The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way is the title of a new book by Amanda Ripley. Ripley has traveled around the world, to the countries where students consistently get the highest scores on international student assessments (like the PISA test of the OECD). In Finland, South Korea, Singapore, and… Read More The Smartest Kids in the World
Educational leaders around the world now realize that our schools need to do a better job of fostering creativity and collaboration abilities in students. Creativity and collaboration are two of the so-called “21st century skills,” abilities that are essential to life and work in the future. Now that everyone agrees that schools need to teach… Read More Assessing 21st Century Skills
The Economist of 17 September 2011 has a detailed three-page story about “the great schools revolution” resulting from “a global battle of ideas.” This has resulted from new masses of comparative data, such as the PISA tests developed by the OECD and first used in 32 countries in 2000, and McKinsey consulting group’s new education… Read More International Education Reform
This is my first posting from Europe, during my two-month stay as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge. I have about twelve guest lectures scheduled and I’ll be posting about my travels. This week I’ve been in Finland, giving a series of four invited lectures at four different universities.* If you have ever… Read More Finland’s Innovation Economy
The Creativity Guru 