Decentralization of decision making is among the most intriguing recent school reforms, in part because countries went … countries. Relying on panel estimation with country fixed effects, we identify the effect of school autonomy from within …-country changes in the average share of schools with autonomy over key elements of school operations. Our results show that autonomy …

"For nearly two hundred years the organisational form of the school has changed little. Bureaucracy has been its … enduring form. The school has prepared the worker for the factory of mass production. It has created the 'mass consumer' to be … service delivery, and second, as a new 'grammar' for the school, with new flexibilities of structure and pedagogical process …

all due to differences in what students bring with them to school – socio-economic background, cultural factors, and the … like? Or do school systems make a difference? This essay argues that differences in features of countries' school systems … factors of the school system, as well as factors beyond the school system, account for cross-country achievement differences …