The success of the Republic of Estonia in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was a surprise both nationally and internationally and has led to several important questions. What are the reasons for these results? Which historical developments and recent decisions have allowed a small and not particularly rich country to build…

High stakes examinations can have profound implications for how science is taught and learned. Limitations of school science such as the 'cookbook problem' can potentially be addressed if high stakes assessments target learning outcomes that are innovative. For example, less mindless procedural engagement and more thoughtful consideration of…

The High Performing Systems for Tomorrow (HPST) was a three-year partnership among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), and a select group of education leaders, including Directors-General, Deputy Ministers, senior advisors, and others, from among a group of…

The rural education landscape once consisted of one-room schools where a single teacher educated, took care of and supervised students of diverse ages. While multi-grade teaching is still common in many schools, particularly in primary education, increased government spending, better transport networks and higher social expectations have given…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine the consequences of mutual borrowing of educational policies and practices between the East and the West and implications for Chinese education. Design/Approach/Methods: This paper draws upon a wide variety of historical, cultural, and international assessment data. Findings: The analyses found…

The last two decades have seen fast-moving and wholescale changes in the ways that education is now provided in French schools, in the nature of learner assessment, and in the form and scale of system evaluation. Innovation and reform have in part followed international trends, themselves triggered by the global impact of the international…

Poland has made substantial progress in improving the quality of its education system in recent years. This paper aims to describe the situation of the Polish education system from a knowledge management perspective and, to some extent, through innovation policies in education. The many challenges, this paper argues, can be tackled only through…

While Massachusetts has received accolades for its high scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, absolute results from standardized tests tend to correlate strongly with family income and parental education. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education…

This article shares the author's vision for a more responsive education system. States can create a more agile, more American, system of governance that eliminates impediments to improvement, empowers schools to innovate, and uses data to help families find the right schools for their children. The author presents four proposals that would move…

International assessments such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) have exhibited United States students specifically in the fourth and eighth grades, are not performing well when compared to their international peers. Educational stakeholders including…

Gränsöverskridande Nordisk Undervisning/Utdanelse (GNU, meaning Cross-Border Nordic Education), the larger Nordic project, under which this case study was carried out, aims at developing innovative, cross-border teaching models in different subject domains in elementary school, including mathematics, language, science, social studies and history.…

This article examines innovative approaches to augmenting science lessons taught in middle and high school, with special emphasis on the importance of the early teen years, when experiences both in and out of school have significant impact on career decisions. This is a reflective essay on the recent work of science educators and educational…

Successful education systems are those that promote leadership at all levels, thereby encouraging teachers and principals, regardless of the formal positions they occupy, to lead innovation in the classroom, the school and the system as a whole. This report summarises evidence from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey and the OECD…

Results from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) have shown that the degree to which education systems succeed in equipping students with important foundation skills varies significantly. Since the quality of teaching is at the heart of student learning…

It's no surprise that, 28 years after the publication of "A Nation at Risk," school-reform efforts have generated so little effect. The nation's schools have proven, over the past century, adept at resisting change. Recent attempts to inject accountability and innovation have brought an important opportunity. No Child Left Behind helped…