U.S. education system relative to education systems in other countries. With the long-term growth in the trade of goods and services in the global economy, policymakers have turned to international comparisons to assess how well national systems of education are performing. These comparisons shed light on a host of issues, including access to education, equity of resources, and outcomes such as education attainment and performance on standardised tests. This book provides the opportunity to compare different aspects of countries' education systems, assess these systems' performance, and identify potential strategies to improve student achievement and system outputs.