This report is intended to provide relevant information as well as indications for the way forward for all key decision makers, including the newly-elected Governor, State Superintendent, State Board members, legislators, and others with a continuing responsibility for state education policy. From the benchmarking, a holistic set of implications, each supported by detailed diagnostic findings are described, which would help Ohio reach its goal of a world-class educational system. However, this report does not claim to comprehensively consider all the issues. Rather, it is intended to be a starting point for a new, forward-looking conversation among Ohio's leaders about what it would take for Ohio to achieve the goal set out by Governor Strickland on the day of his election: create a world-class education system in Ohio. The report was commissioned by Achieve, Inc., with its fact base, international benchmarking of Ohio's K-12 system, and identification of best practice implications for Ohio (in order to attain the goal of a world-class system) conducted by McKinsey & Company, drawing upon the work of leading international education experts. (Contains 207 endnotes.)