Vietnam's government schools have attracted a great deal of international attention since the publication of the 2012 PISA student tests: Vietnamese students performed particularly well in science, ranking eighth globally out of 65 participating jurisdictions; Vietnam maintained this position in 2015. The Education Development Trust partnered with the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences to find out how and why Vietnam has been so successful. Adopting a mixed-methodology approach for an insightful qualitative view of the Vietnam phenomenon, the authors conducted a policy analysis, a survey of parents, reviewed available secondary data, and conducted qualitative fieldwork in contrasting four provinces in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Binh Dinh and Ha Giang). The aim of the research was to explore the country's approach to educational improvement. The investigation identified five key features of the Vietnamese school system that contributed to its success, each of which is explored in detail in this report: (1) Purposeful policy: the government of Vietnam has consistently stated, over many years, that education is a national priority; (2) High levels of accountability: the Vietnamese system can be characterised by high levels of accountability at all levels; (3) The quality of teaching and teachers: teaching in Vietnam is a highly respected profession; (4) School leadership that focuses on the classroom: principals in Vietnam have clearly defined roles as leaders of teaching and learning; and (5) Partnership between schools and parents: the Vietnamese government encourages high levels of partnership between schools and parents.