Book Review: The Global Achievement Gap: Chapter 2:

Chapter two of the book, The Global Achievement Gap, written by Tony Wagner, is entitled, The Old World of School. Our nations education system has been working to close the achievement gap between white middle class and poor, minority children by requiring multiple-choice tests, and our students are measured based on those scores, and by doing so we are going further away from closing the global achievement gap. Some students can barely read and write when they graduate from high school. Mr. Wagner decides to find out how our academically well-prepared students are doing in today's education system when they graduate from high school.  Are they learning to think critically, solve problems, communicate effectively, and work as a team? Will they be prepared for the 21st century job market when they graduate from high school? To find out he starts visiting schools across the United States to observe their teaching, something he calls "learning walks". The superintendent of the school usually joins him, and they go into various classrooms unannounced and observe the class. In this chapter he describes his visits to these classrooms, and his findings. In his opinion,  he reports that only one in twenty teachers are teaching their students how to effectively communicate, reason, and problem solve. In elementary schools, he summarizes some key findings from scholars at the University of Virginia who observed more than 2,500 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade classes in more than 1000 schools. The top findings, as a result of No Child Left Behind laws, are that elementary school teachers focus on teaching reading and basic math, because their students were being tested every other year, and schools need show adequate progress. There is a greater emphasis on tested content, and reduced time for other subjects. Basically, children are being taught test-prep.  The top five things that I found disturbing about the findings from all of the studies done across the U.S. in relation to our education system today are:
1. When comparing test scores from the U.S to other countries, our test scores put us behind twenty-eight other countries.
2. Our schools are not helping our students learn skills such as creativity, imagination and innovation, while countries such as China, India, and Singapore are transforming their education systems to produce creativity.
3. Children we consider the most academically talented today are not even close to where children are in other countries.
4. Education reform in India, China, and Singapore is moving in the direct opposite direction as the U.S.
5. Because we are working to close the achievement gap between white middle class and poor, minority children by requiring multiple-choice tests, and our students are measured based on those scores, we are going further away from closing the global achievement gap.