Global Study Tracks Common Paths to Improving Schooling

School Systems Worldwide Become Less Top-Down as They Improve, Study Says

Around the world, school systems whose students have posted gains over time on international exams also appear to have embraced common clusters of interventions at particular phases of their improvement, concludes a report released last week by a prominent international consulting firm.

Such commonalities appear to transcend differences in nationality, size, demographics, and school spending, according to the analysis, which has drawn praise and skepticism from academics who study international comparisons.

Drawing from an analysis of nearly 600 reform strategies instituted across 20 international school systems over a quarter-century, the report by the London-based McKinsey & Co. suggests that school systems seeking to improve could do well by taking cues from the strategies used by those with similar performance trends—rather than trying to appropriate wholesale the techniques...