This paper contains three volumespresenting the Vietnam Reading and Mathematics AssessmentStudy conducted in 2001. The first volume sets the study inits country context, describes its genesis, outlines themethodology, and summarizes the results. The main purpose isto show how the analysis of the study results points tospecific policy interventions. The strong link between ateacher's subject knowledge, and the performance of herpupils argues for teacher upgrade programs, while the highvariation of pupil performance between schools in the sameprovince calls for local programs that improve schooleffectiveness. The first volume is followed by a secondvolume detailing the study results, and a third providing afull description of the study methodology.