Book Review: The Global Acheivement Gap: Chapter Six

Chapter 6 of the book, The Global Achievement Gap is titled: Closing the Gap: Schools That Work.
In chapter 6 Mr. Wagner talk about a network of charter schools in San Diego called High Tech High (HTH). It is like a mini school district, but it has gained international recognition for their innovative education, and for their results. High Tech High schools all have a common design principle, which includes; personalization, real-world connections, and a common intellectual mission. They also have a common set of goals; to serve a student body that mirrors the ethnic and socio-economic diversity of the local community, integrate technical and academic education to prepare students for post-secondary education, increase the number of educationally disadvantaged students in math and engineering who succeed in high school and post secondary, graduate students who will be thoughtful, engaged citizens. I really thought that their successful results are wonderful, and I hope other schools can learn from their success.

Mr. Wagner also talked about The Met's Five Learning goals, which I thought made a lot of sense and overlaps with Mr. Wagner's Seven Survival Skills. 
1. Communication: How do I take in and express ideas?
2. Empirical Reasoning: How do I prove it?
3. Personal qualities: What do I bring to this process?
4.  Quantitative Reasoning: How do I measure, compare, or represent it?
5. Social Reasoning: What are other people's perspectives on this?
Thinking about this list, it really makes sense, and I think that education needs model these concepts.

Mr. Wagner also talked about Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School. This charter schools concept is "Less is More" and "Student as Worker, Teacher as Coach". They have an impressive list of principles.
1. Learning to use one's mind.
2.Less is more, depth over coverage.
3.The same intellectual goals apply to all students.
4. Personalization
5. Student as worker, teacher as coach.
6. Demonstrate of mastery.
7. A tone decency and trust throughout school.
8.  Commitment to the entire school.
9.  Resources dedicated to teaching and learning.
10. Democracy and equity.
Francis W. Parker school has very impressive results and the thing that I liked the best is they refuse to teach to a test.

I think education needs to model their teaching and learning toward Mr. Wagner’s final points:
1. Learning and Assessment focus which means the main purpose of teaching is the development of core competencies for lifelong learning, not memorization.
2. Student Motivation. You can hear each student's distinct voice in every discussion, project, and paper. I really liked this one.
3.School Accountability and Teacher Development.

I have enjoyed reading Mr. Wagner's book, and it has given me insights to the crisis in the education system in the U.S.  Mr. Wagner has brought up many good ideas, including the Seven Survival Skills, which I think our education system needs to focus on. It is my hope that one day soon we will have a successful educational system that the United States can be proud of.