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I Got Schooled: The Unlikely Story of How a Moonlighting Movie Maker Learned the Five Keys to Closing America's Education Gap
In this vital book, the famed filmmaker tells how his passion for education reform led him to learn that there are five tested, indispensable keys to transforming America’s underperforming schools.
Famed director M. Night Shyamalan has long had a serious interest in education. The foundation he and his wife started once gave college scholarships to promising inner-city students, but Shyamalan realized that these scholarships did nothing to improve education for all the other students in under-performing schools. When he learned that some schools were succeeding with similar student populations, he traveled across the country to find out how they did this and whether these schools had something in common. He eventually learned that there are five keys to closing America’s achievement gap. But just as we must do several things to maintain good health— eat the right foods, exercise regularly, get a good night’s sleep—so too must we use all five keys to turn around our lowest-performing schools.
These five keys are used by all the schools that are succeeding, and no schools are succeeding without them. Before he discovered them, Shyamalan investigated some popular reform ideas that proved to be dead ends, such as smaller class size, truculent unions, and merit pay for teachers. He found that the biggest obstacle to school reform is cognitive too many would-be reformers have committed themselves to false solutions.
This is a deeply personal book by an unbiased observer determined to find out what works and why so that we as a nation can fulfill our obligation to give every student an opportunity for a good education.
Famed director M. Night Shyamalan has long had a serious interest in education. The foundation he and his wife started once gave college scholarships to promising inner-city students, but Shyamalan realized that these scholarships did nothing to improve education for all the other students in under-performing schools. When he learned that some schools were succeeding with similar student populations, he traveled across the country to find out how they did this and whether these schools had something in common. He eventually learned that there are five keys to closing America’s achievement gap. But just as we must do several things to maintain good health— eat the right foods, exercise regularly, get a good night’s sleep—so too must we use all five keys to turn around our lowest-performing schools.
These five keys are used by all the schools that are succeeding, and no schools are succeeding without them. Before he discovered them, Shyamalan investigated some popular reform ideas that proved to be dead ends, such as smaller class size, truculent unions, and merit pay for teachers. He found that the biggest obstacle to school reform is cognitive too many would-be reformers have committed themselves to false solutions.
This is a deeply personal book by an unbiased observer determined to find out what works and why so that we as a nation can fulfill our obligation to give every student an opportunity for a good education.
319 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 2013
28 people are currently reading
432 people want to read
About the author
M. Night Shyamalan
18 books227 followersManoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan, known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Indian American writer-director of major studio films, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that usually climax with a twist ending. He is also known for filming his movies (and staging his plots) in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Shyamalan released his first film, Praying with Anger, in 1992 while he was a New York University student. His second movie, the major feature film Wide Awake, made in 1995 but not released until 3 years later, failed to find financial success. Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's The Sixth Sense, which was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
Subsequent films include Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Visit, Split, Glass, Old, Knock at the Cabin, and Trap.
Shyamalan co-wrote a book with Nicholas Sparks in 2025.
Shyamalan released his first film, Praying with Anger, in 1992 while he was a New York University student. His second movie, the major feature film Wide Awake, made in 1995 but not released until 3 years later, failed to find financial success. Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's The Sixth Sense, which was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
Subsequent films include Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Visit, Split, Glass, Old, Knock at the Cabin, and Trap.
Shyamalan co-wrote a book with Nicholas Sparks in 2025.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
July 24, 2014
I’ve spent my entire career working in education, most of which was spent in education reform. Even more specifically, I spent most of my career in education research, so I am familiar with not only the education space, but also what the data says about as many different aspects of education and education reform as you can imagine: class size, charter schools, teacher effectiveness, merit pay programs, et al. This book by Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan details his thoughts about how the nation can address the persistent gap between successful schools and unsuccessful schools. In preparation for a movie, Shyamalan visited two inner-city high schools, and the differences between the schools bothered him so much that he spent a year (? – the timeline in the book is unclear) visiting schools, speaking to education researchers, and meeting with school reformers about what factors improve student outcomes. He believes that all schools can be successful if they implement five keys: the removal of ineffective teachers, high quality instructional leadership, frequent student feedback (and feedback response processes), smaller schools, and increased instructional hours (during the year AND summer school). Before I ravage this book, I’ll get the positives out of the way: Shyamalan has written an easy-to-read book filled with personal anecdotes that did a good job of explaining statistical concepts in a straightforward and easy-to-understand manner. He was also (for the most part) balanced in his presentation of material – neither thrashing teacher’s unions or charter schools like so many do when presenting ideas for school reform. Unfortunately, I spent most of the time reading this book gritting my teeth. First, while some may like the personal perspective used by Shyamalan in writing this book, I found it a huge turnoff. The way he described his initial meeting hobnobbing with important people over a sumptuous dinner (seriously, he described the meal with the phrase “our plates of tasteful and impeccable food”) and the passionate conversation about school reform that followed – the whole thing smacks of a condescending noblesse oblige that was carried throughout the rest of the book. Tonally, it infuriated me. Second, the way he discussed and continued to mention organizations like Uncommon Schools, Achievement First, or KIPP (and he rarely mentioned just one; it was always a listing of all three) in such glowing terms as if they never failed – again, I know the data – made me feel like he’d fallen for their fundraising sales pitches rather than having come to these organizations through research. Thirdly, he presents these keys as if he were revealing the secret in one of his movies (Holy crap! Bad teachers hurt student outcomes? I see dead people!). These are factors that are extremely well-known in the education community. The fact that they are not all widely used speaks more to systemic dysfunctions than lack of knowledge. Lastly, like many outsiders who have no experience with education but believe the solutions are simple (I’m looking at you, politicians), he overgeneralizes at the end and details how easy and doable he believes the fix is for the entire national education system, ignoring the enormous systemic problems that exist. How can one suggest solutions when one clearly doesn’t understand the problems? There are so many better books on school reform to read. If you’re going to read this one, at least do so making snarky M. Night Shyamalan remarks in your head the entire time.
March 26, 2022
I felt like I learned a lot. Shyamalan does a good job of presenting tons of data and making it easy to digest. My biggest issue with this book is the confused branding. The title makes it sound like it will be a quirky and fun read. In reality, it's like reading a textbook full of studies and statistics. As a result, people who go in wanting an off-beat book will be disappointed and people who want a serious discussion of issues impacting American schools will never open the book in the first place.
August 5, 2017
I enjoyed that this author came to the problem -- and it is a huge one -- of how to successfully educate our children here in the United States without the usual biases one way or the other. Although I myself am a firm believer in the fact that our system needs to be seriously overhauled to get the job done, I like that M. Night Shyamalan approached the problem not as an advocate, but as an innocent setting himself down to explore and learn. For four years, he and the team he hired through his foundation poured through articles, statistics, charts and what have you, in order to scientifically determine best practices and make recommendations to "close America's Education Gap." Shyamalan himself interviewed many of the leaders and experts to get a sense of what worked and what didn't. You may disagree with his recommendations, but you cannot accuse him of starting off with an axe to grind.
Some of his conclusions I agreed with, some I didn't. For instance, I believe that the lack of accountability inherent in a system that protects its workers from consequences if they are not competent leads inevitably to apathy and decline; however, Shyamalan takes that firmly off the table. "This isn't about motivation of the adult to "do the right thing"," he writes. "They don't know what the right thing is and they are struggling to find it. No amount of sanctions from the outside will change that." He also believes that giving parents more school choices will not result in a better education for more kids, and I disagree as well. Perhaps I am mis-stating his positions or don't have the ability to comprehend the finer shadings of his research, but to me competition will inevitably lead to better results than keeping a population trapped in a monopoly with no motivation to improve or reinvent itself. But many of his conclusions, like smaller schools being one of the key ingredients for improved results, made sense to me.
I won't summarize his conclusions because that would be pointless -- anyone interested in this topic will either have already read the book or want to read it -- but generally it seemed pretty fair. And the accusations hurled at him by some people that as a director he shouldn't express himself on education seem extremely unjust. Here is a man with a foundation who cares deeply about social justice, who is expending time and money to inform himself about one of the great conundrums of our time. He is not spouting off mindlessly; he hired experts to come to conclusions, and laid out those conclusions in a book. I give him kudos for caring and kudos for wading into a very messy swamp full of conflicting data, competing points of view, and stridently accusatory actors.
Some of his conclusions I agreed with, some I didn't. For instance, I believe that the lack of accountability inherent in a system that protects its workers from consequences if they are not competent leads inevitably to apathy and decline; however, Shyamalan takes that firmly off the table. "This isn't about motivation of the adult to "do the right thing"," he writes. "They don't know what the right thing is and they are struggling to find it. No amount of sanctions from the outside will change that." He also believes that giving parents more school choices will not result in a better education for more kids, and I disagree as well. Perhaps I am mis-stating his positions or don't have the ability to comprehend the finer shadings of his research, but to me competition will inevitably lead to better results than keeping a population trapped in a monopoly with no motivation to improve or reinvent itself. But many of his conclusions, like smaller schools being one of the key ingredients for improved results, made sense to me.
I won't summarize his conclusions because that would be pointless -- anyone interested in this topic will either have already read the book or want to read it -- but generally it seemed pretty fair. And the accusations hurled at him by some people that as a director he shouldn't express himself on education seem extremely unjust. Here is a man with a foundation who cares deeply about social justice, who is expending time and money to inform himself about one of the great conundrums of our time. He is not spouting off mindlessly; he hired experts to come to conclusions, and laid out those conclusions in a book. I give him kudos for caring and kudos for wading into a very messy swamp full of conflicting data, competing points of view, and stridently accusatory actors.
December 20, 2025
This looked like a weird novelty read, and it turned out to be somewhat interesting but also pretty dry!
October 2, 2013
"I Got Schooled" is an ambitious book. The author, M. Night Shyamalan is not an educator, policy analyst or even parent of public schooled children (his three girls go to private school); but a film producer, and a successful one at that. I admire his willingness and tenacity to tackle this complex and politically charged issue of public school education in the United States. He shares five tenets which he suggests will close the education gap, with data to back each up. Though there is nothing really new or startling in 'I Got Schooled', Shyamalan does frame the research data, and findings from extensive personal interviews in such a way that it provides another perspective on the problem of poor performing public schools.
I see the book as a useful resource for policy makers, educators and parents - it highlights the root of numerous misconceptions, for example 'smaller class sizes produce better results'. For this reason, some groups may discount it [chapter 3].
Shyamanlan's five keys to closing the education gap:
1. No Roadblock Teachers
2. The Right Balance of Leadership
3. Feedback
4. Smaller Schools
5. More Time in School
I agree with four of five of the keys; though I disagree with #5, more time in school. Many schools could use time more efficiently, rather than lengthening the school day which is what Shyamanlan suggests. I use my children's public high school as an example - cut out the daily brunch of 20 minutes (recess), shorten lunch hour and cut out the teacher collaboration days, and late start Wednesdays (also for collaboration and student help, which few students take advantage of).
Overall it's an enlightening and fresh read, though the barriers to implementing the 'five keys' are such that another book would need to be written on how to dismantle them.
I see the book as a useful resource for policy makers, educators and parents - it highlights the root of numerous misconceptions, for example 'smaller class sizes produce better results'. For this reason, some groups may discount it [chapter 3].
Shyamanlan's five keys to closing the education gap:
1. No Roadblock Teachers
2. The Right Balance of Leadership
3. Feedback
4. Smaller Schools
5. More Time in School
I agree with four of five of the keys; though I disagree with #5, more time in school. Many schools could use time more efficiently, rather than lengthening the school day which is what Shyamanlan suggests. I use my children's public high school as an example - cut out the daily brunch of 20 minutes (recess), shorten lunch hour and cut out the teacher collaboration days, and late start Wednesdays (also for collaboration and student help, which few students take advantage of).
Overall it's an enlightening and fresh read, though the barriers to implementing the 'five keys' are such that another book would need to be written on how to dismantle them.
December 8, 2014
This was an easy to digest book about education policy. I think that some good points are made and I think this is an honest attempt to do some good. My problems with the book have to do with some of the people, cities, studies, and schools that are referenced. They are mentioned without context. Michelle Rhee is mentioned and nothing about how she's got that black cloud over her because of the testing scandals and public firings of professionals that occurred under her watch. Bill Gates is discussed along with the evaluations that he backs. Nothing about how controversial and disruptive he and his influence and money have become in education. Wendy Kopp and TFA are spoken of in reverential tones. There's a lot that's been written about the damage TFA can do in schools, not to mention the ways TFA is now undermining veteran teachers, unions, and pay scales. There's a lack of perspective here that makes me wonder. He goes to New Orleans and talks about the great charters there and not once mentions that the school system that was washed away in Katrina was replaced with charters. He talks a lot about KIPP and KIPP has a lot of controversy about keeping problem students. He talks a lot about Waiting for Superman and not once does he mention that many of the ideas in the documentary are simply propaganda. He does come up with five tenets that can work and I have no problem with that. It bothers me that he's bought so much of the ed reform argument without investigating the other side of the story. You can't fire your way to the top, he says, but a good part of the book is about rooting out all the bad teachers. Would have been interesting if he'd talked to some people like Deborah Meier or Diane Ravitch. I'm going to write a book about Hollywood directing, now. I can try for two stars.
August 10, 2016
Before I picked this up, I had read some other reviews criticizing Shyamalan's book. Upon finishing it, however, I found it to be both thought provoking and an easy read. His writing style is simple to comprehend, as it's essentially a first person account of trying to understand what's going on in schools that helps them provide the best possible support for their students.
Many of the negative reviews that I saw centered around the fact that Shyamalan has never taught in a classroom, and how could someone like that possibly have any solutions? Personally, sometimes I think an outside perspective can be refreshing, particularly when the person comes armed with a blank slate and willing to move whichever way the evidence takes them. I found the research included to be just enough not to overwhelm, yet still adequate to intrigue and inspired me to go out and take a look at many of the full studies referenced. There's also a nice description of the few statistical methods he relies heavily on in Appendix B that I found helpful.
Overall, I thought the book did a really nice job. Now, I'm not saying that I believe this is the Holy Grail of improving schools, but it certainly presents some compelling cases. It's not targeting charters over public schools, or denouncing collective bargaining agreements. Sometimes an outside perspective really helps, and Shyamalan's account and evidence are a quick, informative read for those looking to kindle a fire for educational improvement, primarily closing the gap between the highest and lowest performing students in America.
Many of the negative reviews that I saw centered around the fact that Shyamalan has never taught in a classroom, and how could someone like that possibly have any solutions? Personally, sometimes I think an outside perspective can be refreshing, particularly when the person comes armed with a blank slate and willing to move whichever way the evidence takes them. I found the research included to be just enough not to overwhelm, yet still adequate to intrigue and inspired me to go out and take a look at many of the full studies referenced. There's also a nice description of the few statistical methods he relies heavily on in Appendix B that I found helpful.
Overall, I thought the book did a really nice job. Now, I'm not saying that I believe this is the Holy Grail of improving schools, but it certainly presents some compelling cases. It's not targeting charters over public schools, or denouncing collective bargaining agreements. Sometimes an outside perspective really helps, and Shyamalan's account and evidence are a quick, informative read for those looking to kindle a fire for educational improvement, primarily closing the gap between the highest and lowest performing students in America.
March 27, 2016
" I Got Schooled" has some interesting points. I agree with the five keys to success
1. Remove Roadblock teachers
2. Implement the right balance of leadership
3. Provide feedback to the teacher (and the students)
4. Smaller schools
5. More time in school
I find it interesting that there is no component about parent responsibility. However, "more time in school" removes that component, I guess. Depending upon how much more time in school we are working towards - 12 hours per day, Saturday classes and/or longer school years which is what many charter schools are offering, parent involvement could feasible be reduced to just providing a place to sleep, and a place to take a break on Saturday afternoons and Sunday.
Many parents need this kind of support system for their kids, but many don't. I think offering this kind of education to those who need it is great, but requiring it for all is not necessary. Many, many schools, students and families are doing quite well with the current method of education, whether one wants to look at test scores, ACT/SAT scores, and/or college placement and career success.
As long as we remember one-size-does-not-fit-all, or is not even needed, education reform will benefit all.
1. Remove Roadblock teachers
2. Implement the right balance of leadership
3. Provide feedback to the teacher (and the students)
4. Smaller schools
5. More time in school
I find it interesting that there is no component about parent responsibility. However, "more time in school" removes that component, I guess. Depending upon how much more time in school we are working towards - 12 hours per day, Saturday classes and/or longer school years which is what many charter schools are offering, parent involvement could feasible be reduced to just providing a place to sleep, and a place to take a break on Saturday afternoons and Sunday.
Many parents need this kind of support system for their kids, but many don't. I think offering this kind of education to those who need it is great, but requiring it for all is not necessary. Many, many schools, students and families are doing quite well with the current method of education, whether one wants to look at test scores, ACT/SAT scores, and/or college placement and career success.
As long as we remember one-size-does-not-fit-all, or is not even needed, education reform will benefit all.
November 11, 2017
Really enjoyed this book. It was much more entertaining than expected. Every educator should read this and so should everyone on a school committee or a in the Dept of Education. More than anecdotal evidence that the way to close the gap IS known.
February 2, 2015
If you had asked me if I wanted to read a book about education from the director of After Earth and The Last Airbender, I would have said "absolutely not." However, I was introduced to this book by hearing the author speak at the National Press Club. He was fantastic in that speech, and he inspired me to read the book. Now, I wish everyone would read the book. You might not agree with his conclusions, but we definitely need to make education a committed priority and not just something we talk about like visiting Tahiti one of these days. Education fixes all other problems. To make that statement true, we need to close the achievement gap in the United States and worldwide. Let it be our focus.
February 23, 2020
from I Got Schooled by M. Night Shyamalan
• 29: False syllogism: “All schools that succeed at closing the achievement gap are charters. This is a charter school. This school closes the achievement gap.”
• 31: “Researchers have been documenting different flavors of cognitive bias for more than thirty years now, and this list is now really long. There’s the conformational bias: the tendency to cherry-pick information in favor of facts that confirm what we already believe. Or the endowment effect, where people value things more highly after they acquire them than they did before; whenever ever someone wants to sell something for more than he would pay to acquire it, that’s an example. Or hindsight bias, which is what happens when people see past events in light of present circumstances. Or the frequency illusion, the way a recent exposure to something makes us overestimate how often we’re encountering it.”
• 31: “The [bias] that’s most on display in any discussion of charter schools is known as the affect heuristic, which is what we depend on when we use a gut response to solve problems and arrive at conclusions.”
• 33: “Another version of number insensitivity—one that appears in almost every popular account of educational reform—is the simplifying assumption formally known as the linearity fallacy: “If some is good, more is better.”
• 57: “Students today are more likely to come from low-income or single-parent households than they were fifty years ago and a lot more likely to speak a language at home that isn’t English.”
• 57: “More than 13% of elementary and secondary students are now part of special education programs… education SpEd children costs twice as much… however the special kids don’t take the same standardized tests, and therefore the resources spend on special education don’t show up in improved test scores.”
• 59: Extrinsic incentives bias—the tendency to believe people are motivated by tangible rewards. However, most performance bonus systems have no effect because it is the internal motivation that’s important.
• 95: “Statisticians talk about two sorts of fudge factors in making sense of numbers.” Type I errors are false positives; type II are false negatives. “When you add the false positives to the false negatives of in the best current tests of teacher impact on student achievement, you get a total error rate of 26%.”
• 95: Nirvana fallacy: “Until someone comes up with a perfect tool for judging teachers, one that judges no teacher unfairly, there’s no point in using anything.”
• 138: VAM (value-added measurement) “(in its ideal form) compares students’ actual progress to predicted progress, and assumes that any difference is due to the instruction that they received.” Problems with VAM include the legitimacy of standardized tests or the arbitrary nature of grading.
• 153: “Modo hoc (just for this) fallacy assumes that all properties of a system can be derived from looking at the system’s components in isolation.”
• 154: Jay Altman: “had completely changed his position on assigning curriculum. He doesn’t feel it is sustainable for individual teachers to come up with the best practices on top of the gargantuan workload they already have.”
• 156: “the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979—prohibits the DOE from endorsing or sanctioning any curriculum. However, the law doesn’t prevent the DOE from evaluating the curriculum.”
• 193-94: the problem with the data on ‘Head Start’ is that it isn’t a single program—there are thousands of different incarnations of it. Craig Ramey “successful pre-K programs exhibit nine hallmarks: highly knowledgeable and stable leaders; programs based on scientific evidence; high levels of staff training; rigorous collection of data, and regular analysis of it.”
• 197: “the distance between a student from the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder and one from the top actually shrinks when school is in session.”
• 200: In the marathon that is a child’s schooling “a coach can’t show up at mile fifteen and expect to do a whole lot of good. That’s why quality pre-K programs are so essential.”
• 200: The problem of the education gap between the rich and poor is compounded because not only are the schools not as good, poorer students lack the homelife that might serve to make up the gaps left by poor schooling. “Instead of affluent families compensating for deficits in school resources; schools need to compensate for shortfalls in home resources.”
• 200-01: The school day was set during agrarian times when children could be home in time to help outside, while it was light. School was not in session in the summers because there was no air-conditioning.
• 222: “While most states permit collective bargaining with teachers’ unions (31 states and DC) require it, and 14 allow it), the ones that forbid it—GA, NC, SC, TX, VA—don’t have any improved achievement scores to show for it. And there is literally no correlation between how ‘union-friendly’ a state’s policies are and how well its students perform on standardized tests. In fact, the opposite may be true.”
• 224: “We need to own ideas, not be given them.”
• 224: “More than forty years ago, a group of physicians started the movement that became known as ‘evidence-based medicine,’ or EMB. Their reason wasn’t that doctors hadn’t been using evidence; it was that the evidence they were likeliest to believe was local and (often) personal experience instead of global data.”
• 225: “As of 2010, there were just short of 99,000 public elementary and secondary schools in the United States, with a combined enrollment of just under 49 million. Only 2% or a little more than 1 million were public charters.”
• 29: False syllogism: “All schools that succeed at closing the achievement gap are charters. This is a charter school. This school closes the achievement gap.”
• 31: “Researchers have been documenting different flavors of cognitive bias for more than thirty years now, and this list is now really long. There’s the conformational bias: the tendency to cherry-pick information in favor of facts that confirm what we already believe. Or the endowment effect, where people value things more highly after they acquire them than they did before; whenever ever someone wants to sell something for more than he would pay to acquire it, that’s an example. Or hindsight bias, which is what happens when people see past events in light of present circumstances. Or the frequency illusion, the way a recent exposure to something makes us overestimate how often we’re encountering it.”
• 31: “The [bias] that’s most on display in any discussion of charter schools is known as the affect heuristic, which is what we depend on when we use a gut response to solve problems and arrive at conclusions.”
• 33: “Another version of number insensitivity—one that appears in almost every popular account of educational reform—is the simplifying assumption formally known as the linearity fallacy: “If some is good, more is better.”
• 57: “Students today are more likely to come from low-income or single-parent households than they were fifty years ago and a lot more likely to speak a language at home that isn’t English.”
• 57: “More than 13% of elementary and secondary students are now part of special education programs… education SpEd children costs twice as much… however the special kids don’t take the same standardized tests, and therefore the resources spend on special education don’t show up in improved test scores.”
• 59: Extrinsic incentives bias—the tendency to believe people are motivated by tangible rewards. However, most performance bonus systems have no effect because it is the internal motivation that’s important.
• 95: “Statisticians talk about two sorts of fudge factors in making sense of numbers.” Type I errors are false positives; type II are false negatives. “When you add the false positives to the false negatives of in the best current tests of teacher impact on student achievement, you get a total error rate of 26%.”
• 95: Nirvana fallacy: “Until someone comes up with a perfect tool for judging teachers, one that judges no teacher unfairly, there’s no point in using anything.”
• 138: VAM (value-added measurement) “(in its ideal form) compares students’ actual progress to predicted progress, and assumes that any difference is due to the instruction that they received.” Problems with VAM include the legitimacy of standardized tests or the arbitrary nature of grading.
• 153: “Modo hoc (just for this) fallacy assumes that all properties of a system can be derived from looking at the system’s components in isolation.”
• 154: Jay Altman: “had completely changed his position on assigning curriculum. He doesn’t feel it is sustainable for individual teachers to come up with the best practices on top of the gargantuan workload they already have.”
• 156: “the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979—prohibits the DOE from endorsing or sanctioning any curriculum. However, the law doesn’t prevent the DOE from evaluating the curriculum.”
• 193-94: the problem with the data on ‘Head Start’ is that it isn’t a single program—there are thousands of different incarnations of it. Craig Ramey “successful pre-K programs exhibit nine hallmarks: highly knowledgeable and stable leaders; programs based on scientific evidence; high levels of staff training; rigorous collection of data, and regular analysis of it.”
• 197: “the distance between a student from the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder and one from the top actually shrinks when school is in session.”
• 200: In the marathon that is a child’s schooling “a coach can’t show up at mile fifteen and expect to do a whole lot of good. That’s why quality pre-K programs are so essential.”
• 200: The problem of the education gap between the rich and poor is compounded because not only are the schools not as good, poorer students lack the homelife that might serve to make up the gaps left by poor schooling. “Instead of affluent families compensating for deficits in school resources; schools need to compensate for shortfalls in home resources.”
• 200-01: The school day was set during agrarian times when children could be home in time to help outside, while it was light. School was not in session in the summers because there was no air-conditioning.
• 222: “While most states permit collective bargaining with teachers’ unions (31 states and DC) require it, and 14 allow it), the ones that forbid it—GA, NC, SC, TX, VA—don’t have any improved achievement scores to show for it. And there is literally no correlation between how ‘union-friendly’ a state’s policies are and how well its students perform on standardized tests. In fact, the opposite may be true.”
• 224: “We need to own ideas, not be given them.”
• 224: “More than forty years ago, a group of physicians started the movement that became known as ‘evidence-based medicine,’ or EMB. Their reason wasn’t that doctors hadn’t been using evidence; it was that the evidence they were likeliest to believe was local and (often) personal experience instead of global data.”
• 225: “As of 2010, there were just short of 99,000 public elementary and secondary schools in the United States, with a combined enrollment of just under 49 million. Only 2% or a little more than 1 million were public charters.”
September 17, 2019
I had to check midstream to make sure I hadn't already read and reviewed it, so it's possible I'm reading too many similar education reform books, but considered on its own it's pretty good.
Not familiar with the author, but I gather a successful film director. You can sense the cinematic and entertainment background early on, as he makes acts like hiring a grad student to do a literature review of "closing the achievement gap" studies sound exciting. By a couple hundred pages in, this style wore on me -- I'm more concerned with what Harlem Children's Zone has accomplished than with your impression that its founder Geoffrey Canada is tall and charismatic or where you had coffee with some other ed innovator.
Love the emphasis on what's been shown to work, and some of the discussions of types of research were very much on point. but......
--after saying his initial breakthru realization was an analogy with good behavioral health habits (you need adequate sleep, regular exercise, balanced diet, low-stress work environment AND nonsmoking, so the effects of any one may not be large on their own unless interacting with the others), he goes on to review studies supporting his various "tenets" (small schools, not necessarily small classrooms; principals who are instructional leaders, not budget bureaucrats; ability to fire low-performing teachers; more time on task......) without, unless I missed it, ever once citing an interactive effect.
--conceptual focus was on efforts to close achievement gap, but studies he cites as support were invariably those showing positive effects in increasing achievement. Two different things.
So I did not get the impression that the research and observations were actually backing up what he concluded from them, but along the way some good stuff about what works in the classroom.
Not familiar with the author, but I gather a successful film director. You can sense the cinematic and entertainment background early on, as he makes acts like hiring a grad student to do a literature review of "closing the achievement gap" studies sound exciting. By a couple hundred pages in, this style wore on me -- I'm more concerned with what Harlem Children's Zone has accomplished than with your impression that its founder Geoffrey Canada is tall and charismatic or where you had coffee with some other ed innovator.
Love the emphasis on what's been shown to work, and some of the discussions of types of research were very much on point. but......
--after saying his initial breakthru realization was an analogy with good behavioral health habits (you need adequate sleep, regular exercise, balanced diet, low-stress work environment AND nonsmoking, so the effects of any one may not be large on their own unless interacting with the others), he goes on to review studies supporting his various "tenets" (small schools, not necessarily small classrooms; principals who are instructional leaders, not budget bureaucrats; ability to fire low-performing teachers; more time on task......) without, unless I missed it, ever once citing an interactive effect.
--conceptual focus was on efforts to close achievement gap, but studies he cites as support were invariably those showing positive effects in increasing achievement. Two different things.
So I did not get the impression that the research and observations were actually backing up what he concluded from them, but along the way some good stuff about what works in the classroom.
May 1, 2019
I enjoyed this book. I appreciated how willing Shyamalan was to have his expectations defied and I picked up a lot of good advice along the way. The five keys, in case you're wondering, are:
-The ability to fire bad teachers
-Strong school leadership and culture
-Consistent feedback
-Smaller schools (cap high schools at 600)
-More time in school (more hours, more days, even more years)
Shyamalan emphasizes that *all* the keys need to be used to be effective. A strong leader can't have much of an impact if he can't fire bad teachers or manage 1500+ students.
Throughout, I was reminded of Classical Christian schools, which a) are private, and therefore have the ability to fire teachers, b) have very strong cultures, and c) are usually small. I know classical schools would hire strong leaders if they could. I'm not sure how they might approach the "consistent feedback" key. The classical mindset tends to resist data.
As for more time in school, personally, I think this is a great idea, but Shyamalan's defense of it gave me the heebie-jeebies. I think that's because he's talking about public schools. His argument boils down to this: the government ought to improve people's lives, and the best way to improve a person's life is through formal education, therefore, the government should formally educate people as much as possible starting as early as possible. I take issue with the underlying philosophy in both of those premises.
-The ability to fire bad teachers
-Strong school leadership and culture
-Consistent feedback
-Smaller schools (cap high schools at 600)
-More time in school (more hours, more days, even more years)
Shyamalan emphasizes that *all* the keys need to be used to be effective. A strong leader can't have much of an impact if he can't fire bad teachers or manage 1500+ students.
Throughout, I was reminded of Classical Christian schools, which a) are private, and therefore have the ability to fire teachers, b) have very strong cultures, and c) are usually small. I know classical schools would hire strong leaders if they could. I'm not sure how they might approach the "consistent feedback" key. The classical mindset tends to resist data.
As for more time in school, personally, I think this is a great idea, but Shyamalan's defense of it gave me the heebie-jeebies. I think that's because he's talking about public schools. His argument boils down to this: the government ought to improve people's lives, and the best way to improve a person's life is through formal education, therefore, the government should formally educate people as much as possible starting as early as possible. I take issue with the underlying philosophy in both of those premises.
December 21, 2017
This was required reading for an Education in the Urban Environment course. I read it with trepidation for a couple of reasons: we had already been reading about rich people with ideas throwing money and their weight around, even though they had no experience in education except as students, and because I'd never seen any of his films (I'd either not heard of them, or they were horror - not my genre).
I was so pleasantly surprised by his approach: he did RESEARCH! He actually went to schools that are working and studied what they did that others didn't. He based his recommendations on that research. He even pointed out that some of his original ideas/hypotheses turned out to be completely wrong.
I also really like his writing style, and his sense of humour. I feel like I could sit down and have an intelligent conversation about almost anything (based on fact, not just opinion) and we would appreciate each others' sense of humour.
I admit, that the culture in one or the schools really turned me off - it was just too over the top. Perhaps had I been there, as he would, my opinion would be different.
If you are concerned about public education in the US, and wish to read some ideas about it based on research (but it doesn't feel like reading plodding research), then I can't recommend I Got Schooled highly enough.
I was so pleasantly surprised by his approach: he did RESEARCH! He actually went to schools that are working and studied what they did that others didn't. He based his recommendations on that research. He even pointed out that some of his original ideas/hypotheses turned out to be completely wrong.
I also really like his writing style, and his sense of humour. I feel like I could sit down and have an intelligent conversation about almost anything (based on fact, not just opinion) and we would appreciate each others' sense of humour.
I admit, that the culture in one or the schools really turned me off - it was just too over the top. Perhaps had I been there, as he would, my opinion would be different.
If you are concerned about public education in the US, and wish to read some ideas about it based on research (but it doesn't feel like reading plodding research), then I can't recommend I Got Schooled highly enough.
May 16, 2020
The author is an unlikely person to be writing this perspective on what are the keys to closing the achievement gap. The summary of existing research was interesting, although I'm not sure about the research that justifies that their arae 5 keys. He tries to strike a balance between charter and non-charter schools, but it still comes off as being pro-charter school--for instance, the initial group of people he consulted included people who invested in charter schools, but not anyone from traditional public schools. His solutions seem unworkable--starting off with investing a lot more in education.
August 12, 2020
I was skeptical of this book to begin with. I will say that I don’t disagree with a number of his ideas. He even acknowledged right at the beginning that school choice does not work. However, through 95% of the book he only visited and drew evidence from wealthy charter schools. It made absolutely no sense to me.
January 12, 2022
A must for parents, teachers and anyone involved with youth education. There is a problem with our education system and is there a single solution? Everyone should consider how many variables are included in “teaching”.
August 7, 2018
When I read it I enjoyed it but now I am pretty skeptical.
Shyamalan claimed that he learned how to solve education.
But his grasp on the issues seems a bit shallow.
Shyamalan claimed that he learned how to solve education.
But his grasp on the issues seems a bit shallow.
June 2, 2021
Pro Charter school and school reform slants. Easy read and some useful information. As an educator always important to read all points of view.
February 14, 2014
This is a most fascinating book. Its really awesome as it fills in a ton of blanks in the world of contemporary education policy. As an engineer, I found the huge emphasis on prior research to be quite valuable... soundbite backstories are presented such that they make sense, rather than appearing as out of the air woo.
For example, the Bill Gates soundbite that class sizes don't matter seems screwball. Pretty much everyone knows that its near impossible to beat the performance of a 1:1 student to teacher ratio, and a 100:1 student to teacher ratio is a near guarantee of mass bedlam. Alas, the backstory of the soundbite is that some years back, there was a huge push to reduce class sizes... and it had only a tiny effect on academic performance, all the while putting major dents in the budget. To get to the point where class size shrinkage would make a real dent in the universe is untenable financially... and by the same token, bumping class sizes up to where they were before the class size reduction reforms took place would save a ton of money which could be better spent in other areas.
The overwhelming theme of the book is that isolated efforts at improvement have failed, and that continued efforts in isolated efforts are also likely to fail and/or only have a minimal effect. Again as an engineer, this seems entirely reasonable. A system works as a integrated collection of inter-related, and interacting parts. Optimizing one sector without coordinated optimization of the others is almost always an exercise in futility. (Short of cases where clearly defined weak links / throttle points are clearly identified).
There in lies the fatal flaw of this text. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of incredibly useful information and ideas with in. The author did an amazing job... but there are two massive missing pieces which could well topple the whole thing down.
1. The author bases his analysis exclusively on test scores and their correlation to economic achievement. Certainly this makes the ideas are much easier sell in the policy arena than any attempts to integrate the intangible greys. The issue with this of course, is that intangibles might well have a greater effect than the test scores in isolation... Asia is well known for doing exceedingly well when it comes to test scores, but not necessarily as well when it comes to other factors. Ie, Asia has great manufacturing capability when it comes to copying, but its track record in other than incremental innovation is less than stellar. There is also an issue with the suicide rate which seems to correlate with the high pressure education process they operate under.
2. Corruption in schools is rampant, and the author fails to consider it. (I think he is a pretty hard core idealist) It could be subtle like aligning curricula to the test, or teaching to the test, or blatant like grade fixing, modifying tests, or outright falsifying data. The problem of course whether subtle or blatant, is that the end result of suspect data and shafted students is the same. I have no doubt that the OECD report on test scores and economic output from years ago made sense, at least as concerns the US, but running that same analysis post common core, or other high stakes initiatives may well end up being a pig in a poke. As soon as you tie economic security, pay etc to a marker, you will get that marker, often in ways that you would rather not see... I can't blame teachers doing the teach to the test thing, or admins demanding social promotion as such ties very tightly to their pay/longevity, but it is cheating the students out of what could have been.
One thing I really liked was the authors discussion of equality... Equality of opportunity is a pipe dream. The well off will always have means to make a huge difference, the poor much less so, and that will never change. What the author hopes to do though, is to provide a means that the severely economically disadvantaged with have a greater shot than our current system provides for. Getting back to the failed premises... the authors approach might just work, but there is a cost involved too. The proposed changes appear to rather than equalizing the opportunity of a shot, move the goal lines... and provide an even greater chasm between economic classes, albeit at a much higher level than existed before. This is something for ethicists to ponder...
Education policy is anything but simple... but this book provides much to consider.
For example, the Bill Gates soundbite that class sizes don't matter seems screwball. Pretty much everyone knows that its near impossible to beat the performance of a 1:1 student to teacher ratio, and a 100:1 student to teacher ratio is a near guarantee of mass bedlam. Alas, the backstory of the soundbite is that some years back, there was a huge push to reduce class sizes... and it had only a tiny effect on academic performance, all the while putting major dents in the budget. To get to the point where class size shrinkage would make a real dent in the universe is untenable financially... and by the same token, bumping class sizes up to where they were before the class size reduction reforms took place would save a ton of money which could be better spent in other areas.
The overwhelming theme of the book is that isolated efforts at improvement have failed, and that continued efforts in isolated efforts are also likely to fail and/or only have a minimal effect. Again as an engineer, this seems entirely reasonable. A system works as a integrated collection of inter-related, and interacting parts. Optimizing one sector without coordinated optimization of the others is almost always an exercise in futility. (Short of cases where clearly defined weak links / throttle points are clearly identified).
There in lies the fatal flaw of this text. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of incredibly useful information and ideas with in. The author did an amazing job... but there are two massive missing pieces which could well topple the whole thing down.
1. The author bases his analysis exclusively on test scores and their correlation to economic achievement. Certainly this makes the ideas are much easier sell in the policy arena than any attempts to integrate the intangible greys. The issue with this of course, is that intangibles might well have a greater effect than the test scores in isolation... Asia is well known for doing exceedingly well when it comes to test scores, but not necessarily as well when it comes to other factors. Ie, Asia has great manufacturing capability when it comes to copying, but its track record in other than incremental innovation is less than stellar. There is also an issue with the suicide rate which seems to correlate with the high pressure education process they operate under.
2. Corruption in schools is rampant, and the author fails to consider it. (I think he is a pretty hard core idealist) It could be subtle like aligning curricula to the test, or teaching to the test, or blatant like grade fixing, modifying tests, or outright falsifying data. The problem of course whether subtle or blatant, is that the end result of suspect data and shafted students is the same. I have no doubt that the OECD report on test scores and economic output from years ago made sense, at least as concerns the US, but running that same analysis post common core, or other high stakes initiatives may well end up being a pig in a poke. As soon as you tie economic security, pay etc to a marker, you will get that marker, often in ways that you would rather not see... I can't blame teachers doing the teach to the test thing, or admins demanding social promotion as such ties very tightly to their pay/longevity, but it is cheating the students out of what could have been.
One thing I really liked was the authors discussion of equality... Equality of opportunity is a pipe dream. The well off will always have means to make a huge difference, the poor much less so, and that will never change. What the author hopes to do though, is to provide a means that the severely economically disadvantaged with have a greater shot than our current system provides for. Getting back to the failed premises... the authors approach might just work, but there is a cost involved too. The proposed changes appear to rather than equalizing the opportunity of a shot, move the goal lines... and provide an even greater chasm between economic classes, albeit at a much higher level than existed before. This is something for ethicists to ponder...
Education policy is anything but simple... but this book provides much to consider.
February 4, 2014
I can't say enough good things about this book. I checked it out from the library, but now I'm buying my own copy so I can make notes in it. Yes, I'm a librarian who occasionally says it is okay to write in books (if you own them). Shyamalan spent four years and a great deal of time and money investigating the achievement gap that so many of us, both educators and lay people, constantly hear about, worry about, and wonder about. He traveled to schools he discovered were getting it right, he talked to people, he hired some of the best researchers to review the literature. He moved from becoming a concerned citizen to becoming an advocate for giving all of our children the best shot at a bright future. Not just the kids in his circle, where paying for the best private schooling is no big deal, but the poorest children in our nation, who never seem to get ahead no matter how many government mandates are created, how many school districts are threatened with closure if they don't improve achievement, and how many teachers burn out after less than three years of pushing themselves and their students to limits beyond our imagination. What Shyamalan discovered is that there is NO single quick fix for education, which most of us in education realize. Instead, there is a system that must be in place to ensure ALL children reach their academic potential despite poverty, despite their parents' educational achievement, despite the odds. He discovered that not only can it be done, it is being done all over our nation. So, why isn't everyone on board? Well, read the book and you'll discover why. Because there are some harsh realities we as educators, parents, and citizens must face. Sometimes you have to step on toes, make drastic changes, remove ineffective teachers, spend money ensuring students get a level playing field through after school and summer programs, and perhaps hire more people to be operations managers at the school level so the principal can do what he or she should be doing...focusing on instruction rather than how many toner cartridges are on campus and how many teachers have the flu. Shyamalan is witty, real, and honest. He makes no bones about being rather self-centered and self-absorbed, which I doubt given the massive effort he put into research for this book. I think he is a true philanthropist who realizes that making education better for those kids who are struggling makes everyone's life better. These kids are our future care-takers and wage earners. Do we really want them to fail? Be warned, you may feel he is very much pro-charter, because a lot of the schools where he found this "just right" system in place or in development were charter schools. However, he lets you know, if you are paying attention, that he isn't pro-charter or pro-anything EXCEPT pro-child. It just so happens that the few charters doing it right are using the system he and his researchers found works best. He went out of his way to find this same thing in public schools as well, just to prove anyone could (and should) see these type results. He also reminds us that 98% of education is still traditional public schools and only about 2% is charters or other situations. He also points out that most of the kids who benefit from charters and other settings are usually NOT the ones who need the most help in the first place. Those kids are in public schools within walking or busing distance from their homes, or they wouldn't even be able to go to school at all. Read the book. Everyone should. It might make you angry, tired, or even a bit defeated, but it is well worth the read. Changes can be made if the right people read and share this information. All of the research is well documented, and the book contains a list of 50 schools he found to be making great strides. The book also includes a comprehensive bibliography. Did I mention how much I liked this book?
December 4, 2014
In the interest of full disclosure, I approached this book with a fair amount of apprehension- another book written by a wealthy celebrity who claims to have found the solution to the problems in American education. What I was not prepared for was a thoughtful, well researched book by someone who genuinely comes across as wanting to close the achievement gap in urban schools. M. Night Shyamalan is a wealthy celebrity and wildly popular screenwriter, but he also has a legitimate concern regarding the achievement gap between students in inner-city public schools and those in suburban districts. This book is his attempt to research the problem and offer his thoughts on solutions.
The first part of I Got Schooled focuses on his process and a literature review, of sorts. He takes an interesting view on how to make urban schools “healthy”. Most doctors will tell you that if you do several rather simple things (get enough sleep, eat right, don’t smoke, etc.), your chances of becoming seriously ill are considerably reduced. Of course, you have to do all of them to improve your chances at health. If you get plenty of sleep and eat healthy but smoke a pack of cigarettes per day, it doesn’t work. What if schools are the same way? Are there are handful of tenets that interact together to improve academic proficiency? Shyamalan believes so and makes a case for five of them.
What may surprise some is not what is included in his five tenets, but what he leaves out: class size, increased funding, advanced degrees, higher salary, school choice, and general accountability. He leaves each out for a different reason and justifies himself in doing so. His five keys are thoughtful and backed up with research and sources. He focuses on finding and keeping the best teachers (or, as he puts it, make sure you are getting rid of the worst, as predicting the success of teachers is so difficult), finding and keeping effective principals and school leaders, effective feedback, smaller schools, and more time in schools. He concludes with a way to make his five keys happen, including estimates of what it would cost and where that funding would come from.
In my opinion the strength of this book lies in what it is not. He is not promoting a wholesale change of American public education. In his words, he found that the problem is not achievement, it is variability and more importantly, a system that promotes variability. He is not promoting charter schools and in fact, spends considerable time writing how he could not find anything to promote charter schools over public schools. Having said that, it doesn’t appear as though that was from a lack of trying. He spends a considerable amount of time discussing charters such as Achievement First and Uncommon Schools and many of the schools he visits are charter schools. This book is not perfect; he gets wordy in places and there are sections of the book where he comes across as self-aggrandizing. Most importantly, the five keys come across as somewhat simplistic (I don’t think there are many educational leaders who do not know that it takes a few years to tell if a teacher has what it takes and fewer who wouldn’t try to weed out their ineffective teachers). Despite all of that, I found his approach and view of interacting tenets that are all necessary to be very interesting and worthwhile. As much as I did not want to like this book, I came away from it with an appreciation of his goals and found I Got Schooled to be an ambitious, interesting read that I feel is worthwhile for anyone in education.
The first part of I Got Schooled focuses on his process and a literature review, of sorts. He takes an interesting view on how to make urban schools “healthy”. Most doctors will tell you that if you do several rather simple things (get enough sleep, eat right, don’t smoke, etc.), your chances of becoming seriously ill are considerably reduced. Of course, you have to do all of them to improve your chances at health. If you get plenty of sleep and eat healthy but smoke a pack of cigarettes per day, it doesn’t work. What if schools are the same way? Are there are handful of tenets that interact together to improve academic proficiency? Shyamalan believes so and makes a case for five of them.
What may surprise some is not what is included in his five tenets, but what he leaves out: class size, increased funding, advanced degrees, higher salary, school choice, and general accountability. He leaves each out for a different reason and justifies himself in doing so. His five keys are thoughtful and backed up with research and sources. He focuses on finding and keeping the best teachers (or, as he puts it, make sure you are getting rid of the worst, as predicting the success of teachers is so difficult), finding and keeping effective principals and school leaders, effective feedback, smaller schools, and more time in schools. He concludes with a way to make his five keys happen, including estimates of what it would cost and where that funding would come from.
In my opinion the strength of this book lies in what it is not. He is not promoting a wholesale change of American public education. In his words, he found that the problem is not achievement, it is variability and more importantly, a system that promotes variability. He is not promoting charter schools and in fact, spends considerable time writing how he could not find anything to promote charter schools over public schools. Having said that, it doesn’t appear as though that was from a lack of trying. He spends a considerable amount of time discussing charters such as Achievement First and Uncommon Schools and many of the schools he visits are charter schools. This book is not perfect; he gets wordy in places and there are sections of the book where he comes across as self-aggrandizing. Most importantly, the five keys come across as somewhat simplistic (I don’t think there are many educational leaders who do not know that it takes a few years to tell if a teacher has what it takes and fewer who wouldn’t try to weed out their ineffective teachers). Despite all of that, I found his approach and view of interacting tenets that are all necessary to be very interesting and worthwhile. As much as I did not want to like this book, I came away from it with an appreciation of his goals and found I Got Schooled to be an ambitious, interesting read that I feel is worthwhile for anyone in education.
November 24, 2013
I am a huge fan of M. Night Shyamalan's writing and a dedicated believer in education reform, so when I heard that the two were meeting in a book, I was thrilled. But, before I even began reading the book, just by reading the word "achievement" on the inner flap of the dust jacket, I knew that this was not going to be a fun read for me. While I am thrilled that people who are not educators or politicians are getting into the discussion on education, and while he did a lot of admirable research, it felt like he was only finding the research to match his belief system. I know he would argue this by saying that, in fact, a lot of his initial beliefs were drastically altered through his research, but they all- his old beliefs and new- live together in the same little box. And, though he may have partially tested some assumptions he had, the entire work is based on one overarching assumption that unfortunately was never once questioned: that one's income-producing potential is one's most important asset. The fact that he spoke so reverently of how techniques used in Toyota and Ford plants are now being successfully implemented in schools and the fact that he converted test score points into future GDP worth made this book feel a little too much like 1984. He also neglected numerous education systems, focusing only on public, private, and charter schools. Whether he investigated alternative education, e.g. Montessori, home schooling, Sudbury schools, unschooling, etc., and just chose not to include them within the book, I don't know. But my guess is he never even took a glance, which is like writing one of his highly praised 5-paragraph essays after reading only half the book. Not to mention that I saw no evidence of his sitting down with students to discuss what they felt was working in their schools and what was not, which is like writing an essay after reading one word. It's not only bad research, it's degrading to the youth who are the ones who really experience what goes on day to day in schools and are forced to deal with the pitfalls in more ways that we as adults could even imagine.
All in all, I am glad I read this book because it gave me a better picture of how some people look at education with complete blinders on to the possibilities of what education could truly be if we shed the skin that has bound us for so long. A multilayered life experience should be the goal of education, a place for natural curiosity to grow and prosper, a discussion, not an A, B, C, or D answer. All test scores tell us is how well a person can fall in line and do what he is told. If we all want to be robots and work in the Ministry of Truth, that is just fine. But if we want more people like M. Night who are creative thinkers, who are not afraid to step outside of the norm and be "more me than they are them", then test scores are not the answer.
All in all, I am glad I read this book because it gave me a better picture of how some people look at education with complete blinders on to the possibilities of what education could truly be if we shed the skin that has bound us for so long. A multilayered life experience should be the goal of education, a place for natural curiosity to grow and prosper, a discussion, not an A, B, C, or D answer. All test scores tell us is how well a person can fall in line and do what he is told. If we all want to be robots and work in the Ministry of Truth, that is just fine. But if we want more people like M. Night who are creative thinkers, who are not afraid to step outside of the norm and be "more me than they are them", then test scores are not the answer.
December 20, 2013
Well, I'm skeptical whenever someone comes up with the perfect number of ways to improve schools. Five? Really? Why not four or six? Anyway, Syamalan hires someone to do a review of current literature and studies to find out these secrets. He also visits schools (mostly charter schools) to try to find out what works on schools. It's an admirable goal and I admire his passion. I found many of his ideas not all that surprising like smaller schools, a longer school day or school year, using data, etc. That's all been talked about before. The discussion about removing bad teachers was upsetting. Where are you going to find great teachers for everyone when a lot of schools have trouble finding anyone willing to teach there? How are teachers going to be great members of our best and brightest when the salary of a teacher is abysmal? How would schools in urban or suburban areas that are heavily built up be able to find and afford places to build more schools so that they can be smaller? I suppose he doesn't have to think about these things because he doesn't really know enough about them. I found the principals as constant observers and advisers the most interesting. I work at a high school and the work load placed on the heads of our academic departments is way too much to allow them to constantly be in classrooms. Forget about the principal. I wish I could have that kind of mentoring relationship with anyone (teacher or administrator). Unfortunately, the work load on the American teacher makes that nearly impossible. I admire your effort, Mr. Shyamlan, and I think in many areas you could be right. Your ideas aren't novel and unfortunately I think your book will not be noticed and dismissed as a celebrity trying to push an agenda. I would have appreciated you stepping into the role of a teacher a little bit more than just a one day celebrity guest for one classroom before you wrote about the subject.
December 3, 2013
There should be a special shelf for books by people who are armchair experts in education, all of whom, inevitably, send their kids to private school. These books quote a lot of studies, and therefore sound very erudite, but in the end they cherry-pick their conclusions. This one does, too, which is really a shame, because Shyamalan starts off with a healthy dose of skepticism regarding educational studies and the people who abuse them.
Basically, these books fall into one of two categories: (a) we need to throw out all the bad teachers, unions suck, charters and markets rock; (b) it's all poverty's fault, we don't need to reform anything, we need more money, and charters are evil. It doesn't take a genius to know that the truth is always somewhere in the middle. Shyamalan wants to split the difference, but he can't, really, because he has a foundation that needs to reform something.
In the end, he hasn't learned the five keys to anything--all he's really learned is the five things that are most important to him. He says charters aren't the key because only 2% of American students attend them, but he clearly spent 98% of his time with that 2% of students. I wish it had been the other way around.
Basically, these books fall into one of two categories: (a) we need to throw out all the bad teachers, unions suck, charters and markets rock; (b) it's all poverty's fault, we don't need to reform anything, we need more money, and charters are evil. It doesn't take a genius to know that the truth is always somewhere in the middle. Shyamalan wants to split the difference, but he can't, really, because he has a foundation that needs to reform something.
In the end, he hasn't learned the five keys to anything--all he's really learned is the five things that are most important to him. He says charters aren't the key because only 2% of American students attend them, but he clearly spent 98% of his time with that 2% of students. I wish it had been the other way around.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2014
Loved this book! We homeschool, but hubby and I have always felt burdened knowing the plight of inner city schools in our country and have never understood why all public schools can't offer the same quality of education regardless of the socio-economic status of the students.
I am so much better informed after reading this book. Not only do I understand the factors that play into the education gap, but I now understand what it would take to turn that around and close the gap. I feel this is going to help me be a better voter when it comes to education in our country--- which we should all be concerned about even if we don't personally utilize the public school system. This book doesn't give a comprehensive plan for closing the gap--- it's a big deal and this book scratches the surface in a very well done way.
M. Night Shyamalan is a very easy to read, relatable writer. He explains things well for those that need it dumbed down a little (read: ME!) without coming across as patronizing or snotty. I am really impressed with the work/research that went into this book.... especially from someone who makes his living making movies.
A work I will keep near the forefront of my mind. Well done!
I am so much better informed after reading this book. Not only do I understand the factors that play into the education gap, but I now understand what it would take to turn that around and close the gap. I feel this is going to help me be a better voter when it comes to education in our country--- which we should all be concerned about even if we don't personally utilize the public school system. This book doesn't give a comprehensive plan for closing the gap--- it's a big deal and this book scratches the surface in a very well done way.
M. Night Shyamalan is a very easy to read, relatable writer. He explains things well for those that need it dumbed down a little (read: ME!) without coming across as patronizing or snotty. I am really impressed with the work/research that went into this book.... especially from someone who makes his living making movies.
A work I will keep near the forefront of my mind. Well done!
December 31, 2013
Overall, liked this book. One of the most interesting things I learned is that if you compare American schools that have a poverty level below 10 percent to schools in other countries, our schools come out on top. It is the inner-city, high-poverty schools that pull down our rankings. Shayamalan makes convincing arguments for the 5 factors that need to be in place to close the education gap. He is a thorough and engaging writer. Nevertheless, the book did seem to lag sometimes with its extensive citing of statistics. It is a book based on research, though, so this "flaw" would be hard to avoid. I think the solutions he suggests will be hard to implement on a grand scale, but it's good that he is promoting the info, getting it out there. The most important message, perhaps, to take away from the book is that disadvantaged kids CAN do as well as middle- and upper-class kids when placed in a school doing all the right things. Although this book purposely stayed away from such topics, I couldn't help thinking the best way to help these kids is to attack their problems outside of school--drugs, crime, single parenting, job opportunities, etc.
March 12, 2014
Without a doubt the best anything that I've ever read on school reform because the five key elements that the author identifies as critical to increasing academic achievement, which correlate to evidence-based research. You will be surprised at the results and the bewitching of cognitive biases that is often at the root of politically motivated educational reform. I will mention the five keys but keep in mind that your preconceived biases will be challenged: no roadblock teachers, school leadership, feedback, manageable size schools, and more classroom time. How research plays out on this will surprise you.He clearly states we have two school systems in this country that cannot be viewed in the same light without taking into consideration income of parents, poverty levels among a school population, home environment, and parental involvement in summer enrichment for their child. The author exposes so many myths that are now driving educational reform. It always goes back to what is your evidence. Every parent, teacher, administrator, community leader, school board member should be required to read this before making changes to increase academic achievement!
December 6, 2013
The author seems like an unlikely source for a serious book on education reform. I don't think I would have picked this book, except that through chance I read the first chapter in a magazine and liked it so much I immediately bought the book.
This book is extremely encouraging, because it supplies real answers to the problems with education in the US. There are really things that we can do that will make a difference in the lives of children, particularly the extremely poor. They don't even cost that much, in terms of the whole budget. All of the things in this book ought to be a no brainer to implement; we just need to convince people to do them. So read the book!
The book is short, and in a very engaging style, full of humor and heart-warming anecdotes. Yet the author is very serious about statistics and you will see how carefully every proposal has been evaluated. It's always encouraging when an author tells how the facts changed his mind; you know you're not just listening to an ideologue.
Read this book!!!
This book is extremely encouraging, because it supplies real answers to the problems with education in the US. There are really things that we can do that will make a difference in the lives of children, particularly the extremely poor. They don't even cost that much, in terms of the whole budget. All of the things in this book ought to be a no brainer to implement; we just need to convince people to do them. So read the book!
The book is short, and in a very engaging style, full of humor and heart-warming anecdotes. Yet the author is very serious about statistics and you will see how carefully every proposal has been evaluated. It's always encouraging when an author tells how the facts changed his mind; you know you're not just listening to an ideologue.
Read this book!!!
July 23, 2018
I'm reserving the book's pedagogical merits to professionals in the education field. I first heard about the book on CNBC. Mr. Shymalan was being interviewed on Squawk Box. Both he and the anchors seemed a little to sure of the answers filtering it from a perch of privilege. Reserved and ready to discount the book I read it in about 10 days. My first and only problem was the complicated data analysis. I am poor in statistics.
However, it's the statistics along with his interviews that makes the book work.
Having a feel for what will close the achievement gap is great until it's application doesn't work.I think that's what the book gets at. Trying things that work for a few is great for the few. But, having evidenced-based strategies that feel intuitive too and might possibly work in all schools is better.
Mr Shyamalan has a bold conviction and is not afraid to be criticized. Yes, he is only a movie maker and not a educator but give it a read anyway. Maybe he'll inspire you to think differently. I did.
However, it's the statistics along with his interviews that makes the book work.
Having a feel for what will close the achievement gap is great until it's application doesn't work.I think that's what the book gets at. Trying things that work for a few is great for the few. But, having evidenced-based strategies that feel intuitive too and might possibly work in all schools is better.
Mr Shyamalan has a bold conviction and is not afraid to be criticized. Yes, he is only a movie maker and not a educator but give it a read anyway. Maybe he'll inspire you to think differently. I did.
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