Harold J. Noah was an American educator known for his research in comparative education and economics of education. He received his PhD from Teachers College, Columbia University and served as a professor and dean there. Throughout his career, Noah advocated for the use of empirical social science methods and concepts like human capital theory to examine education systems. He frequently collaborated with Max Eckstein and together they published several influential books on comparative education methodology and analyses of educational systems in countries like the Soviet Union.

1. Life History and Contribution in
Comparative Education
Presented By: Tahira Rafiq

2. ⦁ Harold J. Noah (1925- January 2019) was
an American educator, whose research and
writing have focused on comparative
education and economics of education.
⦁ He was born in London, England and moved
to the United States in 1958.
⦁ His higher education began at the London
School of Economics and King’s
College, University of London, and was
followed by a Ph.D. at Teachers College,
Columbia University.

3. ⦁ He served as Professor at Teachers College,
Columbia, from 1964 to 1987.
⦁ He was appointed to the Gardner
Cowles chair in economics of education.
⦁ He served as Dean of the College from 1976
to 1981.
⦁ He is widely recognized as a distinguished
authority in the field of comparative
education.

4. ⦁ In studies of Soviet education in the 1960s
and 1970s Noah dealt primarily with the
economic and public finance aspects of
schools and higher education in that country.
⦁ In his teaching he espoused the use of what
were at the time increasingly accepted
concepts of human capital and rates of
return to examine the nature and extent of
private and public investments in education
and training, in both market and command
economies.

5. ⦁ From the mid-1960s onward, Noah
advocated the use of empirical social
science methods in comparative education.
⦁ Much of this work was done in collaboration
with his long-standing coauthor, Max A.
Eckstein.
⦁ This collaboration began with “Toward A
Science of Comparative Education”, which
described and critiqued the development over
time of methods of comparing national
systems of education.

6. ⦁ ”Financing Soviet Schools” (1966). This was his
PhD dissertation. A major finding was that,
contrary to general belief in the West, the Soviet
government was more financially supportive of
general secondary education than of specialist
vocational education.
⦁ ”The Economics of Education in the U.S.S.R.”
(1969). Translation of a collection of conference
papers presented in 1964 at the Lenin
Pedagogical Institute, Moscow. The Soviet editor
was Professor V.A. Zhamin, rector of the
Institute.

7. ⦁ “Toward a Science of Comparative Education” (1969),
and the companion book, “Scientific Investigations in
Comparative Education” (1969). Both books
coauthored with Max A. Eckstein. The two books
opened a vigorous debate among scholars and
researchers in comparative education about the
merits and demerits of the approach advocated. This
is a debate far from settled.
⦁ ”The National Case Study: An Empirical Comparative
Study of Twenty-One Educational Systems.
International Studies in Evaluation VII” (1976).
Coauthored with A.H. Passow, Max A. Eckstein and
John Mallea). Based upon data collected by
the International Association for the Evaluation of
Educational Achievement (IEA).

8. ⦁ ”Secondary School Examinations: International
Perspectives on Policies and Practice” (1993).
Coauthored with Max A. Eckstein. Describes,
analyses, and critiques secondary school leaving
examinations in eight major countries. Suggests
some lessons for future United States practise.
Advocates a positive though cautious approach to a
nationwide system of examinations.
⦁ ”Doing Comparative Education: Three Decades of
Collaboration” (1998). Coauthored with Max A.
Eckstein. Brings together selections from Noah’s and
Eckstein’s published works. Contains a foreword
by Philip Foster, who locates the coauthors in the
development of comparative education and subjects
their work to a friendly, yet searching review

9. ”Fraud and Education: The Worm in the Apple”
(2001). Coauthored with Max A. Eckstein. This
study employs data from many countries to
describe the nature, extent, and possible
consequences of dishonest conduct in and
around schooling, higher education, and
scientific research. It suggests some remedies,
while cautioning that continuing advances in the
ease of electronic communication and an
increasingly competitive social ethos all militate
against easy solutions to the problems raised by
cheating, professional misconduct and
falsification of research findings.