No part of this may be reproduced in any form — except for brief quotation (not to exceed 1,000 words) in a review or professional work — without prior written permission from NSDC or the authors. D ecades of standards-based school reform have helped identify what students need to know and be able to do. In the words of former IBM CEO Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., these efforts were meant to " drive standards [and accountability] through the schoolhouse door. " But educators and policymakers are recognizing that it is time for Standards-Based Reform 2.0. We need to place a greater priority on strengthening the capacity of educators and building learning communities to deliver higher standards for every child. Enabling educational systems to achieve on a wide scale the kind of teaching that has a substantial impact on student learning requires much more intensive and effective professional learning than has traditionally been available. If we want all young people to possess the higher-order thinking skills they need to succeed in the 21st century, we need educators who possess higher-order teaching skills and deep content knowledge. There are many ways to improve the quality and performance of the nation's education workforce, and many are being tested. States and districts have restructured the staffs at thousands of failing schools. They are seeking to lure better talent into classrooms by recruiting career changers and liberal-arts graduates with rich content knowledge and a willingness to teach. They are revamping their personnel departments, launching new teacher academies, and working to exert greater control over who will teach and in which schools. But these efforts, essential as they are, influence only a small portion of educators. And no matter what states and districts do to bolster the education workforce, they will need to do more and better with the talent they have. This will require a more effective and systematic approach to supporting, developing, and mobilizing the more than three million educators who will teach in and lead our schools. Other fields, from medicine and management to the military, do a far better job of providing ongoing learning opportunities and support for their professionals. But as this report shows, in education, professional learning in its current state is poorly conceived and deeply flawed. Teachers lack time and opportunities to view each other's classrooms, learn from mentors, and work collaboratively. The support and training they receive is …

/pdf/professional-learning-in-the-learning-profession-a-status-56u0jta78s.pdf

Professional learning in the learning profession: A status report on teacher development in the United States and abroad.

This paper examines the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which has become a major and influential component of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) educational work. This measure of comparative performance of educational systems of member and other nations is based on tests commissioned by the OECD. The paper discusses the role of the OECD in establishing the ‘comparative’ turn and also describes PISA, its management and effects. It provides three examples of the impact of PISA in Finland, Germany and the UK before moving the focus to its impacts at the transnational level, through an examination of how key European policy actors see PISA and its effects. The paper concludes that PISA, through its direct impact on national education systems in Europe and beyond, has become an indirect, but nonetheless influential tool of the new political technology of governing the European education space by numbers.

/pdf/governing-by-numbers-the-pisa-effect-in-europe-1v6mi0lv1j.pdf

Governing by numbers: the PISA ‘effect’ in Europe

This article argues that system‐wide excellence in student learning is attainable at reasonable cost, using education policies differing from conventional market‐oriented reform strategies prevalent in many other countries. In this respect, Finland is an example of a nation that has developed from a remote agrarian/industrial state in the 1950s to a model knowledge economy, using education as the key to economic and social development. Relying on data from international student assessments and earlier policy analysis, this article describes how steady improvement in student learning has been attained through Finnish education policies based on equity, flexibility, creativity, teacher professionalism and trust. Unlike many other education systems, consequential accountability accompanied by high‐stakes testing and externally determined learning standards has not been part of Finnish education policies. The insight is that Finnish education policies intended to raise student achievement have been built upon...

/pdf/education-policies-for-raising-student-learning-the-finnish-osuuyubmjj.pdf

Education policies for raising student learning: the Finnish approach

One of the recent tributes to the success of Finnish schooling was the PISA 2000 project report. As befits the field of education, the explanations are primarily pedagogical, referring especially to the excellent teachers and high-quality teacher education. Without underrating the explanatory power of these statements, this paper presents some of the social, cultural and historical factors behind the pedagogical success of the Finnish comprehensive school. From the perspectives of history and the sociology of education, it also sheds light on some ironic paradoxes and dilemmas that may be concealed by the success. The focus is on the problematic nature of international comparative surveys based on school performance indicators. The question is whether they really make it possible to understand schooling in different countries, or whether they are just part of processes of ‘international spectacle’ and ‘mutual accountability’. By way of conclusion, I will present two paradoxes that could be considered meaningful and important in attempts to understand Finnish comprehensive schooling today and in the near future.

The Finnish miracle of PISA: historical and sociological remarks on teaching and teacher education

One of the recent tributes to the success of Finnish schooling was the PISA 2000 project report. As befits the field of education, the explanations are primarily pedagogical, referring especially to the excellent teachers and high‐quality teacher education. Without underrating the explanatory power of these statements, this paper presents some of the social, cultural and historical factors behind the pedagogical success of the Finnish comprehensive school. From the perspectives of history and the sociology of education, it also sheds light on some ironic paradoxes and dilemmas that may be concealed by the success. The focus is on the problematic nature of international comparative surveys based on school performance indicators. The question is whether they really make it possible to understand schooling in different countries, or whether they are just part of processes of ‘international spectacle’ and ‘mutual accountability’.

/pdf/the-finnish-miracle-of-pisa-historical-and-sociological-2pevx2x3pn.pdf

The Finnish Miracle of PISA: Historical and Sociological Remarks on Teaching and Teacher Education.

As revealed by the mean scores of the countries participating in the Performance Improvement through Strategy Analysis (PISA) assessment of reading literacy, Finland shows the highest reading literacy performance in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) Finland's performance is significantly higher than that of any other participating country. PISA is a three year survey of the knowledge and skills of 15-yearolds in the principal industrialized countries. In 2000, a total of 265,000 students from 32 countries participated. This book, from the researchers responsible for the implementation of PISA in Finland, tries to open up some perspectives on the possible reasons underlying the high performance of Finnish students in PISA. The book points out that there is no single explanation for the results. It states that the successful performance of Finnish students seems to be attributable to a web of interrelated factors related to comprehensive pedagogy, students' own interests and leisure activities, the structure of the education system, teacher education, school practices, and, in the end, Finnish culture. The book opens up perspectives on this web of explanations not only by analyzing the results of PISA but also by considering some characteristics of the Finnish education system and cultural heritage which, in and outside of school, can be thought to have contributed to Finland's successful performance. Appended are: (1) "Finnish Education System"; and (2) "Teacher Education." (Contains 10 figures and 16 references.) (BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. The Finnish Success in PISA--And Some Reasons behind It: PISA 2000. Jouni Valijarvi, Pirjo Linnakyla, Pekka Kupari, Pasi Reinikainen, and Inga Arffman Jyvaskyla Univ. (Finland). Inst. for Educational Research U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 1:1 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality El Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

/pdf/the-finnish-success-in-pisa-and-some-reasons-behind-it-pisa-4j6b27s044.pdf

Jukka Törnroos

Papers

The Finnish success in Pisa - and some reasons behind it : Pisa 2000

Osaaminen kestävällä pohjalla : PISA 2003 Suomessa

Tulevaisuuden osaajat : Pisa 2000 Suomessa

Finnish Students' Mathematics and Science Results in Recent International Assessment Studies: PISA and TIMSS