Recently, we did an episode here on Great Ideas where we talked about some of the lessons learned during the pandemic about remote learning, hybrid schools, and school reopening. We talked about what worked what didn’t and some of the problems that we encountered in trying to get "back" to school. But what if in our all out effort to get school going again, especially for our elementary age kids, we got focused on the wrong question?
Even before the pandemic, progress on basic reading, science, and math scores had flattened. And those figures are far worse for kids in rural areas, Black kids, kids on Indian reservations, and most of all, for poor kids. The simple fact is that according to our best assessments, we are not getting the vast majority of our students to be even be proficient in basic skills. So amid the headlong rush to get back to what we were doing before, it seems reasonable to ask, are we rushing back to the right thing? Or is the right question really, how on earth can we do better by our kids? How can we move forward?
That question has obsessed my guest today for his entire career. Dr. Benjamin Heuston is Executive Director of the Waterford Institute, a Utah-based not-for-profit that conducts early learning research and develops interactive education software aimed at kids in the pre-K-6 range. He believes that our fundamental way of educating young kids needs an upgrade, but also, encouragingly that it’s do-able, and he has the evidence to prove it.
***Editor's Corection: the audio refers to Dr. Heuston as the CEO of the Waterford Institute, his former title. We regret the error.
