Giving Compass' Take:

• This Getting Smart post from a global education consultant lists four attributes of innovation from various schools around the world, from open design in Denmark and Bali to community interaction in Cambodia.

• How can schools in the U.S. adopt some of these proven models of success? What would be some of the obstacles to implementation, given the infrastructure of our system?

• Here's why lessons from Finland might help American education as well.

Recent visits to renowned centers of innovation such as AltSchool in San Francisco and the Dalton Academy in Beijing have got me thinking about what it means to wear the label “one of the most innovative schools in the world.”

There are many such lists, so I spent a day reviewing all that I could find. I built a spreadsheet to capture the adjectives used to describe the innovations present in these schools and then mapped them into broader categories.

Here’s what I learned:

Use of space. Innovative schools such as Ørestad Gymnasium in Denmark and the Green School in Bali adopt a flexible attitude toward walls, classrooms, open areas, community and workspaces.

Pedagogy. Invariably, students in such organizations as the Kosen Network in Japan and Blue School in New York engage in project-based learning.

Grouping structures. At Digital Study Hall in India, there aren’t enough teachers to support the large number of learners so the organization records teachers’ lectures and sends DVDs of the recordings to poor and rural areas for mass consumption.

Authenticity. There is a continuum of authenticity in place here, but schools such as the Met in Providence, Rhode Island and Sra Pou Vocational School in Cambodia require students to interact with the community or local businesses via apprenticeships, internships, service learning, or projects that have an action component.

Read the full article about four keys to success at the most innovative schools in the world by David Ross at Getting Smart.