The Education We Need for a Future We Can't Predict

by Thomas C. Hatch, Jordan Corson, Sarah Gerth van den Berg

Overview

Improve Schools and Transform Education

In order for educational systems to change, we must reevaluate deep-seated beliefs about learning, teaching, schooling, and race that perpetuate inequitable opportunities and outcomes. Hatch, Corson, and Gerth van den Berg challenge the narrative when it comes to the “grammar of schooling”—or the conventional structures, practices, and beliefs that define educational experiences for so many children—to cast a new vision of what school could be.

The book addresses current systemic problems and solutions as it:

• Highlights global examples of successful school change
• Describes strategies that improve educational opportunities and performance
• Explores promising approaches in developing new learning opportunities
• Outlines conditions for supporting wide-scale educational improvement

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781071802083
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	02/19/2021
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Thomas Hatch (@tch960) is a Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University and Director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST). His research includes studies of school improvement efforts at the school, district, and national levels. His latest book, The Education We Need for a Future We Can’t Predict (Corwin, 2021), focuses on efforts to create more powerful learning experiences both inside and outside schools in developed and developing contexts. He is also the founder and managing editor of internationalednews.com. He previously served as a Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. His other books include Managing to Change: How Schools can Survive (and Sometimes Thrive) in Turbulent Times (Teachers College Press, 2009); Into the Classroom: Developing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (Teachers College Press, 2005); and School Reform Behind the Scenes (Teachers College Press, 1999). Learn more about Tom and keep up with his latest blog posts at thomashatch.org.

Jordan Corson is an assistant professor of education and affiliated faculty member of immigration studies at Stockton University. He recently completed his doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he defended his dissertation, Undocumented Educations: Everyday Educational Practices of Recently Immigrated Youth Beyond Inclusion/Exclusion. Jordan has published research in the fields of education and philosophy, educational change, and teacher education. His research takes up ethnographic and historical methods to interrogate issues of transnational migration and curriculum studies through anti-colonial and abolitionist praxis.

Sarah Gerth van den Berg is a doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research explores the design and theory of curriculum involving nontraditional spaces, materials, and processes. She has published in the fields of curriculum studies, participatory arts-based practices, and out of school learning.

Table of Contents

List of Figures xv

List of Programs xvii

Preface xix

An Education in Schools xxi

An Education in School Reform xxiii

Why This Book? xxvii

Acknowledgments xxxi

About the Authors xxxv

Introduction 1

School Improvement in (Norwegian) Perspective 2

Improving Schools and Transforming Education 5

Design and Organization 8

Part 1 Why Should Schools Change? 13

Chapter 1 Increasing Access and Quality 15

What Has Improved in Schooling in the Developing World? 15

What Has Improved in Established Educational Systems? 17

Improvement Is Not Enough 20

The Bottom Line 22

Chapter 2 Establishing Equitable Learning Opportunities 23

Equity, Opportunity, and Education 23

The Vicious Cycle: Economic Inequality + Inequality of Educational Opportunity 25

Separate and Unequal 26

How Inequality Adds Up 26

The Bottom Line 30

Chapter 3 Learning with Purpose 31

What Are Schools For? 31

The Power of Unanticipated Learning 33

The Education We Need for a Future We Can't Predict 34

The Bottom Line 34

Key Ideas From Part 1 35

Part 2 Why Don't Schools Change? 37

Chapter 4 The "Grammar of Schooling" Always Pushes Back 41

The Possibilities of Incremental Improvement 41

The Challenges of Radical Change 43

What It Really Takes to Improve 45

Chapter 5 Beliefs Endure, but Times Change 47

"Real School" and "Real Learning" 47

Real Differences in Values 49

Turbulent Conditions 50

Improving in "Niches" 52

Key Ideas From Part 2 55

Part 3 How Can Schools Improve? 57

Chapter 6 From Common Concerns to High-Leverage Problems 61

Identifying Common Needs and Concerns 62

From Common Concerns to High-Leverage Problems 64

High-Leverage Problems and Foundational Skills 65

From High-Leverage Problems to Systemic Improvement 67

Looking for Leverage: Finding Productive Problems 72

Chapter 7 Solving Problems and Developing Micro-Innovations 75

Micro-Innovations for Teaching and Learning 76

Expanding the Power of Educators 78

Micro-Innovations Across the System 80

Micro-Innovations Beyond the Classroom 84

An Abundance of Needs and Possibilities 85

Key Ideas From Part 3 87

Part 4 How Can Education Change? 91

Chapter 8 The Conditions for Learning 95

Plugging Into Schools 97

Finding the Right Fit 101

Scaling Into School Systems 103

Chapter 9 From Possibilities to Practice 107

Building the Infrastructure for New Forms of Learning 108

Evolution and Expansion of the Infrastructure for Learning 110

Spandrels: Planning for Unpredictable Opportunities 114

Creating the Conditions for Improvement 118

Key Ideas From Part 4 119

Part 5 What Does it take to Change School Systems? 121

Chapter 10 Capacity-Building 125

Investing in Expertise and Materials 126

Investments in Teacher Preparation and High-Quality Materials in Finland 127

Investments in Support for Teachers and High-Quality Materials in Singapore 128

Relationships and Social Networks 130

From "Best Practice" to Comprehensive Support 133

Chapter 11 Coherence and Common Understanding 135

What Does Curriculum "Renewal" in Finland Really Entail? 136

Coherence Inside and Outside Schools in Singapore 138

Beyond Alignment 142

Chapter 12 Collective Responsibility 145

Trust in Society 147

Accountability, Answerability, and Responsibility 150

Building the Capacity for Collective Responsibility 152

Improvement in a Norwegian Context 154

The Mechanisms That Can Support Education Into the Future 158

Key Ideas From Part 5 158

Part 6 Conclusion 161

Chapter 13 From Improvements to Movements 163

Pursue a Series of High-Leverage Problems 164

Books, Glasses, Attendance, and Reading 164

Access to College-Level Content, Assessments, and Counseling 166

Develop New Approaches to Critical Challenges 167

Take Small Steps to Make Big Changes 169

Key Ideas for Creating the Education We Need 170

Focus on Learning That Matters 170

Break Down the Barriers Between Learning "Inside" and "Outside" Schools 171

Expand the Power of the Education Workforce 171

Condense Schooling and Increase Learning 172

Chapter 14 The Problems and Possibilities for Improvement in Every System 175

Improvement in Context 177

Steering Toward the Future 178

Between Nudges and Disruption 181

High-Leverage Leadership 183

References 187

Index 199

Editorial Reviews

There are many reasons to feel discouraged about attempts to substantively transform public education these days. The grammar of schooling has proved remarkably hard to change, most reform efforts have failed to prepare our children for the messy world we’re passing on to them, and we’re now entering a world where disruptions to life and work will likely become part of our everyday realities. If you’re one of those unwilling to give up to hopelessness, or if you’re already on the verge of losing hope, you have to read this book by Tom Hatch. The Education We Need for a Future We Can’t Predict is at the same time thoughtful and pragmatic, American and global, micro- and macro. Tom provides a thoughtful analysis of why it is so hard to change schools and what it takes to make meaningful change stick in classrooms and across entire education systems. Tom’s book is a good reminder that our way out of this mess and towards a brighter future is to be found in our human agency, understood as our capacity to exercise choice in the face of uncertainty. And it shows, through example, how and why it is so important - even urgent - for the United States to look beyond its borders to learn from the amazing educational transformation work going on abroad, all the way from Europe to Africa, from South-East Asia to Latin America.

Santiago Rincon Gallardo

You won’t find a better book on system change in education than The Education We Need for a Future We Can’t Predict. It addresses all the key issues and does so from the ground up. We learn why schools don’t change; how they can improve; what it takes to change a system; and, in the final analysis, the possibilities of system change. It has remarkable geographical range based on lived-in familiarity of the countries in question: the US, Finland, Singapore, South Africa, Norway, and more. Above all, The Education We Need renders complexity into clarity as the writing is so clear and compelling. A powerful read on a topic of utmost importance.

Michael Fullan

It is highly unusual and wonderfully refreshing to read a book so carefully pitched to our turbulent times as Tom Hatch’s The Education We Need for a Future We Can’t Predict. This magnum opus masterfully blends a moving personal memoir, trenchant social and political analysis, and an inspiring vision of a better world. This is must-reading for all serious educators and change leaders in the age of the coronavirus and beyond.

Dennis Shirley

Education is plagued by an absent of knowledge on the intricacies related to “making change happen” in education focused governmental and non-governmental organizations. Tom Hatch provides numerous examples of change efforts in the United States and in numerous countries that dot the globe. Global and local change approaches are described in ways that are helpful to leaders struggling to design strategies to inform strategic and tactical approaches that are evidenced based and relevant to common struggles organizations face in diverse geographic, demographic and political contexts. The lessons learned draw upon research and practical knowledge derived from the vantage point of a highly skilled researcher and his family’s real-life journey in educational systems in Norway, Sweden, and the United States.

The various conceptualizations of change strategies included in this book provide a much-needed resource for practitioners, reformers and policy makers to consider in planning and implementing change in complex times in a variety of educational settings across the globe. Tom’s personalization of research offers excellent case studies offer a variety of ways to think about making change happen. Readers are certain to identify with a rich array of relevant research and practice whether planning change for an education oriented non-profit, schools, districts, or state and national change projects.

Larry Leverett

Tom Hatch has been ‘in the arena’ where policy, programs, people, and power converge to educate children. In his fantastic, informative new book, The Education We Need for a Future We Can’t Predict, Tom travelled the globe to study how individuals, classrooms, schools, school systems, and nations ‘try with despair and hope to change and transform educational opportunities.’ Whether you’re a parent, practitioner, or policymaker, this book is written for you to take action to improve schools and communities; and to create new educational possibilities.

Pablo Muñoz

Tom Hatch has worked at the center of some of the landmark school reform initiatives of our times. He has inside knowledge of the promise and the disappointments of school reform. In this perceptive book, Hatch shares his well-informed vision of what can work in efforts to improve our schools. The book is a timely and valuable contribution to our literature on school improvement.

William Damon

The Education We Need for a Future We Can’t Predict is an absolute must read for everyone interested in effective and equitable educational changes. Drawing on Tom Hatch’s extensive expertise from research and direct involvement in educational improvement work, this book provides wise advice and practical actions ranging from micro-innovations for teaching, learning and equity in classrooms, to school improvement and reform, and large-scale change to transform education systems. I cannot recommend this book highly enough – Tom tackles long-standing and emerging educational issues in new ways with an impressive understanding of the challenging complexities, but also feasible possibilities, for ensuring excellence and equity for all students.

Carol Campbell

This educational odyssey is a fascinating story about why we need, now more than ever, to both improve our schools and transform education systems at the same time. In the era of global health crisis, political instability and economic uncertainty, Tom Hatch and colleagues bring us a much-needed message of optimism and hope: We can change schools for better and improve education systems if we really want to do so. This book is a must-read for those who want to think differently about the education and what it takes to have schools that our children need for a future we can’t predict.

Pasi Sahlberg

For decades Tom Hatch has been engaged in school reform as an observer, researcher, and participant—as well as the involved parent of three children. He has surveyed efforts across the United States and much of the world—notably Norway, Finland, and Singapore—sympathetically but not uncritically. In this magisterial work, he presents the lessons he has learned and offers sage advice to those who seek to improve our schools—anywhere, everywhere.

Howard Gardner

Hatch has written a deeply personal and reflective book that weaves decades of personal and global research evidence with his own personal experience as a student, parent and scholar in different countries. As a result, The Education We Need provides a unique, timely and compelling argument for how lives within schools and education systems are inextricably linked to local and national context.

This book will be essential reading for my students!

Karen Edge

A well written and well-argued book, bringing in the value of small scale changes in improving whole educational systems across the developed and developing world. It is healthily critical, reflective and humble while seeking to be constructive and ultimately optimistic, too. The book shows that educational transformation without social transformation is extremely unlikely on any significant scale, but that substantial improvement of what already exists is feasible, desirable and, of itself, can make significant contributions to equity.

Research Professor, Boston College, Director of CHENINE (Change, Engagement & Innovation in Education), University of Ot - Andy Hargreaves

Very few books on school reform contain so many ideas and insights into how to develop and improve education and educational systems for the future challenges. This book underlines in a very interesting and absorbing way the fact that we do not know about the future and we can’t predict it. We can, however, create a future together by offering a right to good teaching and learning in our systems. In this task, our education must focus on humanity, equity, democracy, sustainable way of life and at the same time to take into account the uniqueness of a person and the richness of multi cultures.

Mikko Salonen

Tom Hatch has been ‘in the arena’ where policy, programs, people, and power converge to educate children. In his fantastic, informative new book, The Education We Need for a Future We Can’t Predict, Tom travelled the globe to study how individuals, classrooms, schools, school systems, and nations ‘try with despair and hope to change and transform educational opportunities.’ Whether you’re a parent, practitioner, or policymaker, this book is written for you to take action to improve schools and communities; and to create new educational possibilities.

Pablo Muñoz