Live Thursday, April 12th - Marc Tucker on Redesigning American Education Based on the World's Best Education Systems

Join me Thursday, April 12th, for live and interactive FutureofEducation.com conversation with Marc S. Tucker, editor of Surpassing Shanghai:  An Agenda for American Education Built on the World's Leading Systems. In the book, Marc and his colleagues examine the "high-performing" education systems of Shanghai, Finland, Japan, Singapore, and Canada with the goal to create an action plan for the United States. This is a thoughtful, fascinating look not just at the current educational practices of these systems, but also at the cultural and political climates that brought them forth.

"This extraordinary book could not be more timely or more important . . . This collection makes clear that, if we actually want to create high-quality schools for all children in the United States, our strategies must emulate the best of what has been accomplished in public education both here and abroad." — From the Foreword by Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University


From the publisher:  "This book answers a simple question: How would one redesign the American education system if the aim was to take advantage of everything that has been learned by countries with the world’s best education systems?

"With a growing number of countries outperforming the United States on the most respected comparisons of student achievement—and spending less on education per student—this question is critical.

"Surpassing Shanghai looks in depth at the education systems that are leading the world in student performance to find out what strategies are working and how they might apply to the United States. Developed from the work of the National Center on Education and the Economy, which has been researching the education systems of countries with the highest student performance for more than twenty years, this book provides a series of answers to the question of how the United States can compete with the world’s best."

Date: Thursday, April 12th, 2012
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8 pm Eastern (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). Log in at http://futureofed.info. The Blackboard Collaborate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Blackboard Collaborate, please visit the support and configuration page.
Recordings: The full Blackboard Collaborate recording is at https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2012-04-12.1601.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350 and a portable .mp3 audio recording is at http://audio.edtechlive.com/foe/marcstucker.mp3.

Marc S. Tucker is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Center on Education and the Economy. He is an internationally recognized expert on academic and occupational standards and assessment, and has also been among the leaders in researching the policies and practices of the countries with the best education systems in the world. Tucker served in the ‘70’s as the Associate Director of the National Institute of Education, in charge of the nation’s government-funded research on education policy. He then created the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy at Carnegie Corporation of New York, and authored its report, A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century. He led the Carnegie Forum team as it created the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and served as the Board’s first president. Tucker then founded the National Center on Education and the Economy. Cited by President Clinton as a major intellectual contributor to Clinton Administration education and labor policies, he was appointed by the President to the National Skills Standards Board. He has also served as author, co-author or editor of many articles and several books and reports and has testified frequently to the U.S. Congress and state legislatures.

More praise for the book:

"Surpassing Shanghai should be on the reading list of everyone who aspires to improve American education. The message is clear: If we are serious, we have to stop simply comparing California to Connecticut to Kansas. It’s time to swim in deeper water with Singapore, Ontario, Japan, and others who are eating our lunch."
— John Merrow, education correspondent, PBS NewsHour and president, Learning Matters

"This book shines because it offers what is central to school reform: a commitment to wonderful teachers. It offers those of us in colleges of education a lot to think about—and a lot to do."  
— Mari Koerner, Dean, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University

"Tucker and his colleagues challenge us to ask why the U.S. is pursuing a reform agenda that differs markedly from what other advanced countries have found essential for creating good schools—high quality teachers, fair funding, and coherence in the system of education. After reading this book, one is left with the question: Is the U.S. so unique that an agenda so different from that of other countries can improve our schools?"
— Jack Jennings, president and CEO, Center on Education Policy

"Marc Tucker has assembled revealing descriptions of the ascent of Shanghai, Finland, Japan, Singapore, and Canada to the highest levels of international achievement in education. The book crystallizes the successful practices and patterns emerging from these top performers and then ‘takes the gloves off’ to contrast the efforts of high-achieving countries with current reform thinking in the U.S. . . . My big takeaway from Surpassing Shanghai is that success will come down to our collective will and our sustained commitment to thoughtful systems reform."
— Gene Wilhoit, executive director, Council of Chief State School Officers