The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need--and What We Can Do About It

by Tony Wagner

Overview

In The Global Achievement Gap, education expert Tony Wagner situates our school problems in the larger context of the demands of the global knowledge economy. With insights gained from visits to classrooms in leading suburban schools, he analyzes performance by considering the skills needed to get a good job and become a productive citizen. Highlighting discussions with young people and the adults who work with them, Wagner also explains the ways in which today’s generation is differently motivated to excel.

A manifesto for the twenty-first century, The Global Achievement Gap is a must-read for anyone interested in seeing our young people achieve their full potential.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465002306
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	04/06/2010
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Tony Wagner is co-director of the Change Leadership Group (CLG) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He consults to schools and foundations and served as Senior Advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has appeared on the Today show and NPR. A former high school teacher and principal, he is the author of Change Leadership, Making the Grade, and How Schools Change. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Preface xi

Introduction xix

Chapter 1 The New World of Work and the Seven Survival Skills 1

Chapter 2 The Old World of School 43

Chapter 3 Testing, 1 2 3 78

Chapter 4 Reinventing the Education Profession 126

Chapter 5 Motivating Today's Students—and Tomorrow's Workers 167

Chapter 6 Closing the Gap: Schools That Work 207

Conclusion: A Few Answers—and More Questions 255

Afterword to the Paperback Edition 273

Notes 291

Index 304

Editorial Reviews

"Parents, teachers, administrators and policy makers urgently need to understand what Wagner is telling us."—Clayton M. Christensen, author of Disrupting Class and The Innovator's Dilemma

"I consider this book more of an experience than a read.... [Wagner] is a likely leader for the new era."—Washington Post

"Tony Wagner is not just talking about our schools here—he is talking about the future of our nation. The Global Achievement Gap cuts through the complexity and partisan posing so often associated with this genre. It is a powerful call to action, and a roadmap of how to fundamentally rethink the education of our children. If we ignore it, we do so at great peril."—Keith R. McFarland, author of #1 Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestseller The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers

"The Global Achievement Gap is thoughtful and inspirational.... This book will capture your head, your heart, and I hope, your future actions. This is a very important book for anyone who cares about preparing young people for success in a rapidly changing global society. Every school board member, administrator teacher, and parent in the nation should read this book."—Anne L. Bryant, Executive Director, National School Boards Association

"Tony Wagner takes us deep inside the black box of school curriculum in a way very few authors have done. What do we mean by rigor? By 21st century skills? Wagner shows us concretely what thinking skills really are, how current approaches to 'raising standards' cannot get us there, and what will. Everyone concerned with American education should read this book."—Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University

"Tony Wagner has managed to penetrate the jargon and over-simplified responses to the pervasive underachievement that exists among our students. He has charted an important new direction and given us a way to get there. This book deserves to be powerfully influential."—Mel Levine, author of A Mind at a Time

"Tony Wagner argues persuasively that old ways of teaching are completely unsuited to new ways of working. The Global Achievement Gap should be grabbed by business leaders to guide a much-needed conversation with educators."—Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School professor, author of American the Principled and Confidence

"This book is a 'must read' for the change agents in public education. Wagner presents a compelling case for rapid and urgent change in the present American education system."—Betty Burks, deputy superintendent, San Antonio Independent School District

"The Global Achievement Gap is a lucid—and scary—book. It chronicles how policies that intend to improve our schools are actually shutting down their abilities to help students learn how to think. Parents, teachers, administrators and policymakers urgently need to understand what Wagner is telling us."—Clayton Christensen, professor, Harvard Business School, author of Disrupting Class

"In The Global Achievement Gap, Tony Wagner offers a thoughtful analysis of where we are in American public education. (behind the times), and what we need to do to adapt to the future that is upon us. Drawing upon years of accumulated wisdom as a teacher, principal, trainer, and well-traveled observer of schools, Wagner builds a persuasive case for change in the way we approach schooling, grounded in the question: what does it mean to be an educated person in the 21st century?"—Dr. Richard C. Atksinson, president emeritus, University of California

From the Publisher