This paper discusses the contribution of international studies on educational effectiveness in the light of 4 papers presented at the new ICSEI Methodology of Research and Effectiveness (MORE) Network in Barcelona in January 2005 and published in this issue of the journal. A brief historical overview is used to provide a context for these papers and a number of themes are identified in relation to the secondary analysis of international datasets such as TIMSS and PISA. The value of creating a new international teacher observation and feedback instrument to facilitate collaborative international research is discussed. In addition, the paper discusses the value of comparative studies of education policy in different national systems using the example of a high profile study of successful countries (in terms of PISA 2000 results) initiated by the Deutsches Institut fur Internationale Padagogische Forschung to inform a review of the German system.