From What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland’s School Success, quoting Pasi Sahlberg, director of the Finnish Ministry of Education’s Center for International Mobility:
Accountability is something that is left when responsibility has been subtracted.
The article makes other important distinctions between the Finnish and American education systems, most of which are ignored by the majority of American education reformers. A few:
- Finnish schools assign less homework and engage children in more creative play
- All Finnish schools are public (pre-K through University)
- Teachers and administrators are given prestige, decent pay, and responsibility (see the above quote)
- Cooperation, not competition, is the driving force
- Equity, not excellence, is the goal
This last point ties into other studies that reveal how large an impact socio-economic factors have in the current American education system.
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I taught English and creative writing at a public high school. I stay involved in education through my work with the Northern Virginia Writing Project. 
