Teach the Children Well

New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast

Uncover U.S. education challenges and solutions with Shawn Benjamin, principal of a successful Bay area charter school.

One of the many challenges facing the United States today is an education system that seems to be rotting from the bottom: while graduate and professional schools are still world-class, elementary, middle and high schools are widely criticized for failing to prepare American kids for the future.

Consider:

• In recent international comparative testing, U.S. eighth graders produced their lowest scores ever in math. One-third of them scored in the lowest-performing category. Indeed, the United States had more students in the bottom group and fewer students in the top group than most other industrialized countries.

• Different tests, same result. Last year, about 40% of the country's high school seniors met none of the college readiness benchmarks for English, math, reading, or science. And 70% fell short of meeting the benchmarks for math.

• And although almost 90% of students graduate from high school, 45% of those same students say they feel unprepared for either college or the workforce—and it’s unlikely they are being overly self-critical.

What are the problems and can they be fixed? Is it culture, politics, unions, resources? Too little money, too few teachers, too much social media, all or none of the above?

Today’s episode of New Thinking for a New World looks for answers in the Bay area of San Francisco, California. Shawn Benjamin has been the principal of a charter school since 2007, where she and her team have produced student successes instead of student failures. What is their magic?

Listen and tell us what you think about how to provide children the education they deserve and that we need them to have.