The Global Achievement Gap
Tony Wagner, Co-Director
Change Leadership Group
Harvard University, Graduate School of Education
tony_wagner@harvard.edu
www.gse.harvard.edu/clg
www.schoolchange.org
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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.
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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)
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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_PD
F09-29-06.pdf
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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
problems
2005 Achieve Inc. http://www.achieve.org/files/pollreport.pdf
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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.)
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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Recent Grads Summary of What They Need
• Writing skills
• Study skills and time management
• Research skills
• Study group experience
What would your graduates say?
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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)
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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Your “Shareholders” Think Things Are Fine
100%
80%
77%
74%
66%
60%
39%
40%
33%
20%
0%
Students
Teachers
Parents
Employers
Professors
% saying a high school diploma means students have learned the basics (PAF
Reality Check 2002)
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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.
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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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
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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Resources
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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/CollegeRea
dinessPaper.pdf
“How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top”
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/socialsector/resources/pdf/Worlds_Scho
ol_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
© Copyright 2008 Tony Wagner
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