School Disrupted

IN THIS INSPIRING BOOK, entrepreneur, educator, and creativity expert, Emily Greene, shows us how the disruption of school during the pandemic is our watershed moment to reinvent a better way to learn. The coronavirus pandemic brought our lives to a halt, daily routines were upended, and school changed overnight. While pandemic-era learning is exposing the glaring deficiencies in our school systems, Greene lays out an uplifting, achievable way for parents, caregivers, and educators to help children rediscover the joy of learning. She shares new research, combined with personal stories, tips, and activities, to help lighten the load that parents and children feel as we navigate this unprecedented disruption of school. She guides us through the Seven Wonders of Learning--Unlearning, Free Time, Curiosity, Making, Creativity, Individuality, and Joy--offering practical strategies to help bring back balance and optimism as we reimagine school. We walk away uplifted, with a new perspective on how to use this unexpected disruption of our children's schooling to nurture their hearts, souls, and natural curiosities. We carry forward a can-do sense of urgency to help our children come away from this difficult period with new insight, strength, and a reclaimed joy of learning.

A Science “Reading List for Uncertain Times” Selection “A must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in the present and future of higher education.” —Tressie McMillan Cottom, author of Lower Ed “A must-read for the education-invested as well as the education-interested.” —Forbes Proponents of massive online learning have promised that technology will radically accelerate learning and democratize education. Much-publicized experiments, often underwritten by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, have been launched at elite universities and elementary schools in the poorest neighborhoods. But a decade after the “year of the MOOC,” the promise of disruption seems premature. In Failure to Disrupt, Justin Reich takes us on a tour of MOOCs, autograders, “intelligent tutors,” and other edtech platforms and delivers a sobering report card. Institutions and investors favor programs that scale up quickly at the expense of true innovation. Learning technologies—even those that are free—do little to combat the growing inequality in education. Technology is a phenomenal tool in the right hands, but no killer app will shortcut the hard road of institutional change. “I’m not sure if Reich is as famous outside of learning science and online education circles as he is inside. He should be...Reading and talking about Failure to Disrupt should be a prerequisite for any big institutional learning technology initiatives coming out of COVID-19.” —Inside Higher Ed “The desire to educate students well using online tools and platforms is more pressing than ever. But as Justin Reich illustrates...many recent technologies that were expected to radically change schooling have instead been used in ways that perpetuate existing systems and their attendant inequalities.” —Science

For nearly two decades, pundits have been predicting the demise of higher education in the United States. Our colleges and universities will soon find themselves competing for students with universities from around the world. With the advent of massive open online courses ("MOOCS") over the past two years, predictions that higher education will be the next industry to undergo "disruption" have become more frequent and fervent. Currently a university's reputation relies heavily on the "four Rs" in which the most elite schools thrive—rankings, research, real estate, and rah! (i.e. sports). But for the majority of students who are not attending these elite institutions, the "four Rs" offer poor value for the expense of a college education. Craig sees the future of higher education in online degrees that unbundle course offerings to offer a true bottom line return for the majority of students in terms of graduation, employment, and wages. College Disrupted details the changes that American higher education will undergo, including the transformation from packaged courses and degrees to truly unbundled course offerings, along with those that it will not. Written by a professional at the only investment firm focused on the higher education market, College Disrupted takes a creative view of the forces roiling higher education and the likely outcome, including light-hearted, real-life anecdotes that illustrate the author's points.

Failing schools have become the latest academic cottage industry, and they serve as lightning rods for the controversy that continues to surround the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Surprisingly, there are only a handful of books that address the topic of turning around failing schools and even fewer that provide a meaningful discussion on how individual schools should avoid failure from the outset. This book will help public school educators understand that turnaround efforts are based on sound leadership principles – nothing more, nothing less. It also provides school leaders with the critical skills to turn around failing schools and, more importantly, prevent their schools from failing in the first place. Individual chapters address topics such as setting institutional priorities, establishing a positive school culture, improving communications, developing classroom leadership, putting the school on a sound financial footing, and using data to guide the school turnaround. In essence, this book serves as a practical guide for instructional and institutional leaders on how to make a "real” difference in the success of our nation's schools.

Clay Christensen's groundbreaking bestselling work in education now updated and expanded, including a new chapter on Christensen's seminal "Jobs to Be Done" theory applied to education. "Provocatively titled, Disrupting Class is just what America's K-12 education system needs--a well thought-through proposal for using technology to better serve students and bring our schools into the 21st Century. Unlike so many education 'reforms,' this is not small-bore stuff. For that reason alone, it's likely to be resisted by defenders of the status quo, even though it's necessary and right for our kids. We owe it to them to make sure this book isn't merely a terrific read; it must become a blueprint for educational transformation." —Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education "A brilliant teacher, Christensen brings clarity to a muddled and chaotic world of education." —Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great “Just as iTunes revolutionized the music industry, technology has the potential to transform education in America so that every one of the nation’s 50 million students receives a high quality education. Disrupting Class is a must-read, as it shows us how we can blaze that trail toward transformation.” —Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically-we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need "disruptive innovation." Now, in his long-awaited new book, Clayton M. Christensen and coauthors Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson take one of the most important issues of our time-education-and apply Christensen's now-famous theories of "disruptive" change using a wide range of real-life examples. Whether you're a school administrator, government official, business leader, parent, teacher, or entrepreneur, you'll discover surprising new ideas, outside-the-box strategies, and straight-A success stories. You'll learn how: Customized learning will help many more students succeed in school Student-centric classrooms will increase the demand for new technology Computers must be disruptively deployed to every student Disruptive innovation can circumvent roadblocks that have prevented other attempts at school reform We can compete in the global classroom-and get ahead in the global market Filled with fascinating case studies, scientific findings, and unprecedented insights on how innovation must be managed, Disrupting Class will open your eyes to new possibilities, unlock hidden potential, and get you to think differently. Professor Christensen and his coauthors provide a bold new lesson in innovation that will help you make the grade for years to come. The future is now. Class is in session.

In today's volatile business landscape, adaptability and creativity are more crucial than ever. It is no longer possible-or even desirable-to learn one set of job skills and to work your way up the ladder. At the same time, entrepreneurs with great ideas for new products or technologies that could change the world often struggle to capture the attention of venture capital firms and incubators; finding the funding necessary to launch a start-up can feel impossible. The business leaders of our future must anticipate change to create their own opportunities for personal satisfaction and professional success. In Disrupt You!, Jay Samit, a digital media expert who has launched, grown, and sold start-ups and Fortune 500 companies alike, describes the unique method he has used to invent new markets and expand established businesses. Samit has been at the helm of businesses in the ecommerce, digital video, social media, mobile communications, and software industries, helping to navigate them through turbulent economic times and guide them through necessary transformation so that they stay ahead of the curve. In Disrupt You!, he reveals how specific strategies that help companies flourish can be applied at an individual level to help anyone can achieve success and lasting prosperity-without needing to raise funds from outside investors. Incorporating stories from his own experience and anecdotes from other innovators and disruptive businesses-including Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, YouTube, Circ du Soleil, Odor Eaters, Iams, Silly Putty, and many more-Samit shows how personal transformation can reap entrepreneurial and professional rewards.Disrupt You! offers clear and empowering advice for anyone looking to break through; for anyone with a big idea but with no idea how to apply it; and for anyone worried about being made irrelevant in an era of technological transformation. This engaging, perspective-shifting book demystifies the mechanics of disruption for individuals and businesses alike.

An evidence-based approach to improving the practice of graduate management education Compiled by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) and with contributions by administrators and professors from the top global MBA programs, this book provides business school decision-makers with an evidence-based approach to improving the practice of graduate management education. The book is designed to help navigate the pressures and create revolutionary platforms that leverage a school's unique competitive advantage in a design distinctly tailored for today's business realities. Offers a unique handbook for improving graduate management education Contains contributions from an international group of deans and professors that lead MBA programs Sponsored by GMAC, owner of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) exam used by over 5,000 programs worldwide This important resource gives academics a proven approach for improving graduate-level management programs.

In New York City in 2009, a new kind of public school opened its doors to its inaugural class of middle schoolers. Conceived by a team of game designers and progressive educational reformers and backed by prominent philanthropic foundations, it promised to reinvent the classroom for the digital age. Ethnographer Christo Sims documented the life of the school from its planning stages to the graduation of its first eighth-grade class. Disruptive Fixation is his account of how this "school for digital kids," heralded as a model of tech-driven educational reform, reverted to a more conventional type of schooling with rote learning, an emphasis on discipline, and traditional hierarchies of authority. Troubling gender and racialized class divisions also emerged. Sims shows how the philanthropic possibilities of new media technologies are repeatedly idealized even though actual interventions routinely fall short of the desired outcomes—often dramatically so. He traces the complex processes by which idealistic tech-reform perennially takes root, unsettles the worlds into which it intervenes, and eventually stabilizes in ways that remake and extend many of the social predicaments reformers hope to fix. Sims offers a nuanced look at the roles that powerful elites, experts, the media, and the intended beneficiaries of reform—in this case, the students and their parents—play in perpetuating the cycle. Disruptive Fixation offers a timely examination of techno-philanthropism and the yearnings and dilemmas it seeks to address, revealing what failed interventions do manage to accomplish—and for whom.