What Makes A World Class School And How We Can Get There

For years, students in the United States have lagged behind students in many other countries on such measures of achievement as the PISA and TIMSS assessments. In an increasingly globalized world, such a gap is worrisome. Armed with statistics, examples, and cautionary tales from Scandinavia to Japan, James H. Stronge and Xianxuan Xu have written a book that can help educators better prepare students and close that gap. In What Makes a World-Class School and How We Can Get There, you will find * Careful analysis of recent international assessment results—what they mean and what can be done to improve them. * In-depth profiles of high-achieving education systems around the globe—their histories, their lessons learned, and what they can teach educators and policymakers in the United States. * Strategies for aligning successful educational approaches from international systems to U.S. schools—which strategies to use, in which subjects, and with which students. * Transformative ideas for cultivating a truly world-class system of schooling—both simple and complex ways to raise the bar for all students, no matter what their background. Educators in every country must ensure that their students are as prepared as possible to lead a future generation of citizens. This thought-provoking and copiously researched book provides educators with a blueprint for radical improvement based on the hard-learned experiences of their peers around the world.

This thought-provoking and copiously researched book provides educators with a blueprint for radical improvement based on the hard-learned experiences of their peers around the world.

Andreas Schleicher - initiator of PISA and an international authority on education policy - offers a unique perspective on education reform.

Schools that want to be world class are now paying attention to the findings from neuroscience and psychology that tell us we can build better brains. They are changing their mindset, expecting success for far more students and no longer being constrained by ideas of genetic potential. High Performance Learning provides readers with a ground-breaking and approachable model for achieving high levels of academic performance for all students and schools. It takes what is known about how people reach advanced cognitive performance and translates it into a practical and user-friendly framework, which can be used with all students to systematically build the cognitive thinking skills and learner behaviours that will deliver success in school, in the workplace and in later life. Flexible and adaptable, High Performance Learning can be used in any context, with any curriculum and at any age. It does not require separate lessons but rather becomes the underpinning pedagogy of the school. Drawing on the author’s 40 years of research into how the most able students think and learn, this book provides a framework that has been extensively trialled in schools in eleven countries. . Themes include: Creating world class schools The High Performance Learning environment The High Performance Learning framework Advanced Cognitive Performance characteristics (ACPs) Values, Attitudes and Attributes (VAAs) Creating and leading a High Performance Learning school The role of parents, universities and employers. This invaluable resource will help schools make the move from good to world class and will be essential reading for school leaders, teachers and those with an interest in outstanding academic performance.

In this book the authors have conducted extensive research and describe what makes a successful school and how this varies in different countries. The book follows the progress of a cohort of 7-year-old children through their schools over a two-year period. It covers schools in the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, and Ireland and: *draw together what it is that the most and least effective schools do in each country *pinpoints what makes 'effective teaching' across the globe *analyses which effectiveness-producing school and teaching factors appear to be the same and which are context specific *discusses how educational policies can be used to generate World Class Schools and which new blends of practice can, or should be used The existing literature based upon the comparison of the educational achievements of different countries is inadequate. This unique study provides a rich picture of the processes of the education systems of different countries which will appeal to practitioners and policy makers.

Designed to promote conversation about how to educate students for a rapidly changing, innovation-based world, this comprehensive and illuminating book from international education expert Vivien Stewart focuses on understanding what the world's best school systems are doing right for the purpose of identifying what U.S. schools--at the national, state, and local level--might do differently and better.

In this book the authors have conducted extensive research and describe what makes a successful school and how this varies in different countries. The book follows the progress of a cohort of 7-year-old children through their schools over a two-year period. It covers schools in the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, and Ireland and: *draw together what it is that the most and least effective schools do in each country *pinpoints what makes 'effective teaching' across the globe *analyses which effectiveness-producing school and teaching factors appear to be the same and which are context specific *discusses how educational policies can be used to generate World Class Schools and which new blends of practice can, or should be used The existing literature based upon the comparison of the educational achievements of different countries is inadequate. This unique study provides a rich picture of the processes of the education systems of different countries which will appeal to practitioners and policy makers.

Following three teenagers who chose to spend one school year living in Finland, South Korea, and Poland, a literary journalist recounts how attitudes, parenting, and rigorous teaching have revolutionized these countries' education results.