The Global Achievement Gap

© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner 1

The Global Achievement Gap

Tony Wagner, Co-Director

Change Leadership Group

Harvard University, Graduate School of Education

[email protected]

www.gse.harvard.edu/clg

www.schoolchange.org


The New Educational Challenges: “The Rock & The Hard Place”

• The Rock: NEW SKILLS for Work, Continuous Learning & Citizenship in a “knowledge society” for ALL STUDENTS

– Convergence of skills needed for careers, college, citizenship

– Students lacking skills relegated to marginal employment & citizenship

• The Hard Place: The “Net Generation” is differently motivated to learn

– Kids accustomed to instant gratification and “always-on” connection

– Kids constantly connected, creating and multitasking in a multimedia world—everywhere except in school

– Less fear and respect for authority—accustomed to learning from peers; want coaching, but also adults who don’t “talk down” to them

• Re-Framing the Problem: Reform vs. Reinvention

– We do not know how to teach ALL students NEW skills. This is a new education challenge that requires development of new professional knowledge, new school structures, and new ways of working together.


The “New World” of Work and The Seven Survival Skills

1. Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving

2. Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence

3. Agility and Adaptability

4. Initiative and Entrepreneurialism

5. Effective Oral and Written Communication

6. Accessing and Analyzing Information

7. Curiosity and Imagination

From 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 (New York: Basic Books, summer 2008)


Benchmarking Rigor:

Employers View of What is Needed

What skills and content areas will be growing in importance in the next few years?

Critical Thinking 78%

I.T. 77%

Health & Wellness 76%

Collaboration 74%

Innovation 74%

Personal Financial Responsibility 72%

From “Are They Really Ready to Work” http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/FINAL_REPORT_PDF09-29-06.pdf


Benchmarking Rigor: College View of What is Needed

College professors’ views of the skills students lack:

70% say students do not comprehend complex reading materials

66% say students cannot think analytically

65% say students lack appropriate work and study habits

62% say students write poorly

59% say students don’t know how to do research

55% say students can’t apply what they’ve learned to solve

problems2005 Achieve Inc. http://www.achieve.org/files/pollreport.pdf


More Important Than Academic Content: The Competencies That Matter Most for College

From research conducted by David Conley on “College Knowledge”:

• Writing

• Reasoning

• Analytic Thinking

• Problem-solving

The College and Work Readiness Assessment—an online performance assessment of these core competencies.

(see “Resources” slide for more information.)


Recent Grads Summary of What They Need

• Writing skills

• Study skills and time management

• Research skills

• Study group experience

What would your graduates say?


Vignettes From The “Old World” of School

1. The ‘cake that flopped’: AP chemistry

2. Coloring within the lines: 9th grade honors global studies class

3. Let me tell you now to answer this one: AP Government

4. Newton’s birth date or the stars: 7th grade science

5. Skits on comma rules: 9th grade honors English


What is The “Global Achievement Gap”?

The Global Achievement Gap is the gap between what even our best schools are teaching and testing

Versus

The skills all students will need for careers, college, and citizenship in

the 21st century


AYP Versus Attainment…The Numbers That Matter Most for Kids’ Futures

% of US Students Who Graduate From High School• 79% of Asian Students (80% in CO)

• 72% of Caucasian students (80% in CO)

• 50% of African American & Hispanic students (64% & 55% in CO)Source Education Week http://www.edweek.org/apps/dc2008/state_compare.htm

Students Who Graduate “College-Ready” • 1 in 3 Caucasian & Asian students (37%)

• 1 in 5 African American students (20%)

• 1 in 6 Hispanic students (16%)Source: Greene & Forster, “Public High School Graduation & College Readiness Rates in the US,” Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, 2003 http://www.manhattan-institute.org/ewp_03.pdf)


So What’s The Problem?

• A New Curriculum in American schools: test-prep

– Assessment drives instruction—for better or for worse: “using the wrong metric is worse than having no measurement at all”

– Andreas Schleicher: multiple choice tests are one reason why U.S. students perform poorly on PISA: 25th out 56 in science, 35th in math, 28th out of 40 in problem-solving

• Assessment impacts student motivation—for better or for worse

– More students drop out from boredom than lack of skills

– Today’s students are differently motivated to learn and to work: instant gratification, multitasking in a multimedia universe; learning from peers and creating on the web; skeptical of adult authority and needing to make a difference


Your “Shareholders” Think Things Are Fine

77%66%

39%33%

74%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Students Teachers Parents Employers Professors

% saying a high school diploma means students have learned the basics (PAFReality Check 2002)


Exploring Some Leadership Implications

• Create understanding and urgency to hold yourselves, your teachers, and your students to a higher standard for student success in careers, college, and citizenship.

– Collect and share the real data: report cohort graduation rate; and percent of students going to postsecondary & how well they do; conduct post grad focus groups, video them and show to faculty

• Engage the community in discussions of how the world has changed and the skills that matter most.

– Help them to redefine rigor for the 21st century

• Invest in: assessments and improvement of instruction.

– A combination of local performance assessments and national or international tests such as the CWRA and PISA are required.

– Teachers don’t know how to teach all students new skills and motivate all students to achieve at high levels.

– Leaders don’t know what good instruction looks like or how to coach teachers.


Redefining Rigor: 5 “Habits of Mind” Learning to Ask The Right Questions

• Weighing Evidence

– How do we know what’s true and false? What is the evidence, and is it credible?

• Awareness of Varying Viewpoints

– What viewpoint are we hearing? Who is the author, and what are his or her intentions? How might it look to someone with a different history?

• Seeing Connections/Cause & Effect

– Is there a pattern? How are things connected? Where have we seen this before?

• Speculating on Possibilities/Conjecture

– What if? Supposing that? Can we imagine alternatives?

• Assessing Value—Both Socially and Personally

– What difference does it make? Who cares? So what?From www.missionhillschool.org See also Deborah Meier The Power of Their Ideas


Resources

• 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 and Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools –Tony Wagner www.schoolchange.org

• The College and Work Readiness Assessment http://www.cae.org/content/pro_collegework.htm

• “Towards a More Comprehensive Conception of College Readiness” by David Conley http://www.gatesfoundation.org/nr/downloads/ed/researchevaluation/CollegeReadinessPaper.pdf

• “How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top” http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/socialsector/resources/pdf/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf

• Programme for International Student Assessment www.pisa.oecd.org• “Two Million Minutes,” a documentary film comparing 6 high school students in

the US, China, and India http://www.2mminutes.com/index.html• Partnership for 21st Century Skills http://21stcenturyskills.org/• Videos of Good Teaching

http://www.teacherscollegepress.com/teachertoteacher.html

The Global Achievement Gap

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