Koji Tanaka is Professor at the Graduate School of Education, Faculty of Education, Kyoto University, Japan.Kanae Nishioka is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education, Faculty of Education, Kyoto University, Japan.Terumasa Ishii is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education, Faculty of Education, Kyoto University, Japan.

• 1. Introduction Part 1. Curriculum 2. Historical Overview of Curriculum Development: National Control over Curriculum vs. School-Based Curriculum Development 3. The Long Debate between Child-centered Curriculum and Discipline-Centered Curriculum 4. Theories of the Models of Academic Achievement and Children’s Moral Development Part 2. Instruction 5. Historical Overview of Lesson Study6. Practices of Leading Educators: Yoshio Toi, Kihara Saito, Kazuaki Shoji, Yasutaro Tamada 7. Various Methods for Organizing Creative Whole-Class Teaching Part 3. Assessment 8. Historical Overview of Assessment in Japan 9. Portfolio Assessment in the Period for Integrated Study 10. Performance Assessment in Subject Teaching 11. Conclusion

'Whatever you want to know any information about the curriculum, instruction and assessment in Japan, you can find out them in this book.' - Sun-Geun Baek, President, Korean Educational Development Institute, Professor, Department of Education, Seoul National University'"Lesson study" in Japan is not a mere step-by-step procedure, but it is a culture of schoolteachers who learn from and improve each other. This book reveals the essential bases that underpin the high academic standards in Japan.' - Hajime Kimura, Professor, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University