A country's educational system is effective as attention and effort is given to research, financial support, and implementation of best practices. This thesis compared two countries, South Korea, a country known for its excellence in education, and highly ranked in global education measures, and Saudi Arabia, a fairly new country that is known for its wealth and recent investment in education. Saudi Arabia has allocated nearly one-quarter of its nation's budget to improving the education of students, and yet it continues to rank low when compared to other countries' education progress. The research examined effective education in these countries through three lenses; skilled teachers and their teaching methods, the curriculum being taught and the use of technology. Using a review of literature, this paper explored the focus and efforts of South Korea and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's education systems. Theses school systems have commonalities with each desiring effective education for its students and promoting technology. The research discovered that these countries are vastly different in the approach to effective education curriculum with South Korea's focus on academics and Saudi Arabia's focus on the Islamic religion. With continued low scores from students in Saudi Arabia it is recommended that an assessment system be developed and put in place for teachers and students to gain accurate evaluations of the educational system and its components.