The National Center on Education and the Economy is a nonprofit research, policy, and technical-assistance organization focused primarily on improving K–12 education systems. Established in 1988, the organization examines K–12 education within a broader context that includes postsecondary pathways, career preparation, workforce needs, economic opportunity, and civic participation.

The NCEE conducts research, develops policy and system-design approaches, and works with states, school districts, education leaders, policymakers, researchers, and other partners. Its work includes education system design and improvement, career and college readiness, career-connected learning, teaching and school leadership, assessment, education policy, and workforce preparation.

The organization also develops tools, frameworks, leadership-development programs, and policy approaches intended to help states and education systems translate research into practice. Major areas of work have included the National Institute for School Leadership, America’s Choice school improvement initiatives, state education-system redesign, teacher and principal development, instructional systems, and career-connected learning.

International benchmarking is a defining feature of the NCEE’s work. For decades, the organization has studied high-performing and improving education systems around the world to identify policies, practices, and system-design features that may offer lessons for the United States. Through its former Center on International Education Benchmarking, the organization conducted and supported research on education and workforce systems internationally. This work examined issues such as instructional systems, teacher and school-leader development, vocational and technical education, assessment, education governance, and school-to-work transition strategies. Research has included country and jurisdiction studies, comparative analyses, interviews with government, education, and business leaders, and benchmarking visits to education and training systems.

Countries and jurisdictions examined through this work have included Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, and others. The NCEE has a longstanding research partner with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

International research continues to inform the organization’s current work. Its approach emphasizes learning from education systems around the world and translating those findings into policy, system-design, and implementation strategies relevant to U.S. states and communities.

Examples of research connecting education, economic change, workforce preparation, and international system design:

• America’s Choice: High Skills or Low Wages! (1990) — examined relationships among education, workforce skills, productivity, wages, and U.S. economic competitiveness and proposed significant changes to education and workforce-development systems.
• Tough Choices or Tough Times — produced by the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, examined how globalization, technological change, and changing skill requirements were affecting the U.S. economy and considered implications for education and training systems.
• Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: An American Agenda for Education Reform (2011) — examined what U.S. education policies and practices might look like if informed by the policies and practices of countries leading the world in student performance.
• The Phoenix: Vocational Education and Training in Singapore — examined Singapore’s vocational education and training system, including its governance, connections with employers, and pathways between education and careers.
• Made in China: Challenge and Innovation in China’s Vocational and Technical Education System — examined the structure, scale, challenges, and evolution of China’s vocational education and training system.
• Gold Standard: The Swiss Vocational Education and Training System — examined Switzerland’s vocational education and training system as part of the organization’s broader research on approaches to preparing learners for postsecondary education and careers.
• Empowered Educators: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World (2017) — international comparative study examining teacher and teaching quality in high-performing systems, including Australia, Canada, Finland, Shanghai, and Singapore.
• Developing Agency for Life and Work (2026) — presents a framework for the skills, habits, and mindsets learners need to thrive academically, professionally, personally, and in their communities, drawing on research into education systems and changing expectations for learning and work.
• NCEE Policy Levers (2026) — strategies for state leaders seeking to transform education systems. The framework is grounded in the organization’s international benchmarking research and considers connections across education, workforce, and economic systems.

The NCEE uses a diversified funding model that includes program-service revenue, foundation and other philanthropic grants, government funding and public-sector contracts, and investment income. Program-service revenue represents a substantial portion of its operating income and reflects work conducted with states, school districts, education organizations, and other partners, including leadership development, technical assistance, system-design work, research, and policy support. The organization also receives grants from philanthropic foundations and public agencies to support research, program development, and education-system improvement. Recent funders have included organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Wallace Foundation, as well as government and public-sector partners.

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Website: https://ncee.org/