I finally did my homework assignment. For the past year and more Superintendent Jefferson has been urging administrators, teachers, staff, members of the school councils and School Committee to read Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap. The author, an educator with varied experiences and impressive credentials, documents the shortcomings of America's education system and offers ideas for changes that would better prepare our young people for the challenges of today's world. The book is a good assignment for anyone who cares deeply about how we educate the next generation; it also gives readers a broader perspective with which to view our local schools. And statements like the following are, indeed, a call to action: "I have observed that the longer our children are in school, the less curious they become."

Wagner's extensive research leads him to believe that we are not preparing our young people for success in college and certainly not for thriving in the global market. He cites some alarming facts, such as the one that America's high school graduation rate is well behind countries like Denmark, Japan, Poland, and Italy. He argues that while the world has changed exponentially, schools have not, and that even the best ones are not teaching students the skills they need for college, career, and citizenship. Changes such as a global "knowledge economy" with profound effects on work; the movement from information limited in amount and availability to information characterized by flux and glut; and the impact of media and technology on how young people learn have necessitated that all students be taught critical thinking and communication skills. Our current system of public education—its curricula, methods of instruction, and testing—was created in a different century for a very different society. Wagner despairs that it is hopelessly outdated.

One of Wagner's greatest concerns is that most educators don't see the urgency for change. He suggests that this is in part because their work isolates them from the larger world of rapid change. He also believes that they have a healthy skepticism after living through too many failed educational fads. Wagner also lays blame on the No Child Left Behind legislation, which he says has caused more harm than good. He argues that as we worked to close the achievement gap between white middle-class students and economically disadvantaged minority students, we focused on core content knowledge, required more and more multiple choice questions, and began to measure success of our schools by test scores alone. In doing this, we created an even more significant gap: a "global achievement gap" in which even our best students are not being taught the skills they really need to survive in the world of the 21st century.

Tony Wagner. (Courtesy photo)

Wagner begins his exploration in what he calls the "New World of Work." He says he was surprised to learn, from his extensive discussions with business leaders, how much the world of work has changed. The whole structure of corporations, the way they approach projects, and their global connections are vastly different from the previous world of work and its emphasis on content knowledge. He points out that the days of well-paid unskilled or semi-skilled work are over in this country; increasingly the only decent jobs that remain will go to the "knowledge workers" of the 21st century. From listening to the experts, Wagner came up with a list of survival skills that young people need in today's market. At the top is learning the inquiry process, closely connected to critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The abilities to work in teams, be adaptable, take initiative, access and analyze information effectively, and be curious and imaginative are essential. Wagner was not surprised to hear reiterated again and again the need for effective oral and written communication. But what did surprise him was to learn that business leaders want not just clear and correct writing, but writing that has "focus, energy, and passion." Wagner concludes that these survival skills are for future generations what the "three Rs" were for previous generations.

Wagner next sets out to assess the extent to which high-performing schools are teaching these "survival skills" and preparing students for what they will need to succeed in this new world of work. One of Wagner's assessment tools is a "learning walk." He spends 10 minutes in each of many classes in a school and gains a sense of the pervading vision and values of that school. Excerpts from these "walks" at the high school level show that time and again he found students unengaged with the lesson and teachers teaching to the subject-content standards and the standardized tests. In both content and method this flies in the face of what Wagner sees as rigorous education. Calling the teaching of test-preparation "epidemic" in our nation's schools, Wagner says it is the exception to the rule for a teacher to use academic content not as an end in itself but as a means of teaching students skills of communication, reasoning, and problem solving. Visits to elementary schools in largely middle-class districts showed that students spent a high percentage of time in their seats listening to the teacher or working alone and only about 7 percent of their time working collaboratively in groups. The average fifth-grader received five times as much instruction in basic skills as instruction focused on problem solving or reasoning. Wagner points out that education reform in India, China, and Singapore is moving in a direction that is exactly opposite to ours and stresses again the widening global achievement gap from which the U.S. is suffering. In a chapter called "Closing the Gap: Three Schools that Work," Wagner shows how some schools are succeeding in providing the rigorous education Wagner is urging for all schools.

Wagner criticizes America's system for testing how much students have memorized and can recall at a given time rather than assessing how well they can think about and evaluate information. Even in advanced placement classes the tendency is to assess more content, not to deepen critical and creative thinking skills and habits of communication and collaboration. Wagner argues standardized tests do not evaluate a rigorous education: "In today's world, it's no longer how much you know that matters; it's what you can do with what you know." He says it is possible to create tests that measure skills, not content, but that we need people willing to stand up and buck the system.

Wagner asserts that in most schools of education—even prestigious Harvard University!—prospective teachers are not taught how to teach critical and creative thinking to kids. He proposes that we need to change the way we educate teachers. Rather than require future teachers to take courses such as the philosophy of education, teachers should study and discuss "cases" of student learning. They should be encouraged to constantly discuss curriculum and instruction and to ask peers to observe their teaching and to give feedback. This openness to change and feedback would then be part of the climate of every school. And it would bring a positive change in the relationship between administrators and faculty. Wagner also says we need to understand that today's youth are motivated differently from students in previous generations and that we need to respect and work with their abilities and needs.

Wagner's book is more than an analysis of what's wrong with America's schools—it is a call to action. The world has changed in significant ways and education owes it to future generations to make changes in the way that it prepares students for life in this very different world. Wagner calls upon us to ask the tough questions about what drives real learning and how such learning could make lasting change in the way we educate our children. He charges us, quoting from Rabbi Hillel, "If not you, then who? If not now, then when?"

Carlene Phillips is a member of the Hildreth Elementary School Council.