Empowered educators: How high performing systems shape teaching quality

Abstract

Systems of public education in jurisdictions around the world produce much higher achievement and much more equity than the United States with diverse populations that include high rates of immigration and indigenous minority populations. This study explores how top-performing nations that equitably serve diverse populations managed to get so far ahead of the United States on both student achievement and equity. It also looks at what we can we learn from them to greatly improve the performance of our education system to serve all students. Central to high-performing systems’ successes have been policies developed to provide high-quality teachers to all children. This study is a landmark, international comparative study of teachers and teaching quality in the world’s top-performing public education systems. With support from the National Center on Education and the Economy, one of the world’s preeminent education researchers drew together a global team of education researchers in the three-year study, producing insights for U.S. educators, researchers, and policymakers. The study incorporates data from both qualitative (e.g., policy documents, interviews, observation of school-based activities) and quantitative (e.g., relevant government statistics and PISA reports) sources. Through examination of seven jurisdictions across the countries of Singapore, Finland, Australia, Canada, and China, the researchers address the question of how other countries have surpassed the U.S. in preparing their students to compete in the 21st century global economy by professionalizing teaching as an occupation. The culmination of the study is a cross-cutting analysis of all seven public education systems.