Europe top school systems drop in international test scores

UPDATE - follow-up to European education powerhouses rocked by falling scores in global study - theguardian.com: Top school systems across Europe face a major drop in performance following new results from a global study. The latest findings show that several nations long known for strong education standards now report lower scores than before. Experts point out that these declines touch core subjects taught in classrooms across the region. Leaders and school boards are now looking closely at the data to find out why student scores fell so sharply. Officials plan to review current teaching methods and school programs to fix the gaps shown in the test results. Education departments in the affected countries have started meetings to discuss urgent steps for the next school year.