Following the Basic Act on Education revised in about 60 years, the first "Basic Plan for the Promotion of Education" was devised in July 2008, which advocated educational visions, such as"To cultivate, in all children, the foundations for independence within society by the time they complete compulsory education", and showed measures to be implemented for realization of the visions over the next five years.

New era of education is about to start, in the area of elementary and secondary education, the Courses of Study for kindergartens, elementary and lower secondary schools were revised in April 2008, arithmetic / mathematics and science mainly implemented in advance, and the Courses of Study for upper secondary schools and schools for special needs education were revised in 2009.

National Institute for Educational Policy Research, since established in 1949, has conducted a variety of researches and studies about fundamentals for the planning and formulation of educational policy as a comprehensive research institute in the field of Japan's education. The results have been utilized effectively in various ways, not only as the fundamental documents necessary for validation of policy but as reference materials for Boards of Education and schools nationwide.

Lately, we have been involved with international joint researches and cooperative activities such as OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study(TIMSS) provided by International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement(IEA).We also make researches on educational systems and managements which include improvement of the quality of teachers and evaluation of schools.

Moreover, we research on academic abilities, curriculum, guidance and counseling like "National Assessment of Academic Achievement" and "The Research on Curriculum" .In addition, we cover other research activities in the fields of higher education, lifelong learning, social education, and educational facilities, and so on.

Furthermore, we distribute and disseminate information on education research to parties concerned and conduct joint researches with other educational institutes nationwide.

We are making our best efforts as a national policy institute to meet your trust and expectations to enhance the basic researches for the planning and formulation of educational policy and the activities in further cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

We look forward to your continuous interests and supports.

Tomiji Sugawa
Director-General
National Institute for Educational Policy Research