Common Core: What Is International Benchmarking?

International benchmarking in the Common Core standards refers to the idea that the standards were created through analyzing the performance rates, models, and data of successful countries across the world.

According to the Common Core’s website, it analyzed the top-performing countries’ math and English language and arts literacy standards in creating its own educational criteria and goals to conform more closely to those standards.

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Many educators believe that referring to international models and analyzing what works well and what doesn’t work well in preparing children for college and careers boosts the United States’ chances of properly preparing students for to thrive in a highly competitive international market.

A few of the international assessments that the U.S. uses in its international benchmarking include the International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The highest performing countries worldwide in these studies include Japan, Korea, Singapore, Canada, and Finland, according to Achieve, an organization devoted to gathering together educational leaders across the globe and analyzing common experiences and challenges.

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In 2010, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) released a report that compiled the results of its research into relevant educational policymakers and practitioners and their adherence to international benchmarks.

In this report, AIR concluded that high international educational expectations in the U.S. cannot be fulfilled if no consistent national expectations exist in accordance with one another across the country. AIR used international benchmarking to analyze the “expectations gap” between what students are expected to learn in each individual state with other states’ expectations.

The study found that because the states’ standards were inconsistent with one another, the U.S. as a whole does not compare favorably with other countries.

Because of this inconsistency, AIR recommended that each state adopt the Common Core standards individually in order to achieve the goal of achieving consistently high and competitive performances internationally.

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