Surpassing Shanghai


Book Description

This book answers a simple question: How would one redesign the American education system if the aim was to take advantage of everything that has been learned by countries with the world’s best education systems? With a growing number of countries outperforming the United States on the most respected comparisons of student achievement—and spending less on education per student—this question is critical. Surpassing Shanghai looks in depth at the education systems that are leading the world in student performance to find out what strategies are working and how they might apply to the United States. Developed from the work of the National Center on Education and the Economy, which has been researching the education systems of countries with the highest student performance for more than twenty years, this book provides a series of answers to the question of how the United States can compete with the world’s best.




Learning from Shanghai


Book Description

The Shanghai school system has attracted worldwide attention since its impressive performance in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2009. The system ranks as a ‘stunning success’ according to standards of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Shanghai also stands out for having the world’s highest percentage of ‘resilient students’ – students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds who emerge as top performers. Learning From Shanghai: Lessons on Educational Success offers a close-up view of the people and the policies that have achieved such world-class performance. Based on research and personal observation gathered during the author’s recent field work with school principals, teachers and students, this book explores the factors that explain Shanghai’s exceptional success in education. The approach combines high standards of scholarly research and analysis with the author’s unique personal insights, as evidenced by chapters entitled Education is Filling a Bucket and Lighting a Fire and Tiger Mothers, Dragon Children. Drawing on her experience as an education professional and a teacher of teachers, Charlene Tan thoroughly examines and analyzes the people, the policies and the practices that distinguish Shanghai educators. The contents include comprehensive details on the Shanghai approach to quality education, from discussion of the balance between centralization and decentralization, to school autonomy and accountability, to testing policy and professional development for teachers. The book includes detailed tables on curriculum and school performance targets, sample appraisal forms for teachers and students, and dozens of photographs. The author is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.




Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?


Book Description

The secrets behind China's extraordinary educational system – good, bad, and ugly Chinese students' consistently stunning performance on the international PISA exams— where they outscore students of all other nations in math, reading, and science—have positioned China as a world education leader. American educators and pundits have declared this a "Sputnik Moment," saying that we must learn from China's education system in order to maintain our status as an education leader and global superpower. Indeed, many of the reforms taking hold in United States schools, such as a greater emphasis on standardized testing and the increasing importance of core subjects like reading and math, echo the Chinese system. We're following in China's footsteps—but is this the direction we should take? Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon? by award-winning writer Yong Zhao offers an entertaining, provocative insider's account of the Chinese school system, revealing the secrets that make it both "the best and worst" in the world. Born and raised in China's Sichuan province and a teacher in China for many years, Zhao has a unique perspective on Chinese culture and education. He explains in vivid detail how China turns out the world's highest-achieving students in reading, math, and science—yet by all accounts Chinese educators, parents, and political leaders hate the system and long to send their kids to western schools. Filled with fascinating stories and compelling data, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon? offers a nuanced and sobering tour of education in China. Learn how China is able to turn out the world's highest achieving students in math, science, and reading Discover why, despite these amazing test scores, Chinese parents, teachers, and political leaders are desperate to leave behind their educational system Discover how current reforms in the U.S. parallel the classic Chinese system, and how this could help (or hurt) our students' prospects




Handbook of Research on Classroom Diversity and Inclusive Education Practice


Book Description

As classrooms are becoming more diverse, teachers are now faced with the responsibility of creating an inclusive classroom community. As such, researching classroom pedagogies and practices is an imperative step in curriculum planning. The Handbook of Research on Classroom Diversity and Inclusive Education Practice is an authoritative reference source for the latest scholarly research on ways to effectively teach all students and further refine and strengthen school-wide inclusive pedagogy, methods, and policies. Featuring extensive coverage on a number of topics such as special education, online learning, and English language learners, this publication is ideally designed for professionals, educators, and policy makers seeking current research on methods that ensure all students have equal access to curricular content and the chance for growth and success.




Routledge Handbook of Banking and Finance in Asia


Book Description

The Routledge Handbook of Banking and Finance in Asia brings together leading scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to provide a comprehensive and cutting-edge guide to Asia’s financial institutions, markets, and systems. Part I provides a country-by-country overview of banking and finance in East, Southeast, and South Asia, including examples from China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, and Singapore. Part II contains thematic chapters, covering topics such as commercial banking, development banking, infrastructure finance, stock markets, insurance, and sovereign wealth funds. It also includes examinations of banking regulation and supervision, and analyses of macroprudential regulation, capital flow management measures, and monetary policy. Finally, it provides new insights into topical issues such as SME, green, and Islamic finance. This handbook is an essential resource for scholars and students of Asian economics and finance and for professionals working in financial markets in Asia.




Global Perspectives on Developing Professional Learning Communities


Book Description

This book discusses distinctive features of the professional learning community concept, practices and processes across six different education systems in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and the United States. It provides a platform for an exchange of different perspectives and offers alternative possibilities of theorizing professional learning communities across different socio-cultural contexts. Contributors provide valuable insights for policy makers, education researchers and educators in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere to deal with critical questions about the improvement of teaching and learning and school improvement in a globalizing world. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Education.




International Handbook on Education Development in the Asia-Pacific


Book Description

The Springer International Handbook of Educational Development in Asia Pacific breaks new ground with a comprehensive, fine-grained and diverse perspective on research and education development throughout the Asia Pacific region. In 13 sections and 127 chapters, the Handbook delves into a wide spectrum of contemporary topics including educational equity and quality, language education, learning and human development, workplace learning, teacher education and professionalization, higher education organisations, citizenship and moral education, and high performing education systems. The Handbook is grounded in specific Asia Pacific contexts and scholarly traditions, using unique country-specific narratives, for example, Vietnam and Melanesia, and socio-cultural investigations through lenses such as language identity or colonisation, while offering parallel academic discourse and analyses framed by broader policy commentary from around the world.




Equity in Excellence


Book Description

This book offers a comprehensive picture of high-performing East Asian education systems, beyond their outstanding achievements in international assessments, such as PISA and TIMSS. Situating “excellence” within discussions of “equity”, it contextualises the conceptions and pursuits of equity amid the development of education systems, policy and curricula in selected East Asian societies. While parallels could be observed across the systems, including high-stakes assessment culture, increasing credentialism and high investment of family educational resources, there are also divergences in approaches and outcomes relating to equity policies and practices. In light of the challenges presented by low fertility rates, ageing populations, migration, and the economic demands of the 21st century, the book addresses these systems’ attempts to cater to further diversified student populations and maintain equity in excellence. As the international community relentlessly seeks to enhance equity in education, there is much these East Asian education systems can share. This book has appeal internationally to researchers, policymakers, educators, and anyone interested in East Asian education and equity.




Understanding Educational Leadership


Book Description

Understanding Educational Leadership guides you through critical perspectives and approaches across the world, taking in the global north and south, and explores the ways in which educational leadership is currently understood, theorised, researched, modelled and practised. The book also covers contemporary issues including gender, sexual identity and race, as well as topics such as governance, performativity and corporatisation. It brings together evidence and ideas that illuminate the power structures and relations in educational leaders, leading and leadership and helps you to consider the impact on policy and practice, and to think about changes needed to mitigate the issues identified. The book showcases a wide range of theorists, including Bourdieu, Foucault and Fraser. Its impressive scope includes analyses of collectivist, neoliberal and historical influences on educational leadership. It explores forensically leadership styles, with an explicit focus on distributed, instructional, democratic, autocratic, laissez-faire and organisational forms. Carefully curated by the editors, the world-leading contributors draw on their wealth of knowledge about research and practice to provide you with an overview of educational leadership today, looking at global research, evidence, arguments and conceptualisations. Each chapter is written in an engaging and inspiring way, following a consistent approach to help you to develop your understanding in each of the areas covered. Full pedagogical features throughout include chapter summaries, key questions, case studies, questions for readers and further reading suggestions with questions on key texts. A companion website provides links to open-access outputs, research-project outcomes, and networking seminars, conferences with links to local, national and global events and connections.




Comparing High-Performing Education Systems


Book Description

Comparing High-Performing Education Systems provides original insights into the educational structures, ideologies, policies, and practices in Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Taking as its basis their global reputation and consistently strong performance in formal assessments, the author provides an in-depth analysis and comparison of these three education systems that draws on cutting-edge research. Chapters explore the dominant cultural and educational norms in Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong to give a wider picture of these high-performing education systems. The performance of students in international large-scale assessments such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is considered, alongside an exploration of attitudes to schooling, tutoring, and assessment. The book shows how Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong exemplify an East Asian Educational Model (EAEM). Such a model – is rooted in and shaped by Confucian habitus: unconscious and ingrained worldviews, dispositions, and habits that reflect the standards of appropriateness in a Confucian Heritage Culture; aspires high performance: a balance between academic excellence and holistic development; and utilises educational harmonisation: the art of bringing together different and contradictory means and ends to achieve desired educational outcomes. Informative and thought-provoking, this book is a useful reference for policymakers, researchers, educators, and general readers on high-performing education systems, school reforms in East Asia, Confucian influences on education, and cross-cultural policy learning and transfer.