Schooling by Design: Mission, Action, and Achievement

by Grant P. Wiggins, Jay McTighe

Why, despite years of trying, have efforts to achieve lasting, effective school reform fallen short? What curricular and policy elements must be in place to move forward? How should the roles of teachers and education leaders be defined to best support the point of school?

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and other questions in Schooling by Mission, Action, and Achievement. Building on the premise of Understanding by Design, their acclaimed framework for curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the authors present a compelling argument for using the same approach to reach a grand the reform of schooling as a whole. In their view, reform rests on six

* A relentless focus on the long-term mission of enabling learners to demonstrate understanding and mature habits of mind; * A curriculum and assessment framework that honors the mission and ensures that content “coverage” is no longer the accepted approach to instruction; * A set of principles of learning that support all decisions about pedagogy and planning; * Structures, policies, job descriptions, practices, and use of resources consistent with mission and learning principles; * An overall strategy that includes ongoing feedback and adjustment; and* A set of tactics linked to strategy, including a planning process that uses “backward design” to accomplish the key work of reform.

Practical, insightful and provocative, Schooling by Design elaborates on each of these elements and presents educators with both the rationale and the methodology for closing the gap between what we say we want from school and what school actually delivers--for turning vision into reality. 

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, School

462 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for every school leader!

[Jessyca505 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that reinforced what we know about designing schools with intention. As always, a good mission is necessary, but there need to be deliberate action steps toward school reform. The hardest part of school reform is looking at yourself in the mirror and being honest with yourself. Unlearning bad habits is the hardest to do! This book gives several guidelines and steps to get past the bad habits and incorporates some of the best learning that we have seen in the past (Reeves, Marzano, Senge, etc). Great book for educational leaders and teachers alike.

[Stephanie]

Not by choice....

[Dave Intlekofer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the backwards design model, and this was a great way to apply it to curriculum planning. It looks like it would be a lot of work, but well worth it.

[Michael Wacker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Backwards design just makes good sense. This summarizes for me where we go wrong in designing curricula ..."the textbooks we use reinforce a propensity to cover content."

[Cedric Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has seriously helped me!

[Gena Wallenburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good start point for the novice curriculum reformer

[Jan Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely worth the bucks. Fills in the right details every educator and administrator must know.