Leaving to Learn: How Out-of-School Learning Increases Student Engagement and Reduces Dropout Rate s

by Elliot Washor, Charles Mojkowski

"We have a bold strategy for revitalizing schools and for graduating and preparing young people for success in their future learning and work. This "leaving to learn" strategy is driven by our image of that future. Our goal is not merely to graduate every student but to prepare graduates who are uncommonly ready for success in their workplaces and their communities."
-Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski It's an alarming in the U.S., one student drops out of school every 12 seconds. Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski, both of Big Picture Learning, have a proven, innovative solution for stemming the flow of drop-outs and breaking the cycle of disengagement that leads up to it. It's called leaving to learn. Leaving to Learn helps us deeply understand the real reasons kids drop out and the essential conditions for productive learning that today's adolescents require. The authors then make a compelling in order to retain students through to graduation, schools must offer experiences where students do some of their learning outside of school. With common sense "rules of the road," the authors offer nuts and bolts guidelines for implementing a high-quality Leaving to Learn program, Isn't it time to try more innovative ways to address the challenges of our nation's dropout rate? We can keep kids in school and prepare them for life after graduation by delivering authentic learning experiences that matter to them. The first step is taking down the barriers between school and the outside world. The first step is letting them leave, to learn.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching

184 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2012

Reviews

[Ted Fujimoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read by EVERY educator, policymakers, business leader, and parent. It will shake up your perspective about what school should be and shatter the common misguided myths of how to fix schools. It will inspire you about what is possible in not only in schools but also what you are capable of doing when it comes to learning for your career and life.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of bits of wisdom and ideas of practice.

[Darren Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it may not have the blueprint to undertake the political changes required, it still affirms and reaffirms the hopefulness education increasing fails to deliver on. If we are going to help our young people succeed longer term, we have to pay closer attention what Washor and others say… and do repeatedly.

[Matt Diaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the premise of this book and many of Big Picture Schools practices, however I felt the book lacking on details of how to make this work.

[Shannon Hong · Rating 4 out of 5]

hw for work -- interesting

[Shelley Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who works with middle or high school aged youth, has a child this age, or cares about children this age. If we want to change the way our education system is failing our children- then we have to look for answers outside of the walls of the classroom. This is an excellent book that introduces some simple strategies to increase student engagement all the way to introducing how to redesigning a school into a Big Picture program.

We know that academic failure, poor behavior, life events, and a disinterest in school are leading reasons to why youth dropout. This book also addresses how youth feel like they don't matter at school, they don't fit in, their talents and interests are unrecognized, and there are too many restrictions within the educational setting. From there it discusses productive learning, how schools can support learning, ways students can "leave" to learn, and what does our future look like.

While this book should be read cover-to-cover with a hi-lighter and post-it notes by every secondary education educator it wasn't written with so much educational jargon that a parent wouldn't find it an interesting read. The blended learning model will be standard in every high school in the not so distant future- and this book is a great introductory to why it's a necessary paradigm shift from traditional teaching methods.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very logical and optimistic. Good ideas but doesn't necessarily deal with challenges of implementing the ideas, which are more about politics than change management.