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If you’re feeling refreshed after the long holiday weekend, here’s a meaty new report to tackle: The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has just released its
_Education at a Glance 2010_, a bit of a misnomer for the 470-page tome. _Education at a Glance_ provides a buffet of more than 100 indicators on everything from international teacher
salaries (still below comparable fields in most countries) to school choice (on the rise, with more than half reducing barriers to choice among public schools and 10 countries providing new
choice money.) It covers information from the 31 mostly European OECD member countries, as well as eight non-members including Brazil, China, India and Indonesia. This year the OECD seems to
echo President Obama’s push to improve college graduation rates, with a highlighted section connecting overall average education levels to global unemployment rates during the economic
crash. While students who did not complete secondary school have seen unemployment rates topping 9 percent in the past year, only 4 percent or fewer of those with a college degree (which the
OECD calls a tertiary education) have faced the same problem. “With the worldwide recession continuing to weigh on employment levels, education is an essential investment for responding to
the changes in technology and demographics that are reshaping labor markets,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría in a statement on the report’s release. I’ll be digging into the report
throughout the week; in the meantime, let me know your thoughts on any of the indicators: What surprised you?