I live at the intersection of innovation and education.  My professional career was in innovation, and I was good at it.  I can lay claim to having better-than-normal insights into the world our children are heading into.  While I’ve taught classes over the years, I don’t lay claim to being an education expert.  Our teachers deserve that accolade.  But I work hard to listen to them, and learn from them.  And I have a good sense of what kinds of learning experiences prepare children for the career and citizenship demands of a dynamic, fast-changing, and unpredictable future.

During the 2015-2016 school year, I traveled for all ten months of the school year.  I went to  all 50 states, visited 200 schools, and met thousands of people involved in education — students, teachers, administrators, parents, education policy makers, legislators, governors.  You name it, I talked with them.  I wasn’t sure what to expect when I left, but this trip blew me away.  I saw the very best of U.S. education, and drew daily inspiration from remarkably innovative educators and students.

When I set out on the trip, I had no intention of writing a book.  But an experience like this needs to be shared.   It’s easy today to dwell on the negative, but far more informative to focus on the positive things going on in U.S. schools.  In What School Could Be, I describe a wave of aspirational change taking place in schools all across our country.  I hope these stories, these educators, move you as much as they moved me.

We’re at a tipping point in U.S. education.  If we continue to play small ball, and hold our teachers and students accountable to inauthentic, low-level measures, we’ll be preparing our children to fail.  But it doesn’t have to be this way.  Our innovative teachers are showing us how to engage and inspire their students, how to help them advance in distinctive ways, how to prepare them to thrive.

Finally, to those who took time from busy schedules to inspire me as I crossed the country, thank you!!  I hope I do justice to the amazing work you do every school day.