Lessons from PISA for the United States

US President Obama has launched one of the world’s most ambitious education reform agendas. Under the heading “Race to the Top”, this agenda encourages US states to adopt internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace: recruit, develop, reward, and retain effective teachers and principals; build data systems that measure student success; and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices and turn around their lowest-performing schools.

But what does the “top” look like internationally? How have the countries at the top managed to achieve sustained high performance or to significantly improve their performance? The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provides the world’s most extensive and rigorous set of international surveys assessing the knowledge and skills of secondary school students.

This volume combines an analysis of PISA with a description of the policies and practices of those education systems that are close to the top or advancing rapidly, in order to offer insights for policy from their reform trajectories.

Chapter 1: Introduction
A changing yardstick for educational success
Overview
Framework for analysis
What is PISA and what can we learn from it?
How can PISA be used to help improve education systems?
Research methods employed for the country chapters

Chapter 2: Viewing Education in the United States Through the Prism of PISA
Learning outcomes
- Mean performance of United States’ 15-year-olds in the middle of the rankings
- Relative shares of students “at risk”
- Relative shares of top-performing students.
Equity in the distribution of learning opportunities
- Equity in access to resources
- Moderating the impact of socio-economic background on learning outcomes.
- The cost of the achievement gap
The learning environment in the classroom and at school
- Teacher-student relations
- Disciplinary climate
- Teacher-related factors affecting the school climate
How schooling is organised
- Governance of school systems
- School choice
- Public and private schools
- Selection of students into schools, grades and programmes
Assessment and accountability arrangements
- Educational standards
- Examinations
Assessment policies and practices
- Accountability arrangements
Resources
References

Chapter 3: Ontario, Ca nada: Reform to Support High Achievement in a Diverse Context
Introduction
The Canadian education system
Canadian success in education
- Cultural factors
- The welfare state
- Policy factors
Canadian success educating immigrant children
The Ontario experience
- Education system and context for reform
- Leadership, goals and capacity for improvement
- Economic and sociological theories of action: Motivation, trust and respect versus punishment and competition
Lessons from Ontario
Where is Canada on the educational continuum?
Final observations
References

Chapter 4: Shanghai and Hong Kong: Two Distinct Examples of Education Reform in China
Introduction
China’s education system: The cultural context
China’s education system: The historical context
- The Cultural Revolution: 1966 to 1976
- The reconstruction of education: Late 1970s through the 1980s
- Quantitative expansion: 1990 to the present day
- The 21st century: Focus on higher education
Teachers and teaching
Continuous curriculum reform
Shanghai: A leader in reform.
- Ahead of the pack in universal education
- Reforming exams in Shanghai
- Student engagement
- Curriculum reforms
- Overcoming disparity and inequality
- Achievements and challenges in Shanghai’s education system
Hong Kong’s education system: One country, two systems
- The post-war years: The foundations of an elitist system
- The push for universal education: 1960s onwards0
- The 1990s to the present day: The movement towards comprehensive education reform
- Key factors in managing the reform
Achievements and challenges in Hong Kong’s education system
Lessons from Shanghai and Hong Kong
Final observations
References

Chapter 5: Finland: Slow and Steady Reform for Consistently High Results
Introduction
History of the Finnish education system
- Economic development and the cultivation of the schooling culture in Finland
Finnish success in education
- A system involving more than education
- Support for children with special needs
- Significant responsibility for teachers and students
- Social and cultural factors
- Exceptional teacher quality
Future challenges for Finnish education
Lessons from Finland
Final observations
References

Chapter 6: Japan: A Story of Sustained Excellence
Introduction
The Japanese education system: Historical and social context
- The Tokugawa era: 1603 to 1868
- The Meiji Restoration: 1868 to 1912
- The Imperial Rescript: 1880s to 1940s
- The Second World War to the present day: An emphasis on merit and values
The key features of Japan’s education system today
- A standard and demanding national curriculum
- Teaching approaches: An emphasis on student engagement
- School-home communication
- Long schooling hours and additional schooling
- Teacher quality
- Carefully-targeted financial resources
- A focus on equity
- A different approach to accountability and tests
How Japan’s education system is changing to meet today’s challenges
- Creativity and the group versus the individual
- Maintaining the social fabric and student enthusiasm
- A new reform agenda for the 21st century
Lessons from Japan
Where is Japan on the educational continuum?
References

Chapter 7: Singapore: Rapid Improvement Followed by Strong Performance
Introduction
Singapore’s education system: The path to becoming a learning nation
- Survival-driven phase: 1959 to 1978
- Efficiency-driven phase: 1979 to 1996
- Ability-based, aspiration-driven phase: 1997 to the present day
- Current structure
Singapore’s success in education
- A forward-looking, integrated planning system
- Close links between policy implementers, researchers and educators
- Policies with the means to implement them
- The advantages of a small scale
- Commitment to equity and merit
- A strong focus on mathematics, science and technical skills
- Human resource management which matches the demands of the system
- A system which is continuously being improved
Future challenges for Singapore’s education system
Lessons from Singapore
Where is Singapore on the educational continuum?
References

Chapter 8: Brazil: Encouraging Lessons from a Large Federal System
Introduction
Brazil’s education system: A brief history
- Four hundred years of slavery and dictatorship
- The beginnings of an education system: 1930s to 1980s
- The foundations of a democratic system: 1980s to the present day
- The context for reform: Poverty, poor quality teaching and an irrelevant curriculum
Reform takes shape
- Increasing school funding
- Tackling teacher quality
- Setting curriculum standards
- Increasing high school completion
- Focusing on quality
- Creating accountability and setting targets
Industry perspectives on education in Brazil
Case studies of state education reform
- State of Acre
- State of Ceará
- State of São Paulo
Lessons from Brazil
Where is Brazil on the educational continuum?.
Final observations
References

Chapter 9 Germany: once Weak International Standing Prompts Strong Nationwi de
Reforms for Rapid Improvement
Introduction
A historical perspective
- German education takes shape in the 19th and early 20th centuries
- German mass education in the 20th century
- The tripartite system is transformed: The 1960s and 1970s
The German education reforms
- Changing the school structure to reduce the influence of socio-economic background on student achievement
- Addressing the language problems
- Addressing the lack of transparency and accountability in the system
- Increasing school hours
- Increasing autonomy for school heads
- Improving teacher quality
Understanding the impact of the German education reforms
Lessons from Germany
Where is Germany on the educational continuum?
References

Chapter 10: Vignettes on education reforms: England and Poland
England: Tackling teacher shortages
- Some background
- A sophisticated recruitment campaign
- Creating new ways of entering teaching
- Encouraging more science and mathematics teachers
- The impact
- Conclusion
Poland: Secondary education reform
- A highly tracked education system pre-1989
- Education reforms since 1989: The birth of the technical lyceum
- Structural reforms of the late 1990s
- The results: A remarkable turnaround
References

Chapter 11: Lessons for the United States
Introduction
Learning from high-performing education systems
- Developing a commitment to education and a conviction that all students can achieve at high levels
- Establishing ambitious, focused and coherent education standards that are shared across the system and aligned with high-stakes gateways and instructional systems
- Developing more capacity at the point of delivery
- Providing a work organisation in which teachers can use their potential: Management, accountability and knowledge management
- Institutionalising improved instructional practice
- Aligning incentive structures and engaging stakeholders
- Complementing accountability to agents outside schools with accountability professional colleagues and parents
- Investing resources where they can make the most difference
- Balancing local responsibility with a capable centre with authority and legitimacy to act
- The importance of workplace training to facilitate school-to-work transitions
- Ensuring coherence of policies and practices, aligning policies across all aspects of the system, establishing coherence of policies over sustained periods of time and securing consistency of implementation
- Ensuring an outwards orientation of the system to keep the system evolving, and to recognise challenges and potential future threats to current success
America’s assets