The purpose of this article is to reexamine the 40 years of educational planning experience in Turkey comparatively with the educational planning experience in the international arena. Turkey has used educational planning since 1963. Planning in general has been defined as a decision-making process to reach certain goals in the future. This study used a case study method. Information was collected from the reviews of literature with regard to implementation process, plans, organizational documents, and reports. International comparisons in the evolution of planning process were made with a number of countries--namely, France, Germany, and Finland. Comparisons with the French experience are interesting given that the Turkish bureaucracy resembles French bureaucracy with regard to the state, the state bureaucracy, and a centralized educational system. Comparatively, state and market interaction in industrialized countries such as France, Germany, and Finland may be explained by Clark's (1983) triangle heuristic. The Turkish educational planning system is characterized by an extensive state control, whereas the French system has tight control and highly inclusive coordination mechanisms within a relatively small system capable of effective planning. In Germany, the system of state structures, federal control, and market mechanism interact. (Contains 3 tables.)