A study of education systems globally shows there are universal strategies that lead to transformative and sustained improvements, according to a report released Friday by McKinsey & Company, a management consulting company.
Those strategies — while needing to be tailored to their unique regional settings — are not about a specific curriculum or service, but center on governance and how the reforms are executed.
Specifically, the report highlights the need to provide educators with evidence-based instructional strategies, rally stakeholders, organize dedicated delivery teams, and encourage innovation while measuring improvements.
"I think for districts and the states in the U.S., it's really important to understand that, more than ever, we know what works to drive student outcomes," said Emma Dorn, senior knowledge expert at McKinsey and coauthor of the report.
Dorn added that about 80% of education transformations fail to meet their outlined goals. "When an education transformation doesn't meet its stated goals, that means that students are missing out," Dorn said.
'Change is possible'
The McKinsey study points to 14 school systems around the world that researchers said are “beating the odds” because of consistent, sustained and significant improvement on international and regional assessment performances. Those school systems include Singapore, Peru, South Africa, London, and Punjab, India. From the U.S., researchers examined Mississippi and the District of Columbia.
If all school systems around the world advanced at the same rate of the top improvers, 350 million children could overcome "learning poverty" or the inability to read a simple text by the end of elementary school by 2050, the report said. Overall student achievement has stagnated or declined in the past decade — starting even before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the McKinsey study and other research.
The study said these school systems use the same set of strategies for long-term gains in student learning:
- Honed in on evidence-based strategies. These school systems prioritize foundational learning and support educators in their instructional practices using research about what improves outcomes in classrooms.
- Built a coalition for change. Efforts include rallying stakeholders — such as district leadership, principals and teachers — around a few priorities. They also communicate with families and communities to gain buy-in for improvements.
- Created a system for scalable improvements. This includes the pacing of reforms to show early traction while building stamina to reach longer-term goals. Dedicated delivery teams focus on carrying out plans over time.
- Measured student outcomes. Systems use student outcome data to gauge what is working. They also stay open to innovative reforms to complement successful practices.
The school systems McKinsey studied that used these implementation strategies were six times more likely to have success in their education reforms than systems that did not. Successful, sustained school improvement involves "hard work done consistently over multiple years, based on a stated set of goals," with that work possibly taking 8 to 12 years, Dorn said.
"On the one hand, that's a really hard message," she said. "On the other hand, there's real reason to be hopeful that change is possible."
Dorn said that while researchers found some universal examples of consistent strategies and implementation successes, it's important to remember that specific instructional practices and interventions can vary widely depending on the context of the school system.
For example, school systems in developing countries with limited electricity or teacher training programs would not want to begin a reform by replicating a 21st Century skills-based curriculum or a project-based learning model from more developed countries.
"Leaders really have to match reforms to their own context," Dorn said.
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