How does PISA affect and influence educational policy around the world in order to reach the goal of quality education that helps all students reach their potentials? What factors do policymakers compare in different educational systems when evaluating effectiveness?

Shanghai, Korea, Hong Kong, Finland and Singapore are among the top scoring countries in the 2009 PISA examinations. Why are 4 of these countries in the Asia-Pacific region? Does the home background (books at home, exposure to words) play a role in influencing student success in these countries? Are there other factors?

According to the PISA exam girls do better in reading than boys in every country that took PISA assessments and boys do better in math than girls….and science is equal. How do you think gender influences subject mastery and how can the learning from these findings improve educational best practices?