Closing The Global Achievement Gap:

Transformative 21st century education

Jonathan Martin

Head of School

St. Gregory College Preparatory School

A Year in My Life2008

• A blog project: 21st century education, 21 schools, 60 books

• What Students need to Learn

• How best can they Learn it.

The 21st century challenge

• Outsourcing• Abundance• Automation• Internet Information

              

Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap

• Our High School Students are not learning what they need to learn

• We need new expectations, new measurements, & new learning environments

Defining a 21st century education

Defining a 21st century education

The Skills our Students Require

Serious about Skills (and Knowledge)

Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap

Seven Survival Skills• 1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving• 2. Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence • 3. Agility and Adaptability• 4. Initiative and Entrepreneurship • 5. Effective Oral and Written Communication• 6. Accessing and Analyzing Information• 7. Curiosity and Imagination

Ultimately?

Leadership and effective collaboration

I

Inquisitiveness, Innovation and Creativity

Real-World Problem solving

Shadow-Blogging 21 High Schools

Wagner: The important question is what’s going on in classrooms?

In order to really understand what’s happening in classrooms,

you need to observe teaching and learning in lots of schools.

Active, Engaged, Learning

Students Learn Best by DoingMore than ever today, Kids

expect to be engaged and creative doers in school.

They are inspired most by real world problems, and they learn most when tackling complex problems

Our classrooms must be laboratories and studios where students inquire, test, experiment, and produce.

Active, Engaged Learning

From Douglass Reeves:

We need classrooms which feature:

• problem solving rather than recitation,

• collaboration rather than isolation,

• creativity rather than regurgitation, and

• critical analysis rather than memorization,

How Transform our Schools?

By Measuring the Right Outcomes…

and Taking our Results Seriously

Conventional Academic Measurement

• SAT Scores• Grade level standardized testing

results• AP Scores: St. Gregory student

Arizona AP Scholar

• But not alone! “Life is not a multiple choice test,” and we need students to recognize that “the most important skill in the New World of Work is the ability to ask the right question, not select the right answer.”

Measure Higher Order Thinking Skills

• Rand Corp. designed • 300 Colleges• OECD adoption• Critical thinking• Analytic Reasoning• Written Communication• Problem-Solving

College Completion

The Million Dollar Difference

Student Engagement

Classwork 1

71

61

51

63

4546

35

17

3027

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Ask or answerquestions in class

Talked to teacherabout classwork

Written paper morethan 5 pages

Received helpfulfeedback onassignments

Discussed questionswith no clear answer

STG Often

All Schools Often

Reporting to Students on Goals beyond Grades

• Effort and Perseverance Habits• Integrity• Leadership Skills• Communication Skills• Thinking Skills: Critical, Analytic, and Inquisitive• Innovation Skills• Complex, real-world, problem-solving skills

Publishing and Presenting

• Old fashioned Science Experiments

• Academic and Technological Contests and Competitions

• Blogging and websites• Learning evaluated by

outside of school notice, feedback, and appreciation

Tony Wagner, Speaking at St. Gregory

7:00pm, March 31Free and Open to Public

RSVP at stgregoryschool.org

www.21k12blog.net