When a group of educators from Massachusetts traveled to Singapore to visit schools and talk to teachers, teacher educators, and school and system-level leaders in the fall of 2015, they were determined to learn how Singapore had built a high-performing education system.

Singapore has transitioned from an education system focused simply on universal literacy and primary education to one that aims for universal high school graduation and post-secondary success. It has gone from a developing nation in 1965 to a first-world economy today—and it has done so largely by focusing on education.

In this series of letters, members of the delegation identify the educational practices and policies that have enabled Singapore to become a prosperous knowledge economy. Many of their practices and successes could be transferred to the United States and elsewhere.