This year's Brown Center Report on American Education represents the third installment of volume three and the 13th issue overall since the pub- lication began in 2000. Three studies are presented. All three revisit a topic that has been investigated in a previous Brown Center Report. The topics warrant attention again because they are back in the public spotlight.

There is growing evidence that teacher preparation is a powerful predictor of students' achievement, perhaps even overcoming socioeconomic and language background factors (Darling-Hammond, 2000).

There is growing evidence that teacher preparation is a powerful predictor of students' achievement, perhaps even overcoming socioeconomic and language background factors (Darling-Hammond, 2000).

he Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an ongoing triennial survey that assesses the extent to which 15-year-olds students near the end of compulsory education have acquired key knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in modern societies. The assessment does not just ascertain whether students can reproduce knowledge; it also examines how well students can extrapolate from what they have learned and apply that knowledge in unfamiliar settings, both in and outside of school. This approach reflects the fact that modern economies reward individuals not for what they know, but for what they can do with what they know. PISA offers insights for education policy and practice, and helps monitor trends in students' acquisition of knowledge and skills across countries and in different demographic subgroups within each country. The findings allow policy makers around the world to gauge the knowledge and skills of students in their

high-performing countries are moving away from forms of accountability based on blue-collar models of work organization (which accurately describes teaching in the United States) and toward professional models of accountability. Blue-collar models assume the work provides little in the way of intrinsic rewards and so requires the boss to provide carrots and sticks-mostly sticks- to keep the workforce on task. The blue-collar model also unites the workers against the bosses.

So how can we know if we are developing minds -- and citizens -- for the future? The right kinds of assessment tell us far more than whether or not students are gaining knowledge.