VET Reform A look at how China and Singapore are working to improve their vocational education and training (VET) systems and new research showing that more VET options can lead to a reduction in the high school dropout rate. According to the Shanghai Daily, six Chinese...
By Marc Tucker I was trying to explain the American focus on accountability as a driver of education reform the other day to an old friend, who recently retired as managing director of a regional law firm he had built into an international powerhouse. He could...
By Jennifer Craw NCEE will soon release a new report, Fixing Our National Accountability System. The report explains why the success of any education system is integrally tied to the design of its accountability system, in particular, the way in which the system treats its teachers. ...
By Marc Tucker I have not, until now, used this space to talk about a program run by NCEE, the organizational sponsor of this newsletter. But I am doing just that in this Tucker’s Lens. I have the sense that there is a growing realization around...
By Jackie Kraemer and Jennifer Craw The United States long led the world in the percent of its population that achieved a bachelor’s degree. Since the 1990s, however, that has no longer been the case for the younger generation. As of 2010, among the top performers...
By Austin Delaney and Jackie Kraemer Estonia has emerged as a top-performer on PISA, raising the question of how this former Soviet Republic created one of the strongest education systems in the world over the past twenty years. The innovative education reforms in Estonia highlight how...
This month’s feature takes a look at international education rankings, published by The Economist Intelligence Unit, and two different OECD briefs that examine the latest PISA data in relation to classroom instruction time and student motivational levels. On a national level, new studies were recently...
Vivien Stewart recently returned from the latest in a series of international summits on the teaching profession, this one hosted by New Zealand. Once again, Stewart was asked by the sponsors to write a summary of the proceedings, a report she is now working on. ...
By Austin Delaney The recent history of Estonia is a powerful case study of how a country can succeed by investing in a high-skills orientated education system designed to support a high technology economy. Estonia has used such a strategy to transform itself from a poor...
By Jackie Kraemer Unlike the top-performing countries on the 2012 PISA, the United States stands out for the amount of external testing it requires for all students. As the chart below shows, the United States is the only country among this set to require annual testing...