Physics educators may or may not be interested in a recent post "Re:
Teacher's Role in Reform" [Hake (2007)]. The abstract reads:
***********************************************************
ABSTRACT: Responding to Keith Baker's EDDRA post extolling the
exemplary Finnish K-12 school system, I give excerpts from reports by
Robert Kaiser and W. Norton Grubb that list some of the reasons for
Finland's superiority in international comparisons. The most
important factor appears to be the Finnish emphasis on the crucial
importance of effective teachers, in contrast to the American
emphasis on low-level, high-stakes, summative assessment.
***********************************************************