The Global Search for Education: More from Canada
“Good Teachers are critical. It is an absolutely vital factor.” — Dr. Ben Levin “The U.S. cannot improve its education system for all or even most children by keeping its present focus on charter schools, more testing, teacher evaluation and union bashing. None of those feature in the best-performing countries. There must be a focus on helping all schools improve, combining pressure with lots of...
The Global Search for Education: What Did You Learn Today?
“Children do not always learn what we teach. That is why the most important assessment does not happen at the end of the learning, it happens during the learning.” — Dylan Wiliam “It is right that teachers and schools are accountable to those with a stake in public education, and this requires assessments that are free from subjectivity. So we do need some form of standardized assessment. However, the...
Bad Education System — What’s the Real Cost?
Investment in education is investment in people and in a nation’s future. And it is also about money! “The cost to individuals and society of young people leaving school without a qualification keeps rising,” stated OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría in connection with the OECD’s annual Education at a Glance report. According to this report, the global economic crisis has proved much tougher for people...
The Global Search for Education: How to Support Your Education System
“70% of the variation in student achievement is accounted for by factors outside of the control of schools.” — Charles Ungerleider Professor Charles Ungerleider tells me he wrote his book, Failing Our Kids — How we are Ruining Our Public Schools (McClelland & Stewart, 2004), after he completed a term as Deputy Minister of Education for British Columbia. For 40 years he had observed the Canadian...
The Global Search for Education: What Do We Value Most?
“We need to focus on the kind of human beings we want to have and the kind of society in which we want to live” — Howard Gardner photo courtesy of Harvard University. What do the 81.5 million students in this country believe their families value most? Money? Success? Happiness? Knowledge? Power? Celebrity? Truth? A Healthy Planet? Good Work? Engaged Citizens? A Cultured Society? What should the 81.5 million...
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