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Tony Wagner

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 Hardcover – August 12, 2008

by Tony Wagner (Author)

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Despite the best efforts of educators, our nation’s schools are dangerously obsolete. Instead of teaching students to be critical thinkers and problem-solvers, we are asking them to memorize facts for multiple choice tests. This problem isn’t limited to low-income school districts: even our top schools aren’t teaching or testing the skills that matter most in the global knowledge economy. Our teens leave school equipped to work only in the kinds of jobs that are fast disappearing from the American economy. Meanwhile, young adults in India and China are competing with our students for the most sought-after careers around the world. Education expert Tony Wagner has conducted scores of interviews with business leaders and observed hundreds of classes in some of the nation’s most highly regarded public schools. He discovered a profound disconnect between what potential employers are looking for in young people today (critical thinking skills, creativity, and

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

August 12, 2008
Grade level

11 and up
Reading age

14 years and up
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0465002293
ISBN-13

978-0465002290
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Wagner, a Harvard education professor, begins by offering his astute assessment of secondary education in the U.S. today and how it fails to produce graduates who are “jury ready” (i.e., able to analyze an argument, weigh evidence, and detect bias). He then presents a concise manifesto for the steps needed to “reinvent the education profession.” His thesis revolves around “Seven Survival skills”—the core competencies he deems necessary for success both in college and in the twenty-first-century workforce. These encompass problem solving and critical thinking, collaboration across networks, adaptability, initiative, effective oral and written communication, analyzing information, and developing curiosity and imagination. Wagner visits a wide spectrum of schools, both public and private, meets with teachers and administrators, and demonstrates how these survival skills have been forgotten in the preparation for mandatory tests. He stresses the importance of being able to analyze new information and apply it to new situations in the “global knowledge economy,” then details the programs, including team teaching, at a few innovative schools that are effectively meeting this challenge. --Deborah Donovan

Review

Howard Gardner, author of Five Minds for the Future and Multiple Intelligences
“In this persuasive book, Wagner delineates what skills are needed in a globalized era, why most American schools can’t nurture them, and how today’s schools could be transformed to cultivate tomorrow’s skills.”

Jay Mathews, Washington Post
“I consider this book more of an experience than a read…[Tony Wagner] is a likely leader for the new era.”

Educated Quest
“If I had the money, I would buy a copy of this book for every governor, congressman and senator; this book presents a far better direction for education politics than the current thoughts from Washington…The Global Achievement Gap is well-reasoned and well-written…If you’re a parent who is serious about your child’s education and course content, buy this book and use the Survival Skills as your guide.”

Harvard Crimson
“Wagner’s book raises many important questions about both the state and purpose of secondary education in America.”

Education Review
“Through Wagner’s story-telling style, using cases and examples, we were impressed by his profound insight and his patience in sharing what he has realized.”

Anne L. Bryant, Executive Director, National School Boards Association
“Every school board member, administrator, teacher and parent in the nation should read this book.”

U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye
“The Global Achievement Gap is a ‘must’ read for all policymakers.”

Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University
“Tony Wagner takes us deep inside the black box of school curriculum in a way 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.”

Mel Levine, author of A Mind at a Time
“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.”

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School Professor and author of America the Principled and

Dr. Arthur E. Levine, President, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
“The Global Achievement Gap offers a simple, readable, intelligent and compelling analysis of the needs of our schools and the ways to address them.”

Deborah Meier, author of The Power of Their Ideas
“It’s always an occasion for delight when Tony Wagner writes a new book. He’s done it again by provoking us to think about the reasons behind the current furor over school achievement.”

Keith R. McFarland, Author of #1 Wall Street Journal and New York Times Bestseller, The Breakthrough Company
“Tony Wagner is not just talking about our schools here—he is talking about the future 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 Sawyer, author of

Confidence
“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.”

Clayton Christensen, Professor, Harvard Business School, and author of Disrupting Class
“Parents, teachers, administrators and policy makers urgently need to understand what Wagner is telling us.”

Dr. Richard C. Atkinson, President Emeritus, University of California
“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?”

Larry Stupski, Chairman, Stupski Foundation
“Tony Wagner makes a strong case for rethinking our entire approach to education, and his argument is persuasive.”

Charles Fadel, Global Lead for Education, Cisco
“This insightful book calls for a much needed dialogue between educators, business leaders and policy makers on the future of American education. By using many real-life examples, the book is a very readable starting point for that discussion.”

John Abele, Founding Chairman, Boston Scientific, Board Chair, FIRST
“Kudos to Tony Wagner.”

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 1st edition (August 12, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465002293
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465002290
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 11 and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #476,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #487 in Parent Participation in Education (Books)
- #822 in Education Reform & Policy
- #17,765 in World History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
176 ratings

About the author

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Tony Wagner

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A globally recognized expert in education, Tony Wagner currently serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, founded by Linda Darling-Hammond in 2015. Prior to this appointment, Tony held a variety of positions at Harvard University for more than twenty years, including four years as an Expert in Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab and the founder and co-director, for more than a decade, of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His previous work experience includes twelve years as a high school teacher, K-8 principal, university professor in teacher education, and founding executive director of Educators for Social Responsibility.

Tony is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and a widely published author. His work includes numerous articles and seven books, including three best-sellers: Most Likely To Succeed: Preparing Our Kids for The Innovation Era, co-authored by Ted Dintersmith, was published by Scribner in 2015. Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World, was published in 2012 to rave reviews and has been translated into 17 languages. His 2008 book, The Global Achievement Gap continues to be an international best seller, with more than 140,000 copies in print. Tony’s memoir, Learning By Heart: An Unconventional Education, will be published by Penguin/Random House in 2020.

Tony served as the Strategic Education Advisor for a major new education documentary, “Most Likely to Succeed,” which had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and has since been shown in more than 8000 communities. He also collaborated with noted filmmaker Robert Compton to create a 60 minute documentary, “The Finland Phenomenon: Inside The World’s Most Surprising School System.”

Tony earned an M.A.T. and an Ed.D. at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

To contact Tony and for the latest news, go to tonywagner.com

Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		16%
3 star		6%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

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John Martin

A valuable book on the current situation in education and what needs to be done to improve it.

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2015

Verified Purchase

The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner is another in a series of recent books that present a critical view of American education. What Wagner and others decry is the failure of schools to teach what he calls “survival skills,” namely such things as critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork. Wagner is described on the back cover of the book as an “Expert in Residence at Harvard University’s Innovation Lab.” He claims that there are two achievement gaps in our education systems. The first is the gap between the quality of schooling that most middle-class students get and the quality available to poor and minority children. The second gap, and the one that is the primary focus of the book, is the global gap between even what our best schools are teaching and testing and what all students need to succeed as workers, learners and citizens in today’s global knowledge economy.

Wagner posits seven “survival skills” that he says are necessary. These include:
1. Critical thinking and problem solving
2. Collaboration across networks
3. Agility and adaptability
4. Initiative and entrepreneurship
5. Effective oral and written communication
6. Accessing and analyzing information
7. Curiosity and imagination.

He discusses these shortcomings in detail and gives many examples. He states that there is an overemphasis on testing which leads teachers to teach to the test. Another problem is that the training future teachers get in education schools is not adequate to what is needed.

This book is very valuable for parents, students and anyone interested in education—both in the United States and globally. It not only provides specific examples, it also gives sources and organizations that you can contact.

17 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lady K

Should be called the AMERICAN ACHIEVEMENT GAP

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2017

Verified Purchase

Very good book however not appropriately titled. It focused almost exclusively on America and not greatly in a method of comparison with the exception of discussion non the PISA exam. This, however, does not take away from the book or its content. The information is wonderful and absolutely relevant to the issues facing the school system today. He examines how the rote memorization and learning of intricate details of every single subject does not constitute true learning but rather a method of information ingestion that is forgotten immediately after the test. He shows how even some of the top schools in America have the same issues in the way they teach. However, he also explores numerous schools that are getting it right. Schools that are unconventional. They do not all have students getting perfect scores on standardized tests but the students are actually learning and their ability to grasp information more deeply leads to their ability to rationalize and compartmentalize as an adult. This is a must have for parents and educators who want to understand how the system fails kids and how they can overcome it.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jeremey Donovan

Priceless Insights (& book summary)

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

The fundamental premise of this book is that the world has changed and all students need the following 7 news skills for college, career, and citizenship:
1.Critical Thinking and problem solving
2. Collaboration (incl. emotional intelligence)
3. Agility and adaptability
4. Initiative and 'entrepreneurialism'
5. Effective oral and written communication
6. Accessing and analyzing information
7. Curiosity and imagination

I feel these 7 have some degree of overlap and can be further reduced to the 4Cs:
1. Critical thinking (incl. problem solving, analytical thinking, information synthesis, asking questions)
2. Collaboration (incl. emotional intelligence, service & social responsibility, ethics, listening, influence, delegation, cultural sensitivity)
3. Communication (oral & written that is concise, focused, and passionate)
4. Creativity (incl. 'entrepreneurialism', curiosity, achievement orientation, self-starting action that drives results, adaptability, goal setting, time management)

Techniques for improving education from the book include the following:
1. Taking learning walks to observe both instruction and (especially) students demonstrating new skills
2. Encouraging students to ask questions and teachers to answer
3. Designing group work where every student is accountable
4. Do not teach to the test with rote memorization and formulaic writing. Instead "develop higher-quality, open-response, competency-based tests that can be given less frequently to a representative sample of the student population
5. Train teachers by viewing and discussing videos of teaching
6. Use ACTIVE case studies with inquiry and discussion (like in business school, law school, or medical school)
7. Provide teachers with expert coaching and regular critiques
8. Hire and train the right teachers since "The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its workforce."
9. Provide teachers with professional development time (and hold them accountable for how that use it)
10. Encourage kids to explore their interests
11. Apply cohesive, cross-discipline, project-based (rather than textbook-based) learning
12. Call out, with attribution, examples of great work. Show, anonymously, examples of deficient work (from other classes)
13. Require students to do internships (after their junior year)
14. Pair veteran and new teachers and ensure they meet regularly
15. Maintain continuous improvement by (a) conducting focus groups with employers to understand critical skills and skill gaps (b) funding education R&D

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

D. Azevedo

STEM bible

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a comprehensive view of the status of STEM in our time. It confirmed many of my perceptions and allowed me to formulate a lot of my own views and theories as necessary for my own projects.

If you want to do STEM Programmes based on the 7 Essential skills you do need to have this book on your desk.

Amazon Customer

Good analysis and ideas.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2014

Verified Purchase

Strangely I had just visited HTH and San Diego Met (big picture school) in March, so have seen first hand the excellent work that they do. I agree largely with the analysis of the issues. From a UK perspective they are very similar.

Julie

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2014

Verified Purchase

Very good read - really useful and interesting

Jorge Gaete

Excellent, a must read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2016

Verified Purchase

Excellent book for those who want to better understand the current (and future) challenges that students will face at work in the new world.

ISB

Great book

Reviewed in Germany on October 25, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is a great book with a message as educationalists that we should all take note of and act upon, a well recommended read for all those in education that can bring about change, from teacher to administrator.

See all reviews