In 1998, UNESCO carried out an evaluation of countries in this hemisphere in the areas of Mathematics and mother tongue (English, Spanish, French). The results showed that the performance of the Cuban primary school children far exceeded that of any other country in the region'. The question that many educators are asking is “How does one account for this level of performance in a country that receives no international funding for education (except from UNICEF) and which has been experiencing an economic blockade for more than forty years?” The outstanding performance of Cuban primary school children has stirred a great deal of interest in that country's education system and the factors that have contributed to what Gasperini (1999) has called “high quality education in a poor country". She has attributed the success of the education system in Cuba to a range of factors ranging from the social/political context to school and community conditions and teachers professional development.