Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age
Using Learning Science to Reboot Schooling
- Frederick M. Hess - American Enterprise Institute
- Bror Saxberg - Kaplan, Inc.
Leadership | Leadership in Educational Technology | School Change, Reform, & Restructuring
“By deconstructing learning science and making the connection to technology, Hess and Saxberg have outlined key strategies for school leaders as they work to transform traditional practices in schools. Whether it is whole-school reform or targeted interventions, principals will be motivated to rethink or‘re-engineer’ the use of technology to optimize teaching and learning.”
—Gail Connelly, Executive Director
National Association of Elementary School Principals
“Everyone touching education—from educators to school leaders and from investors and philanthropists to entrepreneurs—needs to understand how to think like a learning engineer and read this book. Technology holds unbelievable promise to be a part of the solution to transform education, but it won’t happen unless all parties attack its implementation smartly. Breakthrough Leadership in a Digital Age points the way forward.”
—Michael B. Horn, Co-Founder & Education Executive Director
Clayton Christensen Institute
“Too often, our current structures fail to promote and support learning engineering. Rick Hess and Bror Saxberg have designed a compelling guide for the road ahead.”
—William Hite, Superintendent
School District of Philadelphia, PA
Reboot student learning the right way!
Today’s most successful school leaders are truly “learning engineers”: creative thinkers who redefine their problems and design new ways to better serve kids’ success. Technology has a critical role, but it’s the creative reinvention of schools, systems, and classrooms that has to come first. In this powerful book, best-selling author and education policy expert Rick Hess and chief learning officer Bror Saxberg show you how to become your school's learning engineer. Using cutting-edge research about learning science as a framework, you’ll:
- Identify specific learning problems that need solving
- Devise smarter ways to address them
- Implement technology-enabled, not technology-driven, solutions
"Hess and Saxberg cut through the ed-tech hype and identify great instruction as the key to improved learning outcomes. Teachers, as well as school and district leaders, will find in these pages an effective blueprint for trying and deploying instructional technologies that is at once deeply conceptual and entirely practical."
"Hess & Saxberg recognize that thoughtful use of technology in schools is not primarily technical nor technological – rather, it is human. Or, as the old cartoon character Pogo said, I have seen the enemy, and it is me. Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age is a must-read for education leaders who want to harness the possibility of new tools, and do so in a thoughtful way that makes a difference for learning."
"The concept of a 'learning engineer' is nothing short of an overdue revolution in thinking about innovation in public education. Leaders across the educator sector, who are committed to improvement in service to kids, must resist the silver bullet promise of shiny new tools air-dropped into yesterday’s classrooms. Hess and Saxberg tell us why, and more importantly, how to squarely place people as the drivers of innovation. The pragmatic approach laid out in this book will help leaders recognize that kids need more than touch screens. They need teachers, school and district leaders, and policy makers who approach this work as entrepreneurial problem finders, thoughtfully applying technology as a solution when and where it makes sense."
"It's not the tools, as Rick and Bror point out; it's the new potential to engineer engaging pathways to mastery, to leveraging great technology and buying time for teachers to build powerful sustained relationships with young people. Rick's attention to 'Cage-busting Leadership' and Bror's relentless demand for learning R&D make them great co-authors--and make this a must read."
"This important book urges readers to create powerful, new learning environments based on learning science. Technology can be transformative when we focus on actual learning experiences and not just the shiniest gadget."
"This book provides powerful insight into why state, civic, and system leaders should rethink policies, practices, and procedures related to technology and its usage in our classrooms. Too often, our current structures fail to promote and support learning engineering. Rick Hess and Bror Saxberg have designed a compelling guide for the road ahead."
"'Learning engineering,' the application of learning science to learning at scale, is likely to be a critical ingredient to make progress in on-line and on-the-ground education in the years to come. The use of technology in education is finally fulfilling its potential. Bror and Frederick are leading thinkers in this accelerating space."
