I Got Schooled : The Unlikely Story of How a Moonlighting Movie Maker Learned the Five Keys to Closing America's Education Gap

**In this vital book, the famed filmmaker tells how his passion for education reform led him to learn that there are five tested, indispensable keys to transforming America's underperforming schools.**Famed director M. Night Shyamalan has long had a serious interest in education. The founda­tion he and his wife started once gave college scholarships to promising inner-city students, but Shyamalan realized that these scholarships did nothing to improve education for all the other students in under-performing schools. When he learned that some schools were succeeding with similar student populations, he traveled across the country to find out how they did this and whether these schools had something in common. He eventually learned that there are five keys to closing America's achievement gap. But just as we must do several things to maintain good health— eat the right foods, exercise regularly, get a good night's sleep—so too must we use all five keys to turn around our lowest-performing schools. These five keys are used by all the schools that are succeeding, and no schools are succeeding without them. Before he discovered them, Shyamalan investigated some popular reform ideas that proved to be dead ends, such as smaller class size, truculent unions, and merit pay for teachers. He found that the biggest obstacle to school reform is cognitive biases: too many would-be reformers have committed themselves to false solutions. This is a deeply personal book by an unbiased observer determined to find out what works and why so that we as a nation can fulfill our obliga­tion to give every student an opportunity for a good education.

In this vital new book, the famed filmmaker tells how his passion for education reform led him to learn that there are five tested, indispensable keys to transforming America’s underperforming schools.

When he was scouting locations for a film, M. Night Shyamalan spent time in two Philadelphia-area schools—one a welcoming institution, the other a building with metal detectors, windows with bars, and locked classroom doors. The striking difference resonated with the filmmaker, convincing him to become more involved in education reform. Now, after years of dedicating himself to the issue and consulting with America’s leading education experts and reformers, he has found something astonishing in the research.

Schools are closing the achievement gap in poor neighborhoods all across the country, more than fifty of which are identified in Schooled. What they have in common are five distinct practices, similar to, and inspired by, the keys to a healthy lifestyle: Each one necessary, no one sufficient. These five, identified by the Shyamalan family foundation’s researchers are: Longer Hours, whether an increased school day, or extended year; Small Schools; using evidence-tested teaching methods via Data-Driven Instruction; Leaders who spend their time on instruction instead of administration; and identifying and retaining the Best Teachers, including a fresh approach to the tenure system.

Shyamalan embarked on this project with no preconceived notions, hoping only to learn which methods succeed. Working closely with experts, he has produced a book based solely on empirical data—a guide that should inform America’s ongoing debate about how to improve our educational system.

In this vital book, the famed filmmaker tells how his passion for education reform led him to learn that there are five tested, indispensable keys to transforming America's underperforming schools. Famed director M. Night Shyamalan has long had a serious interest in education. The founda­tion he and his wife started once gave college scholarships to promising inner-city students, but Shyamalan realized that these scholarships did nothing to improve education for all the other students in under-performing schools. When he learned that some schools were succeeding with similar student populations, he traveled across the country to find out how they did this and whether these schools had something in common. He eventually learned that there are five keys to closing America's achievement gap. But just as we must do several things to maintain good health— eat the right foods, exercise regularly, get a good night's sleep—so too must we use all five keys to turn around our lowest-performing schools. These five keys are used by all the schools that are succeeding, and no schools are succeeding without them. Before he discovered them, Shyamalan investigated some popular reform ideas that proved to be dead ends, such as smaller class size, truculent unions, and merit pay for teachers. He found that the biggest obstacle to school reform is cognitive biases: too many would-be reformers have committed themselves to false solutions. This is a deeply personal book by an unbiased observer determined to find out what works and why so that we as a nation can fulfill our obliga­tion to give every student an opportunity for a good education. "Famed director M. Night Shyamalan tells how his passion for education reform led him to the five indispensable keys to educational success in America's high-performing schools in impoverished neighborhoods"-- Provided by publisher