This report summarizes the characteristics of physics education in 12 countries: Argentina; Brazil; Canada; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; Guatemala; Jamaica; Mexico; the United States; and Venezuela. An introductory chapter describes the goals of the Council on Inter-American Conferences on Physics Education, historical background, audience, and organization of the report. The next 12 chapters include: (1) general information about the country; (2) description of the educational system; (3) data and information on the state of physics education at each of the educational levels (primary, secondary, and tertiary); (4) descriptions of graduate programs in physics; (5) efforts to improve physics education in the country under consideration; and (6) an analysis on the professional physicist. The final cross-country examination chapter includes a summary of the data and information collected. A general bibliography and bibliographies by country are appended. (YP)