What is working outside of the US?

In the 1970s the United States was a leader in education and ever since has been slowly declining. There are countries around the world that in this time period have done just the opposite and have really turned their education systems around. Countries such as Finland, South Korea and Singapore have made changes in their education systems and are now leading the way. "All created productive teaching and learning systems by expanding access while investing purposefully in ambitious educational goals using strategic approaches to build teaching capacity." (p164) I found that Finland's education system was the most interesting approach.

After Finland emerged from the Soviet Union in the 1970s it has taken serious measures to renovate its education system. They changed from their traditional model of education to a more modern model that includes all students and is publicly funded. "ninety-eight percent of the costs of education at all levels are covered by government, rather than private sources." (p165) "All students receive a free meal daily, as well as free health care, transportations, learning materials, and counseling in their schools, so that the foundation for learning are in place." (p168) There used to be a huge socioeconomic gap in test scores and now that gap is closed and nearly 90% of students graduate from high school and there is little variation between schools. As a country Finland made changes to the national core curriculum but that acts more as a guideline and the majority of the assessments and standards are based on local, school, and teachers. "Policymakers decided that if they invested in very skillful teachers, they could allow local schools more autonomy to make decisions about what and how to teach." (p168)

Invest in teachers is exactly what they did. Finland has a special teacher training program which allows them to essentially hand pick their teachers. Candidates are recruited and then chosen to attend the teacher training program for three years free of charge and are given a stipend. Because these spots are in such high demand there is rarely a teacher shortage. Not only that, but the curriculum for the teacher training is rigorous and focuses on how to teach and very current strategies. During the training teachers do a minimum of one year of clinical experience.