Finland consistently ranks high in the PISA results for many reasons. (What is PISA? Click here to read a guest blog written by Andreas Schleicher who is the Director of PISA). They don’t push curriculum that isn’t age appropriate, their teachers are highly qualified and the field of education is respected as one of the top professions.

Additionally, Finland has a much more flexible education system than the US. The U.S. has constant carrot and stick programs as well as a great deal of accountability and mandates. Teachers, leaders and students in Finland feel as though they have a voice in their schooling.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MDOE) website provides the results from the recent PISA.

family involvement and wealth as the most important factors, many of the articles focusing on the strength of the Massachusetts education system also state that there is an achievement gap they have where their impoverished students are concerned.

the issue of over-testing students, and the pressures of standardized testing.

in the long run, we as a nation might want to pay attention to Massachusetts because their education system is consistently strong, and they treat education and their teachers with respect. Although Finland is a great country to visit and learn from, it seems as though we really don’t have to go that far to see educational greatness because we have it within our own country too.

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more on finland phenomenon in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2018/04/24/resources-on-finland-phenomenon/