The vision of this program series is the fostering of a new approach to public education — one that will recreate our schools and enable children to thrive in every way in the highly-technological, global 21st century society.
Too many conversations about education reform now focus on either/or debates, or seek a panacea for what is a highly-complex problem. The only way to drastically improve our schools is to think differently, to ask different questions, and to engage in productive conversations about what we need from public education in the new, global economy.
From October 2007 through June 2008, there will be five Retooling Schooling programs. Invitations will go to a select group of journalists, and the individual programs will be limited in size to encourage conversation among all the participants. The programs will be held at the Commonwealth Club of California located at 595 Market Street in San Francisco.
The provocative and informative sessions will present education issues in new ways, framed by key societal trends and market forces (technology, globalization, economic instability, etc.), and illustrated by innovative education programs that point the way to an improved system of learning.
Session topics may include: the role of technology in learning, new scientific understanding about how people learn and how we should be teaching, new skill sets that will be necessary for a 21st century workforce, and the importance of creativity, the arts, and an emphasis on social and emotional intelligence in developing higher-order thinking.
