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In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School
“The best book on high school dynamics I have ever read.”―Jay Mathews, Washington Post
An award-winning professor and an accomplished educator take us beyond the hype of reform and inside some of America’s most innovative classrooms to show what is working―and what isn’t―in our schools.
What would it take to transform industrial-era schools into modern organizations capable of supporting deep learning for all? Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine’s quest to answer this question took them inside some of America’s most innovative schools and classrooms―places where educators are rethinking both what and how students should learn.
The story they tell is alternately discouraging and hopeful. Drawing on hundreds of hours of observations and interviews at thirty different schools, Mehta and Fine reveal that deeper learning is more often the exception than the rule. And yet they find pockets of powerful learning at almost every school, often in electives and extracurriculars as well as in a few mold-breaking academic courses. These spaces achieve depth, the authors argue, because they emphasize purpose and choice, cultivate community, and draw on powerful traditions of apprenticeship. These outliers suggest that it is difficult but possible for schools and classrooms to achieve the integrations that support deep rigor with joy, precision with play, mastery with identity and creativity.
This boldly humanistic book offers a rich account of what education can be. The first panoramic study of American public high schools since the 1980s, In Search of Deeper Learning lays out a new vision for American education―one that will set the agenda for schools of the future.
An award-winning professor and an accomplished educator take us beyond the hype of reform and inside some of America’s most innovative classrooms to show what is working―and what isn’t―in our schools.
What would it take to transform industrial-era schools into modern organizations capable of supporting deep learning for all? Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine’s quest to answer this question took them inside some of America’s most innovative schools and classrooms―places where educators are rethinking both what and how students should learn.
The story they tell is alternately discouraging and hopeful. Drawing on hundreds of hours of observations and interviews at thirty different schools, Mehta and Fine reveal that deeper learning is more often the exception than the rule. And yet they find pockets of powerful learning at almost every school, often in electives and extracurriculars as well as in a few mold-breaking academic courses. These spaces achieve depth, the authors argue, because they emphasize purpose and choice, cultivate community, and draw on powerful traditions of apprenticeship. These outliers suggest that it is difficult but possible for schools and classrooms to achieve the integrations that support deep rigor with joy, precision with play, mastery with identity and creativity.
This boldly humanistic book offers a rich account of what education can be. The first panoramic study of American public high schools since the 1980s, In Search of Deeper Learning lays out a new vision for American education―one that will set the agenda for schools of the future.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published April 9, 2019
117 people are currently reading
898 people want to read
About the author
Jal Mehta
8 books4 followersJal Mehta is Assistant Professor of Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is the co-editor of The Futures of School Reform.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
April 3, 2020
I think teachers often go into books about teaching searching for flaws, looking for analysis that isn’t borne out in our experiences. I guess it’s natural, reading books like this can be difficult, they prod us where we are most sensitive, they find the most insecure areas of our practice and proclaim all the ways we need to improve. So I guess at first to protect myself I was looking for reasons to disagree. There were flashes of my own experience in the examples of shallow learning that were difficult and personal to face. But this is a book of hope, not of condemnation. And it was deeply inspiring.
The analysis is thoughtful, nuanced, and sober. One of the hallmarks of this book is that the authors show more than they tell, with their anecdotes of schools and learning experiences they manage to emphasize both the tangible, the good and bad of what’s going on in classrooms today, and the theoretical underpinnings. The farther into the book I got, the more empowered I felt. I came to appreciate the dedication of the authors themselves, who apart from being skilled writers revealed themselves to be exceptionally compassionate, thoughtful, and understanding stakeholders. We will never fully get there, but I think this book took me a little bit closer to the heart of it all, what the point of this whole school thing is.
The analysis is thoughtful, nuanced, and sober. One of the hallmarks of this book is that the authors show more than they tell, with their anecdotes of schools and learning experiences they manage to emphasize both the tangible, the good and bad of what’s going on in classrooms today, and the theoretical underpinnings. The farther into the book I got, the more empowered I felt. I came to appreciate the dedication of the authors themselves, who apart from being skilled writers revealed themselves to be exceptionally compassionate, thoughtful, and understanding stakeholders. We will never fully get there, but I think this book took me a little bit closer to the heart of it all, what the point of this whole school thing is.
February 6, 2021
I wish Goodreads let me write a review without providing a rating because I was at a loss on how to "score" this book. It profiles a few different American high school archetypes (e.g. an IB school, a "project" based school) as well as deep-dives on extracurriculars to examine which structures are most conducive to "deep learning". I learned some new concepts such as the "grammar" of traditional schooling. I decided to pick it up because several people I know who work or are otherwise involved in the education field had rated it very highly here. In hindsight it shouldn't have necessarily followed that this book was right for me (i.e., someone with next to know knowledge about this field other than … having gone through the U.S. educational system). My experience w/ this text often felt like trudging through a very long academic paper, which I suppose makes sense coming from a professor. Each chapter took me at least nearly an hour to read. If you want to get in the weeds on this particular facet of education, I would recommend, but caveat lector that it is exceptionally thorough and dense.
August 10, 2023
Honestly, I give it four stars because there was one whole chapter that I found extraneous and uninteresting. Having said that, the analysis of the different types of schools demonstrating deeper learning was really interesting. The book did an excellent job balancing the academic analysis of researchers with an understandable reading. I'm really looking forward to how we can implement this in my district and building as well as how I can implement this in my own personal classes.
March 2, 2020
Would received a higher score, if at the end it did not bash Republican views. The book argues to have an education that is more open and accepting of differences ; however, the authors thought it was professional to bash the Republican Party is not accepting of different political views. Besides that it was very interesting to show that comprehensive high schools might still be the best method of learning. All it requires it’s a big change in teaching methodology and assessment to prepare students for the modern world.
April 29, 2020
In Search of Deeper Learning spoke profoundly to my experience as an educator. From commentary on playing the "game of school" to understanding how we must "change the grammar of schooling", I have seen these trends in the (lack of) learning happening in our high schools today. The book thoughtfully describes what the authors have defined as deeper learning, and catalogues the few places that they feel have met some of their criteria. For the most part, however, the authors are deeply disappointed with the state of a majority of our schools. Students are disengaged, unexcited, and checked out of the learning we are asking them to do. This is not what learning should be. Learning is power, creativity, and love. The authors clearly articulate what they believe it will take for schools, communities, and our nation to start to think about creating a learning experience that will instead ignite students for the lives ahead of them.
I am going to include some of my favorite quotes from the book, with some reflections on each.
"For students who came with high levels of dominant cultural capital, who were willing to follow rules, who were either intrinsically interested in academic subjects or willing to play the game of school to get to college, school as it currently stands is functional. As we've suggested, we think more could happen for these students if school were remade, but the status quo works well enough to get them to college. For the rest of students, however, the changes we suggest are necessary to get them engaged in their education."
I see this fact every single day in my classroom. I teach a semi-traditional math classroom. As a junior teacher, I closely follow the lead of teachers in my subject. While I sometimes deviate and attempt to incorporate activities and projects, I am still learning how to implement these successfully, especially with essentially no feedback on how to do so. My past school was also extremely low performing, and so a huge emphasis was placed on performing on the state exams. My students who, generally speaking, come form stable homes are able to engage in learning in a productive (if somewhat shallow) way. They bring some enthusiasm or at least openness to the idea of working and earning grades. They are motivated primarily by extrinsic forces, but they make progress. My students who struggle to engage do so because of a variety or reasons. First among them however seems to be a disbelief that they are capable of being successful, and second, they frequently seem to never have experienced the spark of joy that learning can bring. School as is is soul crushing for these students. It doesn't excited. It doesn't ignite passion. Instead, it teaches them that they are incapable of performing at the level they are "required" and tries to put bandaids on just enough to pass them off to the next grade, until by the time they "graduate" they are a patchwork of wounds that have never been healed.
"it was only when teachers had themselves experienced the nature of their disciplines as open or constructed that they could create the same experience for their students"..."inspiring their charges to become members of the field was more important than 'covering the material' and so depth was more important than breadth"
To this point I would like to add my personal experience as an educator. I have taught high school level math for the past four years. I do not come from a math background. In fact, after high school I did not take a single math class in college because I tested out of my math requirements. I was a good math students. I always did well in my classes, but I learned math as a set of rules that you follow in order to produce an answer. I was easily able to pass the prerequisite exams to teach high school math. I know that my experience was not different than many of the other teachers I have taught with. Four years into teaching, through a lot of personal work and attention, I am now discovering the vast richness that math has to offer, and I feel I have only scratched the surface. I never had the experience of deeply engaging in the discipline, and understanding what mathematics is truly about. How math can be creative and full of wonder. I wasn't taught that way, and so I have missed so many opportunities to help my students discover that awe and wonder. Really "doing" math outside of a classroom setting in which rules are taught and followed is a brand new experience for me. It is an experience I want to bring to my students, but I feel like I must step back and now engage in my own learning to be able to effectively draw my students on that same path. Is there a way that we can help educators fall in love with their subjects first?
"[Consistent teaching is aided by...] the creation of a specific and granular instructional vision; a curricular infrastructure that supports teachers' work; extensive feedback mechanisms for adult learning; a fierce culture; and the alignment of all systems, structures, and incentives toward the school's objectives".
The authors lay out a roadmap to creating an integrated school that consistently achieves the learning outcomes they have set for their students. They place the onus on the school as a whole to develop these mechanisms, rather than leaving it to individual teachers. While I have had support in my past two schools, I have consistently felt that a unifying vision of what good instruction looks like is completely lacking. As a new teacher, I craved guidance and support on how to handle the situations I was encountering, yet only received feedback based on 5-10 minute observations every few months. And frequently it would be simply "great job". This is not conducive to consistently trying to better instruction. Most guidance I did receive emphasized a "I do, we do, you do" which works in some cases, but doesn't provide as much opportunity for failure and learning. I think that schools need to set clearer standards of instruction, and guide their teachers to how to implement them. This is hugely challenging in already established schools, because teachers provide immense push back, but with tact and support I think can be done really effectively.
"It was not a coincidence that many of the most compelling classes we found were electives, which had in some way altered this core grammar -- focusing on one subject in more depth and examining it from multiple angles; moving away from batch processing to individualized pathways of learning; doing more hands-on work"
How have we made our core subjects so devoid of depth and meaning? I believe the primary cause is the pressures of standardized testing. In lawmakers efforts to ensure that all schools meet some basic standards, we have shifted the incentive structures of schools from the intrinsic motivation of teaching to extrinsic road markers of shallow learning. I absolutely think there needs to be some accountability metric for schools, especially those serving our most at risk students, however, the exams themselves that we give students place all emphasis on a shallow understanding of content, rather than a deep grasp of skills. If we are going to have students really engage in our core subjects, they need to do the work of the subjects. Math is about discovery of the world's greatest mysteries. How can we help our kids feel that sense of wonder?
There are so many important issues and thoughts brought up by Mehta and Fine's work. To have strong schools, we need inspired teachers who have caught a glimpse of what school could be outside of the traditional form (rare). We need strong leaders who can set a vision for what it means to create exceptional learning experiences for students. And we need national systems of accountability that measure students love of learning rather than a hodgepodge of unrelated math facts. The fact that any of this is happening on any level though is hope for creating a stronger future for our children.
I am going to include some of my favorite quotes from the book, with some reflections on each.
"For students who came with high levels of dominant cultural capital, who were willing to follow rules, who were either intrinsically interested in academic subjects or willing to play the game of school to get to college, school as it currently stands is functional. As we've suggested, we think more could happen for these students if school were remade, but the status quo works well enough to get them to college. For the rest of students, however, the changes we suggest are necessary to get them engaged in their education."
I see this fact every single day in my classroom. I teach a semi-traditional math classroom. As a junior teacher, I closely follow the lead of teachers in my subject. While I sometimes deviate and attempt to incorporate activities and projects, I am still learning how to implement these successfully, especially with essentially no feedback on how to do so. My past school was also extremely low performing, and so a huge emphasis was placed on performing on the state exams. My students who, generally speaking, come form stable homes are able to engage in learning in a productive (if somewhat shallow) way. They bring some enthusiasm or at least openness to the idea of working and earning grades. They are motivated primarily by extrinsic forces, but they make progress. My students who struggle to engage do so because of a variety or reasons. First among them however seems to be a disbelief that they are capable of being successful, and second, they frequently seem to never have experienced the spark of joy that learning can bring. School as is is soul crushing for these students. It doesn't excited. It doesn't ignite passion. Instead, it teaches them that they are incapable of performing at the level they are "required" and tries to put bandaids on just enough to pass them off to the next grade, until by the time they "graduate" they are a patchwork of wounds that have never been healed.
"it was only when teachers had themselves experienced the nature of their disciplines as open or constructed that they could create the same experience for their students"..."inspiring their charges to become members of the field was more important than 'covering the material' and so depth was more important than breadth"
To this point I would like to add my personal experience as an educator. I have taught high school level math for the past four years. I do not come from a math background. In fact, after high school I did not take a single math class in college because I tested out of my math requirements. I was a good math students. I always did well in my classes, but I learned math as a set of rules that you follow in order to produce an answer. I was easily able to pass the prerequisite exams to teach high school math. I know that my experience was not different than many of the other teachers I have taught with. Four years into teaching, through a lot of personal work and attention, I am now discovering the vast richness that math has to offer, and I feel I have only scratched the surface. I never had the experience of deeply engaging in the discipline, and understanding what mathematics is truly about. How math can be creative and full of wonder. I wasn't taught that way, and so I have missed so many opportunities to help my students discover that awe and wonder. Really "doing" math outside of a classroom setting in which rules are taught and followed is a brand new experience for me. It is an experience I want to bring to my students, but I feel like I must step back and now engage in my own learning to be able to effectively draw my students on that same path. Is there a way that we can help educators fall in love with their subjects first?
"[Consistent teaching is aided by...] the creation of a specific and granular instructional vision; a curricular infrastructure that supports teachers' work; extensive feedback mechanisms for adult learning; a fierce culture; and the alignment of all systems, structures, and incentives toward the school's objectives".
The authors lay out a roadmap to creating an integrated school that consistently achieves the learning outcomes they have set for their students. They place the onus on the school as a whole to develop these mechanisms, rather than leaving it to individual teachers. While I have had support in my past two schools, I have consistently felt that a unifying vision of what good instruction looks like is completely lacking. As a new teacher, I craved guidance and support on how to handle the situations I was encountering, yet only received feedback based on 5-10 minute observations every few months. And frequently it would be simply "great job". This is not conducive to consistently trying to better instruction. Most guidance I did receive emphasized a "I do, we do, you do" which works in some cases, but doesn't provide as much opportunity for failure and learning. I think that schools need to set clearer standards of instruction, and guide their teachers to how to implement them. This is hugely challenging in already established schools, because teachers provide immense push back, but with tact and support I think can be done really effectively.
"It was not a coincidence that many of the most compelling classes we found were electives, which had in some way altered this core grammar -- focusing on one subject in more depth and examining it from multiple angles; moving away from batch processing to individualized pathways of learning; doing more hands-on work"
How have we made our core subjects so devoid of depth and meaning? I believe the primary cause is the pressures of standardized testing. In lawmakers efforts to ensure that all schools meet some basic standards, we have shifted the incentive structures of schools from the intrinsic motivation of teaching to extrinsic road markers of shallow learning. I absolutely think there needs to be some accountability metric for schools, especially those serving our most at risk students, however, the exams themselves that we give students place all emphasis on a shallow understanding of content, rather than a deep grasp of skills. If we are going to have students really engage in our core subjects, they need to do the work of the subjects. Math is about discovery of the world's greatest mysteries. How can we help our kids feel that sense of wonder?
There are so many important issues and thoughts brought up by Mehta and Fine's work. To have strong schools, we need inspired teachers who have caught a glimpse of what school could be outside of the traditional form (rare). We need strong leaders who can set a vision for what it means to create exceptional learning experiences for students. And we need national systems of accountability that measure students love of learning rather than a hodgepodge of unrelated math facts. The fact that any of this is happening on any level though is hope for creating a stronger future for our children.
March 30, 2024
A great book to challenge my pedagogy and consider what great teaching actually entails. It made me want to think both of the curricula I’ve worked on in the last few years, as it identified solutions for the problems I’ve run into—Iwant to focus on deeper learning than getting through everything I want or "need" to get through. I’m buying a copy to keep and sending one to a friend in Ed policy. 😃
September 7, 2019
This was a good read, one that both confirmed some things I've been thinking about my practice as a teacher and my experience in schools, but which also made me consider some new things. I found it both sobering and inspiring. Sobering, because from the very first chapter of the book, the authors admit that when they went looking for "deeper learning," including in some places that they eagerly expected to find it (highly acclaimed schools, etc), it was thin on the ground. Sobering also because the authors don't shy away from the immensity of the changes that need to happen to really foster this kind of learning in schools. It was still inspiring, however, because they still managed to profile a few schools and a number of individual programs and teachers who have somehow managed to do it, often still working within the confines of traditional schooling, which the authors argue is not a system that really encourages this deeper learning.
Here's what I liked the best:
-- The authors distilled their observations down to three principles that underlie deeper learning: "Mastery, identity, creativity." Students need to be able to acquire competence in a subject, feel a deep personal connection between who they are and what they're learning, and be engaged in making/doing/creating, not just passively receiving information.
-- The concept of "the whole game at the junior level," the idea that students need to be doing the work of your discipline at a level appropriate to them, not just learning facts or working on skills in isolation. I.e., let the kids play Little League rather than limiting them to batting practice until high school or college.
-- The focus on depth over breadth, including a willingness to criticize often-lauded programs like AP for their contribution to shallow learning (but also a willingness to recognize what these programs get right).
-- The specific descriptions of schools and classrooms where this learning is happening -- as a currently practicing teacher, this is enormously helpful.
-- The focus on equity & the insistence on exploring how deeper learning can be made accessible to every student, not just those in the highest tracks
-- The authors' willingness to rethink the whole damn system instead of just figuring out how to tinker with the existing structures, arguing that the current "grammar of schooling" actively impedes attempts to teach and learn more deeply
-- At the same time, the authors' honesty about the challenges facing the implementation of deeper teaching and learning
Here's what I liked the best:
-- The authors distilled their observations down to three principles that underlie deeper learning: "Mastery, identity, creativity." Students need to be able to acquire competence in a subject, feel a deep personal connection between who they are and what they're learning, and be engaged in making/doing/creating, not just passively receiving information.
-- The concept of "the whole game at the junior level," the idea that students need to be doing the work of your discipline at a level appropriate to them, not just learning facts or working on skills in isolation. I.e., let the kids play Little League rather than limiting them to batting practice until high school or college.
-- The focus on depth over breadth, including a willingness to criticize often-lauded programs like AP for their contribution to shallow learning (but also a willingness to recognize what these programs get right).
-- The specific descriptions of schools and classrooms where this learning is happening -- as a currently practicing teacher, this is enormously helpful.
-- The focus on equity & the insistence on exploring how deeper learning can be made accessible to every student, not just those in the highest tracks
-- The authors' willingness to rethink the whole damn system instead of just figuring out how to tinker with the existing structures, arguing that the current "grammar of schooling" actively impedes attempts to teach and learn more deeply
-- At the same time, the authors' honesty about the challenges facing the implementation of deeper teaching and learning
May 30, 2025
May 2025 - Even though the educational landscape is fraught, I have a lot of hope that school can be inspiring, enriching, and beautiful—a community that prioritizes deeper learning (Mastery, Identity, and Creativity) and strives to teach people what is good and how to be it.
Aug. 2022 - I think every teacher, educator, anyone who works in this field needs to read this book. It’s powerful, thought provoking, and inspiring.
Aug. 2022 - I think every teacher, educator, anyone who works in this field needs to read this book. It’s powerful, thought provoking, and inspiring.
July 27, 2022
4.5🌟
I am definitely not a huge non-fiction person, but when I saw this book on many of the desks at the charter school I was teaching at, I knew I had to take a look into it myself. In Search of Deeper Learning was long, thoughtful, validating, alarming, and interesting all at the same time.
The authors spent years researching different types of schools to try to understand and learn why they were either successful in preparing students for the real world ... or not. Authors looked into a variety of factors: standardized tests, competency of teachers, morale of school...I could go on. In six years, Mehta and Fine (no relation, he he) chased and went after the idea of how America can foster deeper learning in schools. Is it possible? Is the model we have been using for so long of simply transmitting ideas from mind to paper just for a test score, to just yield an acceptance at a college, to land a house in an affluent neighborhood .... is that really what it's all about?
There's so much to unpack here. Non-fiction is not my usual forte, so at times this book did feel longer and harder to process. The chapters are long - most were ~50 pages or so. But I learned so much...and a lot of things made sense. High school was a long time ago for me, but I could relate to many of the experiences that the authors laid out in the chapters. E.g., when they went into a school of a classroom to observe students only to find them asking 'is this on the test'...merely able to regurgitate information without really thinking about the deeper learning aspect of it. Appreciated the chapter about extracurriculars and how important they are. How they can foster community and overall mental health.
I definitely would've found it interesting what these authors would have said in light of COVID-19, ast this book was written in 2018.
Overall, I found this book very interesting. They have some great ideas. It will not be easy and there is a lot of change that would need to happen and people to be convinced that it would need to happen ... but its a start.
I am definitely not a huge non-fiction person, but when I saw this book on many of the desks at the charter school I was teaching at, I knew I had to take a look into it myself. In Search of Deeper Learning was long, thoughtful, validating, alarming, and interesting all at the same time.
The authors spent years researching different types of schools to try to understand and learn why they were either successful in preparing students for the real world ... or not. Authors looked into a variety of factors: standardized tests, competency of teachers, morale of school...I could go on. In six years, Mehta and Fine (no relation, he he) chased and went after the idea of how America can foster deeper learning in schools. Is it possible? Is the model we have been using for so long of simply transmitting ideas from mind to paper just for a test score, to just yield an acceptance at a college, to land a house in an affluent neighborhood .... is that really what it's all about?
There's so much to unpack here. Non-fiction is not my usual forte, so at times this book did feel longer and harder to process. The chapters are long - most were ~50 pages or so. But I learned so much...and a lot of things made sense. High school was a long time ago for me, but I could relate to many of the experiences that the authors laid out in the chapters. E.g., when they went into a school of a classroom to observe students only to find them asking 'is this on the test'...merely able to regurgitate information without really thinking about the deeper learning aspect of it. Appreciated the chapter about extracurriculars and how important they are. How they can foster community and overall mental health.
I definitely would've found it interesting what these authors would have said in light of COVID-19, ast this book was written in 2018.
Overall, I found this book very interesting. They have some great ideas. It will not be easy and there is a lot of change that would need to happen and people to be convinced that it would need to happen ... but its a start.
February 25, 2021
This is not only an amazing audiobook to listen to as I jog to school but also an amazing study performed over 6 key years. The authors, coming from Harvard, started the study with the goal to find schools that moved students beyond the standardized tests. As the culture shifted from No Child Left Behind to Common Core standards the focus of the study shifted to an emerging term in education: Deeper Learning. In this study, the professor and educator and team visited 30 schools with 6 "deep dives" where they spend nearly a month in those schools. The study is observational and compares a few different modes of education from project-based to IB to a rigid, discipline-heavy group of schools given the pseudonym "No Excuses High" to a "shopping mall" high school dubbed achievement high. By comparing different forms of education, observing the degree and depth of engagement, this study provides a nuanced look at how different ways of education might open up space for deep learning. The study looks at the core subjects as well as the periphery in order to reimagine how schools might reform to shift away from content coverage to learning that is filled with meaning. I gained much meaning and insight from this book—one that all educators should read (or listen to) in order to better their own methods to create students who have an understanding of how to learn deeply and who want to and will.
March 21, 2022
This is hands down one of the most important books on education that I have ever read. Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine lay out a clear and compelling case for deeper learning in our high schools. They define deeper learning is learning that centers on mastery, identity, and creativity for students.
Through in depth case studies of four high schools, several exemplary teachers, an exploration of the theater program at one school, and more cursory views of other programs in schools, they describe the current state of American high schools circa the 2010’s, why we don’t generally produce deeper learning, and how we could do better as exemplified in a few pockets of our public education system.
A few big ideas:
1. The outcomes for education aren’t agreed upon and when they are they privilege breadth over depth which leads to coverage of topics without much real learning.
2. The systems that produce deeper learning experiences for students exist in pockets where adults have a symmetrical commitment to their own deeper learning.
3. Realizing deeper learning at scale will require cultural, political, and structural change in our schools. While these changes aren’t likely to happen at once it is possible to
create pockets of deeper learning that support these changes in individual classes, schools, and possibly districts and these proof points are essential to the larger changes we need.
Really powerful ideas!
Through in depth case studies of four high schools, several exemplary teachers, an exploration of the theater program at one school, and more cursory views of other programs in schools, they describe the current state of American high schools circa the 2010’s, why we don’t generally produce deeper learning, and how we could do better as exemplified in a few pockets of our public education system.
A few big ideas:
1. The outcomes for education aren’t agreed upon and when they are they privilege breadth over depth which leads to coverage of topics without much real learning.
2. The systems that produce deeper learning experiences for students exist in pockets where adults have a symmetrical commitment to their own deeper learning.
3. Realizing deeper learning at scale will require cultural, political, and structural change in our schools. While these changes aren’t likely to happen at once it is possible to
create pockets of deeper learning that support these changes in individual classes, schools, and possibly districts and these proof points are essential to the larger changes we need.
Really powerful ideas!
June 3, 2022
Силно препоръчвам на всички гимназиални учители, директори на средни училища, ръководители на извънкласни дейности за младежи и други ентусиасти реформатори на българското образование. Книгата обрисува и предлага модел на това какво е "deep learning" като разказва за проявленията на ученето с дълбоко разбиране (мой превод на термина) в четири много различни училища - едно проекто-базирано, едно IB, едно тип KIPP и едно "елитно" средно държавно. Въпреки че контекстът е американски, паралелите с българското образование са достатъчно, за да бъде релевантна и за нашия контекст. Недостатък на книгата е, чe е философска в смисъл на това, че не казва какъв би бил пътя на едно училище към това да създава истински ангажираща и автентична среда за учене на учениците (едно е да го говориш, друго е да го реализираш), но за сметка на това има много примери, към които бихме могли да се стремим. Дори да не се прочете от-до, човек може да се съсредоточи върху конкретни глави спрямо интересите си, а други да попрехвърли. Ако някой иска да я обсъждаме заедно, ще се радвам :)
April 9, 2020
Everyone interested in fixing American Schools should read this. Further, no one who wants to be a school leader should be considered unless they have read this work.
Jal Mehta and Farah Fine studies American schools for over a decade in order to discover where "Deep Learning existed. Moreover, they were searching for the recipe that could be used to bake that kind of learning throughout the American school system.
To their credit, while they visit many schools considered models for better education they do not accept any of them at face value. Less overtly, they also reject the notion that only Charter, Independent or Magnet schools are capable of great teaching and learning. In fact, the authors point out considerable elements of Comprehensive High Schools as the best candidates.
Jal Mehta and Farah Fine studies American schools for over a decade in order to discover where "Deep Learning existed. Moreover, they were searching for the recipe that could be used to bake that kind of learning throughout the American school system.
To their credit, while they visit many schools considered models for better education they do not accept any of them at face value. Less overtly, they also reject the notion that only Charter, Independent or Magnet schools are capable of great teaching and learning. In fact, the authors point out considerable elements of Comprehensive High Schools as the best candidates.
June 16, 2019
Wow. Mehta and Fine write a masterful analysis of learning experiences from their observations in over 30 schools over a period of six years. They explore what makes particular classrooms and teachers effective, ultimately making a case for their vision of transformative learning through example case studies. They also argue for how schools and school systems can best create cultures that either foster or inhibit deep teacher practice. Their narrative descriptions of excellent practice add much depth to the data-driven, outcomes focused lens of policymakers from the past decade that focused on raising floors. They focus on ambitious learning, on ceilings, rather than floors.
October 14, 2019
This was an interesting book. Recently released it delves into the issue of “ deeper learning” in American schools. It suggests that some schools are indeed trying to change the “grammar of schooling” from the transmission of knowledge to creators of knowledge. The book offers up some examples of how some schools are doing this and then making some observation as to their success in creating “deeper learning”. And interesting read that leaves one with important and timely things to think about.
August 14, 2021
A really excellent ethnographic dive into American high schools. The recommendations are both concrete and illuminating. The book probably could be significantly shorter especially considering its significant omission of looking at deeper learning in the context of disadvantaged comprehensive high schools.
June 25, 2019
Every high school educator should read this book, and educators and legislators in general should make this required reading. One of the best education books I have read in a while. And, I assume nobody will listen. But, read it anyway, I guess.
February 27, 2020
This book is a great read to envision what education should be in the 21st century.
As an educator, I enjoyed reading this book. It provides a clear perspective of what modern education should be. Deeper learning is a paradigm shift we must embrace.
As an educator, I enjoyed reading this book. It provides a clear perspective of what modern education should be. Deeper learning is a paradigm shift we must embrace.
May 14, 2020
This book provides an interesting overview of various types of schools. The authors are in search of what type of learning environment leads to the deepest learning, and that should be the goal of every school in the U.S.
September 4, 2019
Nice to see research on these topics that come off as buzzwords. I found their review of the different schools interesting.
November 25, 2019
A must read for educators!
August 9, 2020
Good content, great for reflection as a teacher. It took entirely too long to get to the point in each chapter. I would have appreciated a a bulleted list summary of each chapter.
September 18, 2020
Dr. Jason Glass, Kentucky new Commissioner of Education recommenced this book during a chat with Prichard committee. So now I am reading it.
I will be updating as I go along. I am just beginning and I like it. It’s about building relationships with students. This is a large book, with 413 pages, notes and acknowledgements. So be aware.
I will be updating as I go along. I am just beginning and I like it. It’s about building relationships with students. This is a large book, with 413 pages, notes and acknowledgements. So be aware.
October 2, 2020
The research uncovered good information but how to apply it in the schools preparing elementary and secondary teachers was not adequately considered.
February 14, 2021
Very interesting
It's working hard to define Montessori
(not really, but the deeper learning infrastructure of Montessori embodies everything that these authors find valuable about education)
It's working hard to define Montessori
(not really, but the deeper learning infrastructure of Montessori embodies everything that these authors find valuable about education)
March 21, 2021
I have a lot to say about this book.
August 19, 2022
If you're an educator or work in education or sit on BoE... at any grade level this is a fantastic read!
November 5, 2022
Excellent and should be required testing for anyone attempting to teach in American secondary schools today. Especially considering the massive negative impact COVID has had on learning.
June 7, 2023
Not sure if this is a great book or just that it so strongly aligns with what I believe in and want for schools and young people. But it is a great combination of thorough research and storytelling
August 30, 2023
Loved the high school research and insights. Highly recommend for teachers to build understanding of student perceptions of learning environments.
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