<ul> <li>Strong performers and successful reformers in education share some key characteristics: a belief in the potential of all their students, strong political will, and the capacity of all stakeholders to make sustained and concerted efforts towards improvement. </li> <li>Countries/Economies that have...</li></ul>

<ul> <li> To do well on PISA’s first assessment of creative problem-solving skills, students need to be open to novelty, tolerate doubt and uncertainty, and dare to use intuition to initiate a solution. </li> <li>Just because a student performs well in core school subjects doesn’t mean he or she is...</li></ul>

<ul> <li> In most school systems, over 50% of 15-year-olds students attend schools that compete with another school to attract students from the same residential area. </li> <li>Across countries and economies, performance is unrelated to whether or not schools have to compete for students. </li> <li>When choosing a...</li></ul>

<ul> <li>Immigrant students who share a common country of origin, and therefore many cultural similarities, perform very differently across school systems. </li> <li>The difference in performance between immigrant students and non-immigrant students of similar socio-economic status is smaller in school systems...</li></ul>

<UL> <LI>Most 15-year-olds in OECD countries have some understanding of environmental issues and feel that threats to the environment are a serious concern for them and/or for other people in their country.</LI> <LI>Scientific understanding of the environment is key if students are to have a realistic...</li></li></ul>

<ul> <li> On average across the 13 OECD countries and economies that participated in the PISA financial literacy assessment, 10% of students can analyse complex financial products and solve non-routine financial problems, while 15% can, at best, make simple decisions about everyday spending, and...</li></ul>

<ul> <li>On average across OECD countries, around 4% of students are top performers in reading, mathematics and science (all-rounders). </li> <li>Australia, Finland, Hong Kong-China, Japan, New Zealand, Shanghai-China and Singapore have larger proportions of these students than any other country or economy. </li></ul>

Classrooms and schools with more disciplinary problems are less conducive to learning, since teachers have to spend more time creating an orderly environment before instruction can begin. Interruptions in the classroom disrupt students’ concentration on, and their engagement in, their lessons....

<UL> <LI>In most countries and economies, students who attend schools in urban areas tend to perform at higher levels than other students. </LI> <LI>Socio-economic status explains only part of the performance difference between students who attend urban schools and other students. </LI> <LI>Schools in urban settings are...</li></li></li></ul>

<ul> <li>Most students enjoy orderly classrooms for their language-of-instruction lessons. </li> <li>Socio-economically disadvantaged students are less likely to enjoy orderly classrooms than advantaged students. </li> <li>Orderly classrooms – regardless of the school’s overall socio-economic profile – are related...</li></ul>