In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School

The authors do a great job of exploring what deeper learning actually looks like and examining where it is (and isn’t) actually taking place.

Instead of focusing simply on what deeper learning could/should look like, they take the approach of observing such learning in the few places where they find it happening well. They draw insights from an unexpectedly broad variety of schools: a progressive high school centered on project-based learning, a no-excuses charter, an IB school focused on equity, a large comprehensive high school, and others.

They highlight a few particular schools that emerged from their research as exemplifying each of these school models, and then examine how deeper learning looks and feels in the particular classrooms and extracurriculars where they find it. In each of these very different settings, they look at what works well and what tradeoffs have been made in order to implement each particular educational model.

Overall, I found this to be a refreshing approach to education research:
–Focusing on what is actually happening in practice, not just what should be happening in a perfect world
–Understanding the tradeoffs that have to happen for a school or educator to implement learning aligned to any of the above school models
–Exploring reasons for school-to-school and classroom-to-classroom (and even period-to-period) variation in the depth of learning
–Exploring how deeper learning can happen because of OR in spite of building-level or district-level policies and other factors.
–Acknowledging that some of the deepest learning happens outside of core academic subjects (in electives and extracurriculars)
–Holding the complexity of education as existing at the micro level (instructional tactics in a classroom) up to the macro level (district and state policy and even public perceptions of the purpose and possibilities of education in the 21st century).

Overall, a thoughtful and nuanced analysis that has pushed my thinking on what deeper learning can look like, why it looks the way it does (or doesn’t) in different setting, and ideas for cultivating deeper learning more broadly across a wide range of schools in the future.

For those who want to create learning spaces that go beyond “content mastery” toward the kind of deeper learning that truly prepares students for career and life, this is a must read. It’s a highly readable and well researched book that illuminates the practices and principles that lead to deeper learning — where students take ownership of their learning, dive deeply into the dynamic nature of the subject, and connect its meaning and purpose to the real world. Mehta and Fine bring clear eyes to their research into major pedagogical and school models, including Project Based Learning, No Excuses, and IB to identify where and how deeper learning is happening within each, and where the limitations are. The final chapters provide a framework for understanding how to catalyze and support this kind of learning at the classroom, school, and district levels. Ultimately, this book is a welcome relief in the ed reform literature because it doesn’t offer a single “best practice” or policy prescription that will magically unlock great learning. It provides dynamic and unbiased insight into how a variety of models that are often treated as highly divergent, showing the opportunity and value in each. The readers that will enjoy this most are the educators who approach their profession through inquiry and a commitment to constantly improving and evolving their practice. I cannot recommend it more highly!

This is, quite possibly, the best case study of student learning that I’ve ever read! As a school site leader, this book resonates with me on the direction that schools should go in order to foster “deeper learning” experiences for students and to help guide the thinking and innovation of its teachers and district leadership. Chapter 8 has truly inspired me to consider my own learning journey. Thank you for writing this book.

As an educator, an education writer, and an education podcaster, I am enmeshed in the world of creative education. I read many teaching books and interview many authors. I LOVED this book. It goes further and deeper than any pedagogy book I’ve ever read. Not only does it introduce teachers and administrators to many systems of education and the benefits and takeaways worth knowing about each one, it lays out a spread of educational ideals that are truly achievable, and gives specific steps to help us get there as a society. Moving toward more student choice, depth over breadth, cross-disciplinary learning, learning which connects students to the disciplines in valuable work that goes beyond the classroom, apprenticeship learning, and more, are all doable practices teachers and schools can implement now. I constantly found myself connecting with what was written, and feeling that my intuition as an educator was being reinforced by solid research. The final pages gave me goosebumps, and the desire to see Sarah or Jal made secretary of education.

This book is an excellent, in depth look at the current state of American high school learning, both at its most mediocre and its best. I loved reading it and feel inspired to continue making the changes I have wanted to make in my own classroom. It gave me a better understanding of the context in which I teach and how my own dissatisfaction with my teaching fits into a larger picture of teaching, schools, and the externalities that prevent teaching and learning from what it could and should be. Excellent read.

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