Humanizing the Education Machine: How to Create Schools That Turn Disengaged Kids Into Inspired Learners - Hardcover

Miller, Rex; Latham, Bill; Cahill, Brian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1119283108 ISBN 13: 9781119283102

Publisher: Wiley, 2016

Synopsis

A clear roadmap for the new territory of education

Education in the U.S. has been under fire for quite some time, and for good reason. The numbers alone tell a very disconcerting story: according to various polls, 70% of teachers are disengaged. Add to that the fact that the United States ranks last among industrialized nations for college graduation levels, and it's evident there's a huge problem that needs to be addressed. Yet the current education system and its school buildings—with teachers standing in front of classrooms and lecturing to students—have gone largely unchanged since the 19th century.

Humanizing the Education Machine tackles this tough issue head-on. It describes how the education system has become ineffective by not adapting to fit students' needs, learning styles, perspectives, and lives at home. This book explains how schools can evolve to engage students and involve parents. It serves to spread hope for reform and equip parents, educators, administrators, and communities to:

• Analyze the pitfalls of the current U.S. education system
• Intelligently argue the need to reform the current landscape of education
• Work to make a difference in the public education system
• Be an informed advocate for your child or local school system

If you're a concerned parent or professional looking for a trusted resource on the need for education reform, look no further than Humanizing the Education Machine. This illuminating resource provides the information you need to become a full partner in the new human-centered learning revolution.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"Offers a plan of action for what education needs to become, to prepare our children for a future none of us can predict."
—SIR KEN ROBINSON

Praise for
HUMANIZING THE EDUCATION MACHINE

"Our work at the Clayton Christensen Institute focuses on elevating the conversation and positive potential of disruptive innovate to transform our struggling education system. Humanizing the Education Machine captures the potential with a combination of in-depth research and compelling stories. Read it to further your vision of how you can play a role in this transformation."
—Michael Horn, Coauthor of Disrupting Class and Blended, and Cofounder of the Clayton Christensen Institute

"The central issues for education in the twenty-first century are to keep the role of technology in perspective while discovering human solutions to uniquely human problems. Humanizing the Education Machine is a valuable contribution to this key topic that can be appreciated by administrators, teachers, and parents."
—Lou Cozolino, Author of Attachment Based Teaching and Professor in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University

"For decades we have known that our education system is failing our students, teachers, parents, and communities. Now a new kind of education is developing for the connected twenty-first century—and it's kid centered. How we got here, how we go forward, and what we should expect from our schools is explored in detail, using smart research and lively writing. I was caught up in the text, you will be, too."
—Susan S. Szenasy, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Metropolis

"More than anything else in education, we need a culture shift. We need to shift from trying to create a one-size-fits-all solution to a culture of continuous innovation and iteration across the classroom, school, and district levels. We must think about the future our students face and ask new questions. The research, stories, and insights in Rex Miller's Humanizing the Education Machine gives educational leaders the new questions. It also provides a new framework for that cultural shift."
—Jaime Casap, Google's Chief Education Evangelist

"This is one audacious book. In fact, Miller makes the case that education is in such crisis that the only appropriate response is to swing for the fences. Somehow it is personal, global, nuanced, outrageous, and perfectly logical. It is a book for the ages, and it presents the first way out of our current circumstances that makes so much sense. It's a must-read."
—Steve Peifer, recipient of the 2007 CNN's Hero Award, the 2007 Yale Counseling Award, the 2010 Excellence in Education Award from the National Association for College Admissions Counseling and the 2013 NACCAP Guidance Professional of the Year

"Our current systems of education were designed to meet the challenges of the industrial revolution. What sort of education do our children need now to meet the radically different challenges of the twenty-first century? Humanizing the Education Machine explores this dilemma through the numerous voices of educators, community leaders, and parents. It is not just a call to action. It offers a plan of action for what education needs to become to engage our children in the present and prepare them properly for a future that none of us can predict. There can hardly be a more important conversation."
—Sir Ken Robinson, Educator and Author of, Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's Transforming Education

From the Inside Flap

The numbers don't lie. America's education metrics now compare to third-world countries. But the problem is not confined to the United States. Canada, England, Australia, many European countries, and China are caught in the same crisis. The issue is simple—a system designed to meet the challenges of the nineteenth century is no match for twenty-first century realities. This is deadly serious. It threatens the prosperity and security of our nation.

Naturally, education reform has become a major industry, consuming hundreds of billions of dollars over the last 60 years. But despite those billions and the best efforts of so many, every measurement continues to verify a decline of crisis magnitude.

However, Humanizing the Education Machine is not a rant or a funeral dirge. Instead, it reveals the fresh breezes from dynamic and thriving outlier schools all across the country. From those inspiring models, authors Rex Miller, Bill Latham, and Brian Cahill offer a vision and a blueprint for a growing child-led revolution in learning.

Armed with solid research, captivating stories, and a clear road map to the future, they reveal an exciting journey into a whole new pathway—and profoundly human approach—to learning. This book is designed for parents, teachers, students, administrators, and community leaders who want to transform their traditional schools into vibrant and resilient future-ready communities of learning.

The method of research behind Humanizing the Education Machine is unique; more than 60 teachers, community leaders, professionals, and kids engaged in research across the country over two years. This group—the K–12 MindShift—discovered the best practices of student engagement and future-ready learning found throughout America, from at-risk communities to progressive and prosperous communities.

Humanizing the Education Machine tells a great story of what twenty-first century learning looks like and how to bring that dynamic into your school or district. And the authors tell that very human story with passion, humor, and humility. The reader will see how the Gutenberg Revolution, which created a transforming model for learning, is now superseded by an equally transforming Google revolution. This is a manifesto for those ready to take action and a manual for leading your school or district from Gutenberg to Google. The journey will restore what makes learning uniquely human and relevant for an era of unpredictable and cataclysmic change.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1119283108
• ISBN 13: 9781119283102
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320