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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

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Wagner argues that the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, which attempts to close the achievement gap between our best and worst schools, has instead left us with schools that are less effective than ever in preparing our children for college, work and life. Our schools are still mired in educational content and methods from the industrial age; our children get more of the skills they really need outside of school, from extracurricular activities, personal exploration and social networking, if they are fortunate enough to have those opportunities.

Today's corporate work environment consists of clusters of business expertise distributed globally and connected via high-speed communications links. Workers collaborate in their local team and with other teams around the world to define and solve open-ended problems. In today's fast-changing, complex environment, teams are given broad objectives and asked to find the best way to achieve them. There are no pre-defined "right answers" in the business world, only profitable and unprofitable strategies. Similarly, there are seldom any "right answers" in politics, or healthcare, or any other aspect of society - including education. As adults, we have learned that history is always a selective interpretation of past events, and that the most effective communicators often break the established conventions. Yet in our schools we drill on facts and basic skills, and seldom encourage or even tolerate questioning, innovation, exploration, or collaboration.

Wagner presents seven "survival skills" that students should be learning in school in order to prepare for college and adult life:

* Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
* Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence
* Agility and Adaptability
* Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
* Effective Oral and Written Communication.
* Accessing and Analyzing Information
* Curiosity and Imagination

Yet, according to a NIH study published in Science (2007), 5th-graders in middle-class public schools across the United States spent 90% of their time in their seats listening to the teacher or working alone, and only 7% of their time working in groups. Further, the average 5th grader received 5 times as much instruction in rote learning than they received instruction focused on problem solving or reasoning.

The US high school graduation rate is only 70%, and 40% of all students who enter college must take remedial courses. It is estimated that 50% of students starting college never complete a college degree. Wagner's interviews with students and professors suggest that what is missing is not content knowledge, but competencies. In core classes and even in AP courses, students are drilled in specific content and vocabulary necessary to pass standardized tests, rather than trained in open-ended inquiry, assessment, reasoning, collaboration and presentation.

Wagner takes us beyond the usual complaints about tenure and unions to examine disfunctional structural components of the educational system. In general, degree programs for teaching and school administration suffer the same flaw of content over competencies. Once they graduate, teachers are seldom given more than checklist evaluations, and rarely sit in on one another's classrooms or collaborate for instructional improvement. Instead, Wagner suggests, most teachers have little recourse other than to re-discover effective teaching on their own, in a hit-or-miss manner. As a consequence, not only are best practices not promulgated, but there is little consensus among teachers about what constitutes good teaching.

Wagner also looks at the problem of how our current teaching practices fail to engage and motivate students. Outside of school, our children have team sports and group activities, and are immersed in the Internet world of interactivity, social networking, and visual information access. Despite legitimate concerns about addictive behavior, violent content and cyber-bullying, Wagner points out that our kids online experience, including even gaming, is much more relevant to the kind of activity found in most information-intensive careers. Our children want group connections, open-ended exploration, immediate feedback response, and relevance. Multi-tasking, search, and filtering are natural tasks to them, while they have little patience for long, linear, non-visual texts.

Our schools offer students little of what engages them. Instead of group activity, they get one-way lectures and individual worksheets. Instead of open-ended exploration, they get drills and tests. Instead of rich interactive, multimedia information, they get dry textbooks. Wagner argues that most high-school school drop-outs occur not because the student lacks ability, but because they lack motivation. School does not engage them, and they correctly perceive a lack of relevancy to their current and future lives.

Finally, Wagner offers us some profiles of a few schools that are "doing it right". While it is wonderful to see such examples, they are all small schools. It is probably not feasible nor desirable to open hundreds of thousands of new schools in every neighborhood, and Wagner doesn't offer much perspective on how we can translate these examples to the large schools that make up most of our national school system. But perhaps it is better if we all collaborate on solving that problem! I highly recommend this book by Tony Wagner as a starting point.

I graduated as a valedictorian from a high school that is not known for its academic excellence. I did not feel much pride in my achievement - though I know I should have because it indicates I worked hard in school. I was lucky and had quite a few great teachers that did try to teach me to think -- not just memorize stuff. However, I had many more teachers that I could describe much less enthusiastically. I was valedictorian though and took and passed several AP classes too. But I did horribly when I got to college because of the poor preparation I was given in high school. The skills I needed to get that valedictorian status was not enough for even a 3.0 average my first semester of college.

The Global Achievement Gapdoes a great job of discussing how we need to change schools today so that the students are better prepared for college and work - not just to pass tests. He discusses how teachers should use content to teach kids to think - and not making the content the goal. He discusses different ways students can be taught to speak and think for themselves, to be able to question things around them and be able to solve problems on their own. While reading this book, I kept thinking about how *I* could have benefited from these had I had an education like he described. However, as an adult looking at the big picture, I have a hard time believing that such a big change to cover *everything* he describes is realistically feasible in our world. Maybe we can take small steps toward that goal but the changes he described for the schools and the teaching education and profession are huge and require significantly more money. It will also require changes to current political system in place for schools.

The most useful purpose of this book is for parents and teachers to think about how they might start making changes in the way they are educating the students today so that students today can start reaping the benefits of an education that will prepare them properly for their future. The survival skills Mr. Wagner describes are definitely important and can be taught in every home and every classroom.

Finally a text that outlines school reform without the need of an masters degree to access it. Wanger recommends that schools focus on teaching mental processes by teaching content rather than making content the end goal. The need to develop competencies will prepare our students for a global economy where they will compete with students in and outside the US.

All teachers, administrators, school boards, universities with teacher certification programs, parents, business owners, community leaders, and policy makers who are frustrated but optimistic about school reform should invest time to read this book because it lays out causes of the global achievement gap, identifies core competencies, and highlight schools that serve as models for an achievable school reform.

In addition to the large implications this book might have for the education world, it is valuable for helping me transform my approach to teaching.

I wanted to like this book and while Dr. Wagner made some good points, especially about the shortcomings of typical student assessments, these strengths could not overcome the books many weaknesses. For instance, the gathering of opinions about what students should learn in school, passed off as "research," and then coverted into the hopelessly vague "Seven Survival Skills for Teens Today" reveals a biased methodology that undermines the work's credibility.

Furthermore, the "Seven Survival Skills" continue the recent trend of suggesting that the goals of education are simply generic process skills. While I have my issues with E.D. Hirsch's work, I do agree with him that education is not content free and that any claims to the contrary are misguided. (By the way, if you read the list of seven skills closely, it becomes apparent that more like a dozen process skills are seen as essential - one of Dr. Wagner's editors must have decided that seven was more marketable and combined similar, but not identical learning domains to reach the marketing target.)

Dr. Wagner's discussion of improving the education profession also fell short. He continues to perpetuate the insular view that there is something unique about working in schools compared with all other lines of professional work. There is not. Workplace contingencies are basically the same everywhere and in every profession. What matters is arranging the contingencies of work to get high performance. He does not enlighten us on that point.

The book fails us again when Dr. Wagner presents his examples of exemplary schools that work. The schools he cites may, in fact, be very good schools but they are not replicable on a large scale and their methods do not translate to the large school settings common across the United States. What we need is guidance on how to make the schools we have as good as they can be, not admonitions to make schools that can not be.

I could go on, but you get the point. Dr. Wagner is firmly rooted in the current fashion of educational romaticism that grips our national reform debate. He offers yet another unrealistic model for educational reform based on faulty assumptions. If you are looking for insight into useful school reforms, I suggest you look elsewhere.

As a part time college professor, I've been a big proponent of quality education for decades. Quality education leads to quality employees and that attracts well paying jobs. That, in turn, increases the local tax base which funds better roads, sewers, parks, along with more police officers, firefighters, EMS, and improves the overall quality of life in the community. Tony Wagner's book, The Global Achievement Gap, is a tour de force for anyone interested in America's school system. We are fast becoming a nation of underachievers in a society which rewards mediocrity. We are graduating students without a basic understanding math, English, science, or history. We've all but cut out art and music from their curriculum. But whatever you do, don't interfere with their sports programs! Mr. Wagner delves into why our children are failing behind the rest of the world and what we can do about it before it's too late. The dumbing down of our children has to stop now. I urge everyone interested in our school system to read Mr. Wagner's book now!

There's a lot one could say and there are multiple constituencies that would find the book very engaging: teachers, students, recruiters, managers, et al.

My focus is on the first, teachers. As an adjunct at multiple universities, I am amazed at how much (and how fast) some traditional universities are catching up to some of the leaders in nontraditional education. For myself, The Global Achievement Gap underscores the need to create excitement and innovation in the classroom through activities (yes, activities... for those of you who are 100% lecture!) that engage learners. As I come upon the next term of classes, I am working towards restructuring elements of my courses that incorporate even more aspects of 'working in teams', critical thinking, and other elements of Dr. Wagner's recommendations to enhance learning outcomes.

In summary, I highly recommend this book (especially to teachers). Chapter 1 is a fascinating overview that is backed up by anecdotal narratives and sufficiently good notes/bibliography for those that want to go further to the sources. Subsequent chapters go a bit deeper into each of the 7 elements but, chapter one is potentially 'class-altering' reading.

The title pretty much sums up the book. I began reading this book over the summer. I was about 1/3 of the way through and decided to stop reading the book and return it to the library. Why? Because there was so much great content that I was spending more time writing out my notes than actually reading the book.

I recently purchased the book for my iPad so I could highlight and type my notes. This proved a much more productive method(and lead me to a thought on education practices) and allowed me to not only take away key passages, but also allowed for fluid reading.

There is so much great info in this book. As I currently help operate an online global project with 600+ elementary students, I found many things in this book to hold merit and raise valid questions about education. Combine this with my recent visit to High Tech High(which was included in the book) and not only understand the need for some change to education, but demand it to happen. The great thing is that change is happening.

Essentially, the author discusses 7 Essential Survival Skills that all students need.

Wagner presents seven "survival skills" that students should be learning in school in order to prepare for college and adult life:

* Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
* Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence
* Agility and Adaptability
* Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
* Effective Oral and Written Communication.
* Accessing and Analyzing Information
* Curiosity and Imagination

Throughout the book he examines how these skills are being taught on the global scale and how much America has fallen behind the ranks in these skills. What is so great about his rhetoric and writing style is that it is not an all out bash on American schools. Being a teacher myself I have read plenty where teachers are just ripped apart. He focuses more on where things are going wrong and providing examples of schools that are on the right path to making change.

The skills shared here are all skills that everyone needs for whatever avenue of life they choose. Some parents and students are stuck in schools that they cannot escape. The great thing with these skills are that they can be taught at home.

Staying current with the development and changes in education I think things are moving in the right direction. I teach at a fantastic school and we even realize that changes need to be made.

I recommend this book to anyone who has an investment in education(which is pretty much everyone). You will walk away from this book with a better understanding of what is needed for our students and nation to get back to the top.

I will be using my 23 pages of notes for future blog posts on education, but since this is a review of the book I will save those rants for another day. A must read education book.

Tony Wagner's latest book (2008) does a very good job at analyzing the important issue of rigor, and how today, American society has confused the quest for large amounts of knowledge sold in a shallow package (a mile wide but an inch deep) as the answer to our nation's educational woes. Just like a shallow river, this approach looks impressive on the surface, producing a lot of froth and whitewater, but is not very navigable. This merit-badge approach of padding transcripts with "rigorous" classes comes at a steep price. While students (many in our "top" schools) grind through advanced classes, preparing to pass tests, they forgo the opportunity for deep analysis and practical problem-solving (this coming from the students themselves). In an age of informational abundance, the skills and competencies businesses need most (by their accounts) like the ability to use information well, are missing in many of today's graduates.

Wagner looks at alternative assessments that measure students' abilities to problem solve, manage information, and apply content knowledge to real issues. He talks with students, staff; visits schools, and presents programs that have eschewed the shallow approach favored by most schools today. Unlike the uncritical flybys that we are used to seeing during most school visitations where everything is choreographed for the visitor, Wagner, having been a teacher and administrator, looks beyond the facade and is not afraid to speak his mind. Speaking in a frank yet balanced tone, he argues convincingly that we need a better definition for "rigor"---one that looks beyond mere content, while not ignoring content's importance.

Tony Wagner completely understands the problems with our education system, explains the problems, and then offers realistic solutions. What more can you ask?

This is the first optimistic book on education I have read in years because the author breaks down the issues into problems that can be solved. In my 30 years in education and business, I have never read as good an analysis.

Read it! Act on it!

The Global Achievement Gap addresses and illuminates critical issues on how American education is failing to prepare our youth for life after high school - either in college or in the workforce. Wagner shows great deficits in teacher training and evaluational. I thought our failing school district was unique, but apparently the teacher evaluations (a 3-4 minute observation each year with no feedback other than a checklist) is the norm in the U.S.. He is right about the needs of industry when he speaks about the need for independent critical and creative thinking. In the U.S. manufacturing depends on high is based on avoiding labor costs. Another reviewer points out that China teaches by memory too. And there is where we are - if education continues preparing us for the 20th century - memorize, drill the hole, follow instructions, dill the hole in the next piece on the assembly line - we will catch up with the Chinese and earn $0.21 cents an hour too. What Wagner should say is that we NEED a global achievement gap - we need to have education for the 21st century - that trains students with the critical thinking, communication skills, collaborative skills and creativity or we become a cold weather Mexico without the oil.

I learned much from this book, and am glad I read it, but it was a major failure in a couple of ways. For someone advocating writing and communication skills required for business, the chapters were overly long winded and often seemed to loose focus. Maybe he was trying to bloat a 30 page thesis into 300 pages - but the book would have been much more effective at half its length. It was hard to get through it. The book also fails as it does not tell how to get there from here. It gives examples of 3 high schools which have exciting programs that may fit the bill, but it does not give any help on the process of how to transform our archaic 19th century teaching style into one that suits the 21st century. One of the schools he holds up as an example would not even hire experienced teachers as they are too used to the traditional teaching styles - so does this mean we are to fire them all and start over, or wait until they all retire??? The subtitle: "And What We Can Do About It" must be waiting for his next book. In the mean time my kids are going to miss the boat.....