The most successful students are those who feel real “ownership” of their education

Via a blog bost by Joshua Koen:

Thomas Friedman, in his Op Ed post in the New York Times, Can’t We Do Better?, summarizes the results from “. . .the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which compare how well 15-year-olds in 65 cities and countries can apply math, science and reading skills to solve real-world problems” as “. . .the most successful students are those who feel real ‘ownership‘ of their education. In all the best performing school systems, said Schleicher, ‘students feel they personally can make a difference in their own outcomes and that education will make a difference for their future.’”

Alan November has been asking for years, Who Owns the Learning?, and the results of this assessment further confirm that this essential question is right on target.

So to take this to the next step, we as educators and educational leaders must continue to reflect on what we can do to empower students, teachers, and schools to own their learning. This is our challenge, and with access to a global network of subjects, resources, and people, we need to leverage technology to tap into students’ interests, make assignments more authentic, and use tools to create more powerful teaching and learning experiences.