Join the conversation

You might want to put your kids through art school after all.

Best-selling author Dan Pink's prediction that the MFA could become the next MBA is sure to kindle joy in the hearts of underfed visual arts majors everywhere, but it also has profound implications for K-12 public schools. Right-brained skills are becoming an increasingly important ticket to success in the post-information age, Pink argues in his book A Whole New Mind. 

Public schools will have to do much more to promote such skills, he suggested, at a time when employers can easily automate or outsource traditional left-brained activities.

In a phone interview last week, Pink spoke with me at length about this new state of affairs, and he gave me a rare preview of his upcoming projects. 

Here’s a thumbnail sketch of what Pink told me…. ...

Yesterday's Washington Post included a somewhat dissatisfying article on critical thinking skills. While the author dutifully provides the Foundation for Critical Thinking's definition of the elusive term, the article's most convincing statement about critical thinking comes in a quotation from Tufts University dean Robert Sternberg: "You know it when you see it." Though some concrete examples may have been in order, the article disappoints us.

As if rising to the challenge, ASCD released a Smart Brief Special Report this morning entitled Teaching Students to Think, Part I, which "explores the many ways educators are developing students' thinking skills."  Stay tuned for Part II (Coming February 21st), which will focus on "best practices and professional development." ...

Story posted April 23, 2013

Results:

• Critical thinking statements included in student lab reports increased by 45 percent; 80 percent of students writing such statements provided further explanation/evidence in their writing.
• Teachers report opportunities for greater collaboration and that they can more effectively facilitate formative assessment, leading to more differentiated instruction.
• Education support personnel (afterschool tutors) report that they have better access to information on student performance and can therefore more effectively focus their instructional support specific student needs.

When Amanda Zullo began teaching a multi-grade high school chemistry class, she knew she needed to change the way her class worked to meet the needs of a wider range of students. With no prerequisites, the Regents chemistry course placed in the same classroom “the valedictorian and the kids who are hoping to meet the graduation requirements,” she says. “It challenged me to try different ways of teaching to reach the broadest group of students possible.”

Zullo shifted to an inquiry-based model of classroom instruction, one in which students work together in groups to solve open-ended problems. To ensure students were on task, she walked from group to group to check for understanding. But she knew that spot checks “based on gut” weren’t enough to ensure that all students were learning.

In searching for a solution, Zullo discovered a counterintuitive corollary about technology and teaching: finding a tool to quickly gauge student understanding paved the way for ...

Story posted October 16, 2008; Results updated March 26, 2013

Results:
• A 17% turnover rate for teachers with fewer than five years of experience in 2011.*
• In 2011, the district outperformed state proficiency levels in all grades across all subjects.

Like many small rural school districts, the Springville-Griffith Institute Central School District in Western New York faces challenges in hiring and retaining teachers. Home to rural farms and small manufacturing facilities, the district serves a diverse population of about 2,500 low- to middle-income students. Many district teachers are nearing retirement, potentially exacerbating teacher retention woes. District leaders worried that high turnover rates would impede student learning. ...