Lessons learned from the PISA

Another round of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exam results was recently released, allowing researchers to compare education systems around the world. The PISA matters because unlike the majority of standardized tests, it asks students to think critically, to make arguments, to problem-solve, to identify patterns. In the words of Amanda Ripley, author […]

Does toxic stress trump growth mindset and grit?

In recent blog, I wrote about the importance of grit and growth mindset – the belief that hard work can trump a person’s perceived innate intellectual abilities – for K-12 students who hope to succeed in college. But Atlantic Monthly writer Aisha Sulton describes how Tyrone C. Howard, UCLA associate dean for equity and inclusion, […]

Essential Art: Part One

Readers of MFI will know we have all recently read (or in some cases, re-read) Becoming Brilliant, which makes a strong case that the skills our children will need to be successful in the future are much broader than those taught on a standardized test. Most professionals could probably reflect on these skills and identify […]

Welding isn’t the skill welders need most

I’m reading a new book on the so-called skills gap. Beyond the Skills Gap: Preparing College Students for Life and Work by University of Wisconsin professor Matthew Hora. Important book on an important topic. As I’m reading I ran across this quote from a HR professional at a manufacturer in Wisconsin: “What’s funny is that […]

The easy part of education reform

At Michigan Future we spend a lot of time talking about how we can prepare Michigan students – all Michigan students – for the 21st century economy. This is an economy in which the returns to “highly-skilled” workers – who can communicate well, think critically, and have deep content knowledge and technical skills – continue […]

Is resistance to “college for all” racially-motivated?

In a December 2 Chronicle for Higher Education article, Scott Carlson questioned whether declining public support for programs that increase access to higher education is linked to ambivalence about racial and ethnic diversity at our nation’s universities. It’s a provocative issue, and one that deserves serious examination. In his article, Carlson walks through the history […]

Visualizing the Megaregion (aka Detroit Matters)

In Michigan, collaboration across community borders has not been a recent strong suit. I’ve been at many a meeting where folks from the western part of the state claim to identify more with Chicago than with Detroit. And the fact is that a growing understanding of the function of the new economy, with cities as […]

Morgan Stanley on achieving inclusive growth

Really interesting recommendations from Morgan Stanley and the Low Income Investment Fund on “investing in cities for inclusive growth”. Interesting because: A major financial services company is proposing inclusive growth as a national priority and worthy of both public and private investments. They embrace integration as the central strategy citing the work of the Equality of  […]

The real skills gap

Odds are, you’ve heard by now that there’s a serious skills gap in this country. And there certainly is one – though it’s just not the one you’re thinking of. There’s a been a lot of talk in Michigan about the shortage of Michiganders prepared for skilled trade jobs. The rationale is that there are […]

21st Century skills: A confidence booster for college-bound students

In 2002, a coalition of corporate leaders representing organizations such as the AOL Time Warner Foundation, Apple, Cisco, Dell and Microsoft joined forces with the U.S. Department of Education and the National Education Association to develop the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P-21) and its Framework for 21st Century Learning. The P-21 Framework acknowledges the […]