The creation of instructional leadership positions within schools, with clear responsibility for individual and school-wide teachers' professional development (e.g. classroom observation, mentoring, appraisals), is critical to improve the pedagogical knowledge and practice of in-service teachers. Further involving school boards in academic matters would also help raise school outcomes, especially if boards are successful in engaging parents and the local community. Focus school supervision on quality improvement. Costa Rica needs to establish standards and criteria to guide school evaluation practices so that they are consistent, draw on a wide evidence base, and support schools in developing their own internal evaluation and improvement practices. Given pronounced disparities in school quality , supervision should focus on the lowest performing schools where needs are greatest. Strengthening the school supervision profession and creating supervisory teams could enhance the quality of evaluations and build greater trust in the process.