By Miki Aristorenas This month, we take a more granular look at Vocational Education and Training (VET) by examining two programs from two of the world’s best VET systems and one model of excellence in the United States in hopes that U.S. policymakers can learn from these programs and adapt those lessons for ...

Systems change in education is not for the faint of heart. And with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) rolling back the federal government’s footprint in education policy, states are now in the driver’s seat of education change. For many state and local education systems in the United States, nothing short of rethinking ...

By Jennifer Craw Sources: Estonia: http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/447/Estonia-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html https://www.hm.ee/et/tegevused/koolivaheajad Finland: https://www.utu.fi/en/units/tis/calendar/Pages/home.aspx https://fillingmymap.com/2015/04/15/11-ways-finlands-education-system-shows-us-that-less-is-more/ Germany: https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/germany/family/schooling-education/school-schedule https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/germanschools.html https://www.schulferien.org/deutschland/ferien/2017-2018/ https://publicholidays.de/school-holidays/berlin/ Hong Kong: http://www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/primary-secondary/applicable-to-primary/whole-day-schooling/index.html http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/curriculum-development/resource-support/guidelines-sch-calendar/Calculation%20of%20School%20Holidays%20and%20School%20Days%20-%20June%202011.pdf Japan: http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/calendar/april/schoolyear.html http://global.chuo-u.ac.jp/english/unicms/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Academic_Year_and_Academic_Calendar.pdf New Zealand: https://parents.education.govt.nz/essential-information/school-terms-and-holidays/ https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/living-in-nz/education/school-system Netherlands: https://study.studentnews.eu/s/3693/75527-School-year-in-Europe/4468142-Netherlands-201718.htm https://www.government.nl/topics/school-holidays/question-and-answer/school-holidays-2017%E2%80%932018 Ontario: http://www.tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/Calendar https://settlement.org/ontario/education/elementary-and-secondary-school/general-information/when-do-children-begin-and-end-school-each-day/ Shanghai: http://xiaoxue.eol.cn/zx/shanghai/xiaoxue/201707/t20170717_1541162.shtml https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/2017 http://hechingered.org/content/a-day-in-the-life-of-chinese-students_3826/ Singapore: https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/school-terms-and-holidays-for-2018 https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/singapore/moving/country-file/public-holidays https://internationalednews.com/2014/09/17/the-school-day-singapore/ South Korea: http://www.bbc.com/news/education-25187993 http://www.jobmonkey.com/asia/school_calendar_in_s_k_/ Taiwan: https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/taiwan/family/schooling-education/school-year http://www.jobmonkey.com/asia/school_calendar_in_tw/ USA https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/tables/table_2004_06.asp https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/tables/table_2004_06.asp ...

By Jennifer Craw