Leaving to Learn

In this provocative book, authors Washor and Mojkowski observe that beneath the worrisome levels of dropouts from our nations high school lurks a more insidious problem: student disengagement from school and from deep and productive learning. To keep students in school and engaged as productive learners through to graduation, schools must provide experiences in which all students do some of their learning outside school as a formal part of their programs of study. All students need to leave school—frequently, regularly, and, of course, temporarily—to stay in school and persist in their learning. To accomplish this, schools must combine academic learning with experiential learning, allowing students to bring real-world learning back into the school, where it should be recognized, assessed, and awarded academic credit. Learning outside of school, as a complement to in-school learning, provides opportunities for deep engagement in rigorous learning.What others are saying about L2L“School isnt something that kids are trying to do. Rather, they want to succeed at important things. Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski show the remarkable transformations in schools and their students when this becomes their focus.”—Clayton Christensen, Harvard business professor and author of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns and How Will You Measure Your Life?“Leaving to Learn puts forth a provocative and powerful argument: A significant number of capable young learners are dropping out of high school not because they cant meet their schools expectations, but because schools dont meet theirs. The authors have worked with these young people and have some exciting insights to share about student engagement and intrinsic motivation. If youre concerned about the dropout problem, you owe it to the young people in your life to pick up this book.”—Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind“Elliot Washor and Charles Mojkowski rightly identify student disengagement as the central cause of our nations dropout crisis. Their solution—leaving to learn—connects education to the real world of life and work, creating highly engaged learners in the process. Their strategy—redesigning schools in fundamental ways—is made understandable by this vivid and compelling account.”—Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University“The authors get inside young people's heads and hearts in order to understand why and how they disengage from learning and often drop out. It's deeper than you think, the authors say, and they are right. Their solution is spot on—start with students interests to break the cycle of failure. Heres hoping schools will listen.”—Pedro Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, New York University About the authorsElliot Washor co-founded and co-directs Big Picture Learning. Involved in school reform for more than 35 years as a teacher, principal, writer, and speaker, Elliot has worked all over the world designing and developing innovative schools that provide engaging learning environments for students and adults. Elliots interests lie in how schools connect with communities to credit learning that occurs both in and outside of school. The George Lucas Foundation has selected Elliot as one of The Daring Dozen—The Twelve Most Daring Educators.Elliot lives in sunny San Diego with his wife and their Portuguese Podengo Pequenos. You can e-mail Elliot at ewashor@gmail.com.Charles Mojkowski has worked as a consultant to education and business organizations for more than 35 years. He works primarily in the areas of school, program, and curriculum design; leadership and organizational development; and innovative applications of technology in these areas. He has authored numerous articles on unconventional designs for schools and schooling.He is a former English teacher, elementary school assistant principal, and administrator in the Rhode Island Department of Education. He was also an Associate Professor in the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at Johnson & Wales University. He lives in Cranston, Rhode Island, with Corinne, his wife of 45 years. You can email Charles at cmojkowski@mac.com.