Blogs

*This is the first of a multi-part blog exploring key points from Tony Wagner's book Creating Innovators.  If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend doing so.  You will find it worth your time as an educator and, if you have kids, as a parent. Creating Innovators can be found on Amazon here. Also, please be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section as I am interested in how this book challenges you (or doesn't) as an educational leader.

The United States prides itself as being the most innovative and entrepreneurial country on the planet.  As a free people, we have the ability to investigate and explore wherever our passions take us.  Coupled together with our vast wealth, natural resources, ability to reinvent ourselves, and unparalleled tenacity, our innovative spirit has propelled us to a position of strength that is second to none... for now.  

Some individuals and groups have pointed to our international test comparisons (i.e. PISA, TIMMS, etc.) as key indicators that the U.S. is slipping intellectually and economically.  Historically, though, the facts tell a different story that rarely gets told.  Teacher, author, and speaker Dr. Yong Zhao's research over the years shows that a country's ability to do well on standardized tests has an inverse relationship to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), number of patents issued, number of noble prize winners, quality of life, quality of democracy, etc.  (Click here to read a blog post I wrote on this a couple of years ago.)  Good thing for the United States.  Not obsessing about standardized assessments and international comparisons has obviously paid off.  We have been innovative, entrepreneurial, and highly productive.  However, the alarm bells are ringing.

In his book World Class Learners (get here on Amazon), Dr. Zhao cites the research of Kyung Hee Kim, educational psychology professor at the William & Mary, who analyzed the performance of U.S. adults and children from the Torrence Tests of Creative Thinking.  The results are sobering as they show a decrease in all categories of creativity over the last 20 years:

• Originality scores decreased by 3.74% from 1990 to 1998,

• Creative strengths decreased by 3.16% from 1990 to 1998 and by 5.75% from 1998 to 2008,

• Elaboration scores decreased by 36.80% from 1984 to 2008,

• Scores in Abstractness of Titles decreased by 7.41% from 1998 to 2008, and

• Scores in Resistance to Premature Closure decreased by 1.84% from 1998 to 2008.

Here's a short video of Dr. Kim talking about what she calls the "creativity crisis."



In Creating Innovators, Tony Wagner offers some statistics that further reinforce our need to be concerned if the U.S. wants to remain the world’s creative leader:

• In 2009, 51 percent of U.S. patents were awarded to non-U.S. companies,

• According to a report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, “The United States has made the least progress of the 40 nations/regions in improvement in international competitiveness and innovation capacity over the last decade.”

• In the 2010 Bloomberg Businessweek annual rankings of Most Innovative Companies, “15 of the Top 50 are Asian – up from just five in 2006.  In fact, for the first time since the rankings began in 2005, the majority of corporations in the Top 25 are based outside the U.S.”

So, why has the U.S. experienced a decrease in creativity and innovation?  In World Class Learners, Zhao references Kyung Hee Kim's thinking who proposed several societal, home, and school factors:

• “Contemporary parenting styles may create overly programmed lives for children, by overprotecting them and overscheduling them, which has the effect of denying children the opportunity to discover for themselves.”

• “Teachers claim to value creativity in children, but in fact it is proven that they generally dislike creative behaviors and characteristics in the classroom because they are inconvenient and hard to control.”

• “NCLB has stifled any interest in developing individual differences, creative and innovative thinking, or individual potential… Teaching to this test discourages purposeful creativity development and stifles children’s creativity in schools… Standardized testing forces emphasis on rote learning… NCLB may stifle teachers’ creativity…  The standardized testing movement created by NCLB has led to the elimination of content areas and activities, including gifted programs, electives, arts, foreign languages, and elementary science, and recess… This may eliminate the opportunities for creative students to release their creative energy in school… Research shows that high school students who exhibit creative personalities are more likely to drop out of school.”

When reviewing this small sampling of data, I believe it is clear that the U.S. is at risk of losing its leadership role as innovator and entrepreneur.  Though many factors are at play in the home, in the schoolhouse, and in society, the increased policy focus on measuring student performance by how well they do on a standardized test deserves its fair share of the blame.  All the while, other countries are lessening the stock they put in international comparisons.  According to Wagner, China's current education reforms are aimed at de-emphasizing standardized tests and doing more to teach creativity.  Any guess on where they are visiting to figure this out?  You will only need one.  The city of Shanghai is so serious about lessening its emphasis on testing that they are contemplating dropping out of the PISA after recently ranking #1.

As I wrap up this initial post on Creating Innovators, I know that you may be saying to yourself, "Jason didn't spend all that much time on Wagner's book." That's true, but I felt it important to share some critical data to begin building the case for instilling a deep spirit of innovation in all our students.  I will reinforce this further in my next post Creating Innovators: Why It Needs Our Attention (Part 2). Creative, huh?

In the meantime, please consider the following questions. If you are so inclined and an IPA Member, do not hesitate to offer your thoughts in the comments section. I would appreciate the opportunity to learn from you.

*Do you agree or disagree that instilling the spirit of innovation in our young people is critical to their and our country's success? Why or Why not?
*Do you believe that a "creativity crisis" exists in this country?  If so, what do you believe to be the cause? If not, why not?
*After reading what was presented, are you challenged in any way as an educational leader?  If so, how?  If not, why not?
*How can we insure standardized tests are used for instructional purposes and do not cause for the narrowing of curriculum and unique educational opportunities for students? 

Creating Innovators: Why It Needs Our Attention (Part II)
Creating Innovators: What Does An Innovator Look Like? (Part III)

#StandardizedTests #TonyWagner #Innovation #YongZhao #KyungHeeKim #Creativity