Trends in Education Reform

A recent McKinsey report, "How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top (2007), examines the most successful practices in education worldwide. It identifies the three following principles as the most important for improvement in student outcomes: (1) the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of the teachers, (2) the only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction and, (3) achieving universally high outcomes is only possible by putting in place mechanisms to ensure that schools deliver high-quality instruction to every child.

In the article “How They Do It Abroad,” Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education at Stanford University, examines effective practices in the countries that top the international rankings. The common thread in these countries is that they are “pouring resources into teacher training and support” as they recognize the supremacy of teacher quality in increasing student achievement. [TIME, 2/25/08]

Bill Gates discusses the role of technology in Education Reform. [Forbes, 1/23/08]

Paul Hill, Director of the Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) in Seattle, is a respected voice in the education reform arena, particularly among charter schools.  He discusses the need to support development and dissemination of new, successful instructional methods…and to use technology to make teachers more productive. [Education Week, 9/5/07]