There are a number of reform initiatives underway in Turkey but some of these, which are concerned with curricular and structural changes, have encountered serious difficulties. This paper begins with a brief summary of school effectiveness and school improvement research guiding many educational reforms. It then gives some information about school demographics in Turkey, and the country's performance in some international benchmarking studies. It continues with the shifts introduced as a result of recent curricular reorganisation in Turkey and, subsequently, with various issues related to their implications. Finally, the efforts to legislate some structural changes and the major controversies arising are presented.