Educational Policy and Cognitive Competences Heiner Rindermann and Stephen J. Ceci Educational Policy and Country Outcomes in International Cognitive Competence Studies Heiner Rindermann1 and Stephen J. Ceci2 1Institute of Psychology, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Austria, and 2Department of Human Development, Cornell University Address correspondence to Heiner Rindermann, Institute of Psychology, Karl-Franzens- University Graz, Universitaetsplatz 2, A-8010 Graz, Austria; e-mail:
[email protected]; or Stephen J. Ceci, Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853-4401; e-mail:
[email protected]. Educational policy and cognitive competences 2 ABSTRACT—Prior studies of students’ and adults’ cognitive competence have shown large differences between nations, equivalent to a difference of 5 to 10 years of schooling. These differences seem to be relevant because studies using different research paradigms have demonstrated that population-level cognitive abilities are related to a number of important societal outcomes, including productivity, democratization, and health. In this overview of transnational differences, we document a number of positive predictors of international differences in student competence, including the amount of preschool education, student discipline, quantity of education, attendance at additional schools, early tracking, the use of centralized exams and high stakes tests, and adult educational attainment. We found rather negative relationships for grade retention rates, age of school onset, and class size. Altogether, these results, when combined with the outcomes of earlier studies, demonstrate that international differences in cognitive competence can be explained in part by aspects of the respective countries’ educational systems and that these differences consequently can be reduced by reform of their educational policy.