BEST PRACTICES FROM SINGAPORE'S HIGH-PERFORMING SCHOOL SYSTEM Empowered Educators in Singapore is one volume in a series that explores how high-performing educational systems from around the world achieve strong results. The anchor book, Empowered Educators: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World, is written by Linda Darling-Hammond and colleagues, with contributions from the authors of this volume. Empowered Educators in Singapore delves into the country's rapid rise to educational excellence on a global scale and the national effort that drives it. Singaporean students routinely outperform their peers from around the world, placing first or second in international assessments, particularly in math and science. In 2015, Singaporean students topped the league table for both the Programme in International Student Achievement (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). With educators around the world clamoring for the "Singapore secret," the reality is that Singapore's excellence is the result of a 25-year drive to improve education through systemic, long-term and ongoing, consistent, and deliberative reform with an emphasis on teacher quality. This book describes the interwoven strategies that merge context, quality, governance, and continual evolution into a consistently high-achieving student population.

Discover how high-performing systems shape teaching quality around the world Producing highly skilled and committed teachers is not the work of a single innovative school or the aggregation of heroic individuals who succeed against the odds. In high-performing countries, the opportunities for teachers to learn sophisticated practices and continue to improve are embedded systemically in education policies and practices. Empowered Educators describes how this seemingly magical work is done—how a number of forward-thinking educational systems create a coherent set of policies designed to ensure quality teaching in all communities. . . and how the results are manifested in practice. Spanning three continents and five countries, Empowered Educators examines seven jurisdictions that have worked to develop comprehensive teaching policy systems: Singapore and Finland, the states of New South Wales and Victoria in Australia, the provinces of Alberta and Ontario in Canada, and the province of Shanghai in China. Renowned education expert Linda Darling-Hammond and a team of esteemed scholars offer lessons learned in a number of areas that shape the teaching force and the work of teachers, shedding unprecedented light on areas such as teacher recruitment, preparation, induction and mentoring, professional learning, career and leadership development, and more. Find out how quality teaching is developed and conducted across the globe Discover a common set of strategies for developing, supporting, and sustaining the ongoing learning and development of teachers and school leaders See how high-performing countries successfully recruit and train educators Understand why the sharing of expertise among teachers and administrators within and across schools is beneficial A fascinating read for researchers, policymakers, administrators, teacher educators, pre-service teachers and leaders, and anyone with an interest in education, this book offers a rare glimpse into the systems that are shaping quality teaching around the world.

This open access book presents a comparative study on how large-scale professional development programs for teachers are designed and implemented. Around the world, governments and educators are recognizing the need to educate students in a broad range of higher order cognitive skills and socio-emotional competencies, and providing effective opportunities for teachers to develop the expertise needed to teach these skills is a crucial aspect of effective implementation of curricula which include those goals. This study examines how large-scale efforts to empower teachers for deeper instruction have been designed, how they have been implemented, and their outcomes. To do so, it investigates six programs from England, Colombia, Mexico, India, and the United States. Though all six are intended to broaden and deepen students’ curricular aspirations, each takes this expansion of curricular goals in a different direction. The ambitious education reforms studied here explicitly focus on building teachers’ capacity to teach on a broader set of goals. Through a discerning analysis of program documents, evaluations, and interviews with senior leaders and participants in the programs, the book identifies the various theories of action used in these programs, examines how they were implemented, and discusses what they achieved. As such, it offers an indispensable resource for education leaders interested in designing and implementing professional development programs for teachers that are aligned with ambitious instructional goals.

Discover how high-performing systems shape teaching quality around the world Producing highly skilled and committed teachers is not the work of a single innovative school or the aggregation of heroic individuals who succeed against the odds. In high-performing countries, the opportunities for teachers to learn sophisticated practices and continue to improve are embedded systemically in education policies and practices. Empowered Educators describes how this seemingly magical work is done—how a number of forward-thinking educational systems create a coherent set of policies designed to ensure quality teaching in all communities. . . and how the results are manifested in practice. Spanning three continents and five countries, Empowered Educators examines seven jurisdictions that have worked to develop comprehensive teaching policy systems: Singapore and Finland, the states of New South Wales and Victoria in Australia, the provinces of Alberta and Ontario in Canada, and the province of Shanghai in China. Renowned education expert Linda Darling-Hammond and a team of esteemed scholars offer lessons learned in a number of areas that shape the teaching force and the work of teachers, shedding unprecedented light on areas such as teacher recruitment, preparation, induction and mentoring, professional learning, career and leadership development, and more. Find out how quality teaching is developed and conducted across the globe Discover a common set of strategies for developing, supporting, and sustaining the ongoing learning and development of teachers and school leaders See how high-performing countries successfully recruit and train educators Understand why the sharing of expertise among teachers and administrators within and across schools is beneficial A fascinating read for researchers, policymakers, administrators, teacher educators, pre-service teachers and leaders, and anyone with an interest in education, this book offers a rare glimpse into the systems that are shaping quality teaching around the world.

This edited volume explores key areas of interests in Singapore math and science education including issues on teacher education, pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, teaching practices, applied learning, ecology of learning, talent grooming, culture of science and math, vocational education and STEM. It presents to policymakers and educators a clear picture of the education scene in Singapore and insights into the role of math and science education in helping the country excel beyond international studies such as PISA, the pedagogical and curricula advancements in math and science learning, and the research and practices that give Singaporean students the competitive edge in facing the uncertain and challenging landscape of the future.

This book gathers a range of contributions from researchers and practitioners across borders with an emphasis on theoretical arguments and empirical data concerning teacher empowerment. It propels readers to explore powerful teaching practices that can further advance the profession as a continuing priority in the system when appropriately utilized. Further, it strives to capture teachers’ readiness to improve their professional skills and responsive practices as a form of accountability for their teaching and students’ learning, two aspects that are increasingly being judged by various stakeholders. The book argues that teachers’ autonomous participation and engagement in relevant decision-making activities and equitable access to continuing professional development opportunities are and should remain major priorities.

When a group of educators from Massachusetts traveled to Singapore to visit schools and talk to teachers, teacher educators, and school and system-level leaders in the fall of 2015, they were determined to learn how Singapore had built a high-performing education system. Singapore has transitioned from an education system focused simply on universal literacy and primary education to one that aims for universal high school graduation and post-secondary success. It has gone from a developing nation in 1965 to a first-world economy today-and it has done so largely by focusing on education. In this series of letters, members of the delegation identify the educational practices and policies that have enabled Singapore to become a prosperous knowledge economy. Many of their practices and successes could be transferred to the United States and elsewhere.