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The creation of the Mexican Society for Comparative Education (SOMEC) in 2004 led to increased academic activity, such as designing research projects, picking up speed on publications by Mexican scholars, and developing and importing theoretical approaches. SOMEC has been a significant catalyst in expanding and strengthening comparative education in Mexico and Ibero-America by making studies and research in this discipline accessible to teachers and scholars. SOMEC has contributed substantially to consolidating a robust and diverse academic community in comparative education. SOMEC members have focused on several areas to promote the development and dissemination of comparative education. One of these areas is the publication of specialized volumes, which serve as platforms for sharing research, theories, and pioneering practices. Through critique and debate, SOMEC attempts to influence educational policies. Its work in facilitating access to research and promoting academic exchange has been fundamental to the growth and consolidation of the field of comparative education in Mexico and Ibero-America.

The field of comparative and international education in Mexico is still under construction in the early 21st century. The formation of the Sociedad Mexicana de Educación Comparada in 2004 has led to increased comparative education activity, theory-building, research, and publication by Mexican scholars, however. Most professors define comparative or international education based on their research context. In the early 21st century in Mexico, the research context is largely one of decentralization of education in different Mexican states. The future of comparative education in Mexico is likely to be characterized by an increase in funding for education research by diverse government agencies, international organizations, and private foundations. It is debatable whether a transformation of comparative education teaching and pedagogy will occur, but the envisaged increase in research may influence the academic publications studied in comparative education courses in Mexico.

In May of 1992 the Mexican federal government transferred to the 31 states responsibility over basic and teacher education. This decentralization strategy was at the core of an overall educational reform that began in late 1980s. The central government had strong motives to decentralize the educational institution because the highly centralized system was notoriously rigid, inefficient, conflict laden, unresponsive to the needs of local schools, unable to improve the quality of education, and frequently dominated by the National Teachers’ Union. The decentralization reform generated important institutional change in the states, some power shifts, and planted the seeds of a new organizational model for school management.

In this chapter, the authors provide a historical overview of the development of comparative and international education in North America from 1920s to the beginning of the twenty-first century. The authors document the significant role some of the most influential leaders played to help lay the foundation for comparative education societies in Canada, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, and the United States. Using historical comparative research technique, the authors examine the many interconnections of current and past leaders. The authors conclude with recommendations on how knowing the history can help strengthen comparative and international education development well into the future.

This chapter discusses some of the criticisms of standardized assessments by doing a document analysis of mainly Mexico's and Argentina's ministries of education's web sites and exploring the theoretical work of diverse authors, mainly critical pedagogues and culturalists. This chapter argues that the process of assessment using standardized tests is a highly political and even commercial process, but the challenge to compete globally, still perform locally, collaborate in solidarity, and decide collectively whose knowledge is of most worth is still before us. As exemplified in Mexico's test ENLACE, standardized tests tend to show a negative bias against minorities and tendency to highlight certain values and knowledge. Countries should seek for as many partnership opportunities with teachers and communities to be able to assess learning collectively and even consider not adopting policies passively, as opposed to having an international organization or policy dictating what is worth knowing and testing. This way, assessment will still help countries compete globally, still perform locally, and collaborate in solidarity.

Taking as reference a sample of around a hundred biographical materials on entrepreneurs in Mexico and Colombia, the purpose of this chapter is dual. Both to show the relevance and varied modalities that the biographical approach has enjoyed in business history research since the 1990s, and to display the intrinsic potential this modality of scholarship entails for entrepreneurship endeavors. In particular, it discusses the prospects to incorporate this body of empirical works into the large Latin American audience attending undergraduate, graduate and executive education programs in business, economic history and related fields. The chapter is organized into three sections. The first two are devoted to illustrate relevant patterns in the entrepreneurial trajectory of individuals and entrepreneurial families studied in each of the two countries under consideration. The last section identifies some conceptual issues that may impact current debates on Latin American business development as exemplified in recent business and economic history journal venues and scholarly conferences.

In this chapter, the authors analyze the academic field of comparative education in Spanish speaking Latin America as a contested construction both in epistemological and political dimensions. First, the authors provide a brief historical account of the origin and development of comparative education in the region since the nineteenth century. Next, they focus on the current state of the field by addressing three aspects: (1) the institutional basis, specially the development of comparative education societies; (2) an account of the contributions of international organizations, both in terms of studies that have been recently conducted and of the development of data bases; and (3) an analysis of prevailing topics as well as theoretical and methodological approaches in a sample of articles published during the 2010-2017 period. The authors conclude by summarizing the main aspects of the current situation, and pointing to future epistemological and political challenges for the field in the region.