International Teacher Policy Study - Policy Briefs

How do the highest-achieving school systems in the world develop their teachers?

 To prepare students for an evolving and increasingly interconnected world, a growing number of countries have remodeled their education systems to deliver an education built for the 21st century, producing higher achievement and greater equity than the U.S. 

With the support of the Center on International Benchmarking at the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), and the Ford Foundation, the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) drew together a global team of education researchers in the three-year study, producing unparalleled insights for U.S. educators, researchers, and policymakers. The result is the International Teacher Policy Study (ITPS). The study reveals key answers to the central question of how other countries have surpassed the U.S. in preparing their students to compete in the 21st century global economy. For details on the study and a full listing of publications and videos produced by the study go to >>> 

Researchers investigated seven jurisdictions across four continents. Their findings reveal that high achieving countries have long-term strategies to build effective systems and that these strategies focus on a sustained commitment to professionalizing teaching as a career.

The study produced five policy briefs to summarize each of the identified strategy components used in high-performing countries to ensure all students have high-quality professional teachers. These briefs, listed above with links, also highlight some of the common features of the systems, and show where each system is unique.

• Recruiting and Selecting Excellent Teachers – How do high-performing systems look holistically at prospective teachers and choose those they believe will make the strongest candidates?
• Preparing Profession-Ready Teachers – What systems do high-performing systems use to prepare teachers and provide them with ongoing opportunities for professional learning and growth?
• Developing High-Quality Teaching – How do high-performing countries provide structures and opportunities that enable teachers to continually hone and improve their practice and keep learning so that they can become better and better each year?
• Teacher Appraisal and Feedback – How do high-performing education systems appraise teachers and provide feedback to support continually improving performance?
• The Teaching Career and Leadership for the Profession – How do high-performing education systems create career ladders that provide opportunities for teachers to lead learning opportunities with their colleagues, and structures for providing financial rewards to highly accomplished teachers?