Tony Wagner argues that the real challenge in schools today is not just to get more students to pass more tests, but to create new knowledge about how to improve the level of instruction for all students. He outlines 7 key principles, which should be implemented as a package to be truly effective.
- The school creates an understanding and a sense of urgency among teachers and the community for the necessity of improving all students' learning and regularly reports on progress.
- There is a widely shared vision of what good teaching is, which is focused on rigorous expectations, the quality of student engagement, and effective strategies for personalising learning for all students.
- All adult meetings are about instruction and are models of good teaching practice.
- There are well-defined standards and performance assessments for student work at all grade levels. Both teachers and students understand what quality work looks like, and there is consistency in standards of assessment.
- Supervision is frequent, rigorous, and entirely focused on the improvement of instruction. It is done by someone who knows what good instruction looks like.
- Professional development is primarily internal, intensive, collaborative and job-embedded, and is designed and led by educators who model the best teaching and learning practices.
- Data are used diagnostically at frequent intervals by teams of teachers to assess each student's learning and to identify the most effective teaching practices. There is time built into schedules for this shared work.