The Government is committed to ensuring that the new National Curriculum compares favourably with the curricula in the highest performing jurisdictions, and sets rigorous requirements for pupil attainment which measure up to the highest standards set internationally. The Government is also committed to slimming the National Curriculum so that it properly reflects the body of essential knowledge which all pupils should learn. The purpose of this report is to explore and present initial findings on what can be learned from the analysis of curricula of high-performing jurisdictions, in order to inform the development of the new National Curriculum for English, mathematics and science. In particular, issues of breadth, specificity and challenge within each subject are examined in detail to assess what this may tell everyone in devising a new National Curriculum which measures up to the highest international standards. This report forms part of a suite of evidence documents gathered as part of the National Curriculum review, including the Expert Panel report and summary report of responses to the call for evidence. Further analysis is underway to examine the education systems and cultural contexts of high-performing jurisdictions, in order to assess what other factors need to be taken into account when comparing the relative achievement of pupils from different jurisdictions. The first two sections of the report focus on the methodology and the achievement of pupils in England compared to other jurisdictions in reading, mathematics and science. The remaining three sections focus on English, mathematics and science respectively--including the analysis of breadth, specificity and challenge of the curricula in high-performing jurisdictions in comparison to the National Curriculum in England. Appended are: (1) Background on PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS studies; (2) Curriculum document references; (3) English curriculum comparison tables; (4) Mathematics curriculum comparison tables; and (5) Science curriculum comparison tables. (Contains 7 figures, 61 tables and 142 footnotes.) [For related report, "Review of the National Curriculum in England: Report on Subject Breadth in International Jurisdictions. Research Report. DFE-RR178a," see ED528792.]