a poor student in costa rica has less than a one in ten chance of making it to university an opportunity gap far greater than in most oecd countries but key drivers of improvement in the most rapidly improving education systems a concerted push to expand early years education high professional expectations for teachers leadership for improvement by schools and strong information and evaluation systems that can guide reform have not yet gained the needed impetus in costa rica its role in levelling the playing field for children from the most disadvantaged families is particularly critical