"The Refresh Button: Why Schools Need to Hit It" - A look into REAL education reform

A refreshed American education system is a crucial need if this country is to stay relevant and competitive. Our nation's vitality is at stake. Too many education "reformers" push for more testing and teachers' and schools' "accountability" to said tests and are (despite good intentions) creating schools that produce passionless, disengaged learners who shy away from critical thinking and problem solving and feel as if they have no voice. School is meaningless and irrelevant to them, their lives, and their world. Everyone suffers— students, teachers, and communities all feel the effects of an irrelevant school.

We live in a country and a world with problems and critical issues abound. The learning that takes place in schools CAN serve as passion factories— producing engaged, determined creative and critical thinkers that feel as if their ideas and opinions matter and that they have the power to be agents of change in their world and the world at large. Except it doesn't. Irrelevant schools pose a great threat to our future. And more tests and better test scores will not come close to solving the problem.

Justin Lyon's "The Refresh Button: Why Schools Need to Hit It" bluntly lays out the need for real education change— a completely rethought and revamped system that values student learning, voice, and what they produce and the impact they have on their communities as opposed to student "achievement."

The book centers around three major themes: student achievement does not imply student learning; the importance of a healthy learning culture in a school; and the phrase "You might need this someday," that is undermining our schools, communities, and world. The book discusses some core values that true learning cultures must possess and how to bring them to fruition.

"The Refresh Button" is a starting point for giving every American student the education they deserve and our nation the learners and doers we desperately need.

http://schoolrefresh.wordpress.com/the-refresh-button/

Direct link: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/isbn9780615644264