Pasi Sahlberg

Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg and Chancellor Stephen Spahn of the Dwight School in Manhattan have big dreams for education. Sahlberg, the celebrated global reformer, spent the day at Spahn's school in Manhattan.

If you thought you knew everything about the remarkable transformation of Finland's schools from mediocre to one of the top performing school systems in the world, think again.

"The Finns had a crisis," professor Tony Wagner explains. Starting with the principle that cooperation is a key pillar of success, the Finns revised their educational framework.

American educators and policy makers are trying to figure out how we, as a highly developed nation, can improve our education systems so that America can stay at the top in a rapidly changing world.

The Finns "trust teachers" and allow them to "design their own courses, using a national curriculum as a guide."

A ruling is expected in New York City as early as this week. But regardless, it's safe to say that the current teacher-evaluation system is broken -- and that value-added analysis is here to stay.

To gain insight into what Finland's doing right, I sat down with Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, Director General of the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation in Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture.