Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton Christensen,Curtis W. Johnson,Michael B. Horn

Selected as one of the Best Books on Innovation, 2008 by BusinessWeek magazine Named the Best Human-Capital Book of 2008 by Strategy Business magazine A crash course in the business of learning-from the bestselling author of The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution. Provocatively titled, Disrupting Class is just what America's K-12 education system needs--a well thought-through proposal for using technology to better serve students and bring our schools into the 21st Century. Unlike so many education 'reforms,' this is not small-bore stuff. For that reason alone, it's likely to be resisted by defenders of the status quo, even though it's necessary and right for our kids. We owe it to them to make sure this book isn't merely a terrific read; it must become a blueprint for educational transformation. --Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education A brilliant teacher, Christensen brings clarity to a muddled and chaotic world of education. --Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically-we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need disruptive innovation. Now, in his long-awaited new book, Clayton M. Christensen and coauthors Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson take one of the most important issues of our time-education-and apply Christensen's now-famous theories of disruptive change using a wide range of real-life examples. Whether you're a school administrator, government official, business leader, parent, teacher, or entrepreneur, you'll discover surprising new ideas, outside-the-box strategies, and straight-A success stories. You'll learn how Customized learning will help many more students succeed in school Student-centric classrooms will increase the demand for new technology Computers must be disruptively deployed to every student Disruptive innovation can circumvent roadblocks that have prevented other attempts at school reform We can compete in the global classroom-and get ahead in the global market Filled with fascinating case studies, scientific findings, and unprecedented insights on how innovation must be managed, Disrupting Class will open your eyes to new possibilities, unlock hidden potential, and get you to think differently. Professor Christensen and his coauthors provide a bold new lesson in innovation that will help you make the grade for years to come. The future is now. Class is in session. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly It's no secret that people learn in different ways, so why, the authors of this book ask, can't schools customize their teaching? The current system, designed for standardization, must by its nature ignore the individual needs of each student. The answer to this problem, the authors argue, is disruptive innovation, a principle introduced (and initially applied to business) by Harvard Business School professor Christensen in The Innovator's Dilemma. The idea is that an audience in need will benefit from even a faulty opportunity to fulfill that need; in education, the demand for individual instruction could be met through infinitely customizable online computer-based instruction. The authors, all professionals in education, present a solution to the ills of standardized education that's visionary but far-fetched; even they admit that their recommendations would be extremely difficult to implement in current school systems. Still, the authors' unusual case, though occasionally bogged down in tangents, is worthy reading for school administrators, teachers, parents and, perhaps most of all, software developers. Charts. Copyright ® Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From the Back Cover WARNING: THIS BOOK WILL CHALLENGE EVERYTHING YOU EVER LEARNED-ABOUT LEARNING After a barrage of business books that purport to 'fix' American education, at last a book that speaks thoughtfully and imaginatively about what genuinely individualized education can be like and how to bring it about. -Howard Gardner, author of Five Minds for the Future A decade ago, Clayton Christensen wrote a masterpiece, The Innovator's Dilemma, that transformed the way business looks at innovation. Now, he and two collaborators, Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson, have come up with another, focusing his groundbreaking theories of disruptive innovation on education. -David Gergen, US Presidential Advisor Clayton Christensen's insights just might shake many of us in education out of our complacency and into a long needed disruptive discourse about really fixing our schools. This will be a welcome change after decades in which powerful calls to action have resulted in only marginal improvements for our nat