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I'd like to see the role of play included in this discussion - especially its importance to young children. Play addresses social skills like taking turns, following directions, working on teams, etc.

If the GED replicates  test-taking, not experience, what implication is that for strictly cyber learning?

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Interesting podcast which brings up the hot topic of standardized testing and the emphasis placed on it. Nothing new. Is the demands placed on test performance causing more stress than its worth?
Why are students lacking resilience, perseverance, self control and resourcefulness? Is it only the ones who have had trauma or could it be the increase in technology, violence in video gaming and overall lack of communication skills?
I believe that the non- cognitive skills have always been important and need to be taught and modeled in every classroom despite the academic subject matter. I agree angry, over stressed children can't learn well and it is of major importance to form and continue to form relationships throughout the year which is crucial to overall success in and out of school.

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Angry child can't learn because they can't focus.
Why can't people who make decisions realize standardized testing isn't working.  Need to be able to take care of so many more issues but don't have time.  Non -Cognitive skills.

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If stress is such a big determining factor in how kids learn and behave, do we need to look at how much stress is being placed on students as young as third grade to be successful on a standardized test???
How much more is involved in a students development than having 4 difficut times during their childhood???

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The U.S. government spent two years on a sting operation trapping an Indian man suspected of being an illegal arms dealer.

Conspiracy theories about the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin continue to shape Israel's politics and future.

Host Ira Glass talks about his experiences reporting on education and the unending question of how we can make schools better. He discusses the Chicago Teachers strike and an essay by writer Alex Kotlowitz that talks about how the strike raises questions about the severity of this challenge. (4 1/2 minutes)

Ira talks with Paul Tough, author of the book How Children Succeed, about the traditional ways we measure ability and intelligence in American schools. They talk about the focus on cognitive abilities and conventional "book smarts." They discuss the current emphasis on these kinds of skills in American education, and the emphasis on standardized testing, and then turn our attention to a growing body of research that suggests we may be on the verge of a new approach to some of the biggest challenges facing American schools today. Paul Tough discusses how "non-cognitive skills" - qualities like tenacity, resilience, impulse control - are being viewed as increasingly vital in education, and Ira speaks with economist James Heckman, who's been at the center of this research and this shift. (38 1/2 minutes)

Our story picks back up with the question of how non-cognitive skills can be taught to older kids who have gone much longer without learning things like self-control, conscientiousness and resilience. Ira returns to the story of Kewauna, the Chicago teenager, who talks about the dramatic ways in which she changed her life. They discuss an intervention by Kewauna's family, and the programs that have helped her thrive. Economist James Heckman then discusses they ways in which this shift in emphasis could change the way we practice education and the way we think about learning. (11 minutes)

The U.S. government spent two years on a sting operation trapping an Indian man suspected of being an illegal arms dealer.

Conspiracy theories about the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin continue to shape Israel's politics and future.

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A growing body of research that suggests we may be on the verge of a new approach to some of the biggest challenges facing American schools.

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Interesting that an economist is presenting this idea of cognitive skills vs. soft skills.

When schools took away playtime in younger grades, did that also take away the opportunity to learn soft skills? I remember a specific incident in kindergarten (45 years ago!!!) in which I was praised for helping a fellow kindergartener. This was more meaningful to me than any "a-ha" moment in academics.

I believe soft skills are a better indicator of success than cognitive skills. Personally, I would rather hire and work with someone with stronger soft skills vs. working with someone with higher cognitive ability and lower soft skills.

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"Heckman's view on high school and the GED." I think that Heckman's view on GED programs is looked at from a completely financial perspective.

"GED students perform better than dropouts but not as well graduates."  It's nice to see that the hard work of students in high school pays off in the long run.

As teachers, how do we undo years of biological stressors in order to help our students be successful?

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"Way too much emphasis on 'cognitive development'" in schools.

"What matters most in a child's success isn't cognitive skills; need a different set of skills."

"If you can educate and test someone for a GED in 32 hours vs. 1,000 per year, how is this effective?"

"All 8th graders should take the GED."

GEDs are performing slightly better than those who simply dropped out, but nowhere near as well as high school graduates. Success in marriage, college and military were low among those who dropped out of high school.

Test scores only explain a tiny fraction of those who are capable and those who are not.

GED students lacked the following skills that the graduates did not: soft skills/social skills/personality traits/character (non-cognitive skills).

The history of american public schools is to teach character AND knowledge. Standardised testing has ruined this.

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Interesting questions in comparison of High School and obtaining a GED.  Can the same be compared to online learning?

What are ways to get students to resist temptation  of negative behaviors?

The environment of the classroom, school and at home is essential in the learning that will occur.

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Interesting to hear that there's a connection between dropping out of school and dropping out of other things in life, like marriage. The studies back it up.

Heckman's conclusion: Standardized test scores are only a piece of the puzzle in understanding student success.

How can I teach what character looks like in my classroom? Personally, I think self-control and self-discipline are key skills for students to learn if they want to be successful in the future.

If stress is one of the major factors holding children back, I do I reduce my students' stress in class but keep high expectation?

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I have always been a supporter of teaching student these soft skills. Too often students are not provided opportunities to practice them (in a positive way) in their home life. We need to infuse them into our teaching daily so students can see them used successfully, as well as "practice what we preach."

Is there a way to help remove or lighten the pathways students minds have created due to repeated stress?

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"If you're in a constant state of emergency, that part of your brain just doesn't develop the same "

I feel that this describes such a great percentage of our students. Their lack of certain executive functions and soft skills are evident if they are consistently encountering immediate stress.

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So, how do we test those other skills, the ones that demonstrate persistence and grit?
It really explains the behavior of some kids if we think that, for them, "The bear never goes away."
It's amazing that they can quantify those numbers, to see the effect of trauma on kids' futures.

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If soft skills and social skills are such an important piece of someone being "successful" why isn't everyone taught these skills?

What percentage of our students have lived through these adverse experiences?

Puts into perspective exactly what we see on a daily basis in our classrooms.

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Why did we get rid of Basic Skills? money! We have enough money for coaches & assistant coaches for all the sporting teams. Why not Basic Skills and possibly "One Goal" type of program. We should be able to identify the economically challenged students from the free and reduced lunches.

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Character, non-cognitive skills, is what is missing in our classes everyday

We need to be able to recognize these fight or flight feelings in our students. If they are experiencing them constantly their brain development affects them for the rest of their lives. Is there a way we can "fix" that?

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Parents are often concerned with boosting cognitive skills at an earlier age

Tests are the most important information we have about a student? Cognitive skills do not necessarily lead to success, but they are so much easier to measure

Being able to delay gratification (getting two cookies vs. one) is correlated to future successes

Repeated stress affects the brain -- can it be reversed?

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I read the doctors have been prescribing free time for children when their parents take them in for visits.  That coincides with the idea that intrinsic qualities have as much importance as cognitive skills.

I'm excited to see our Future Ready Index score since its focus is more of a whole-child approach. Projects and other classes that are non-core subjects now are a part of the equation, which is terrific to see.

After 22 years of teaching, I can whole-heartedly agree that we've been a pendulum swinging from character to intelligence as the focus of what matters.  Our school has tried to have a balance, though.

The mention of stress in poor households and how low-income neighborhoods are less healthy aligns directly with Maslow's hierarchy.

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How can we better recognize when our students are experiencing trauma? Should we have an ace test here at school? Would students want us to know trauma they're going through or not?

Are standardized tests going anywhere?

We need to recognize the trauma in our students on a daily basis and make them feel welcome and accepted.

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Interesting comment about the emphasis on "what matters most" in regards to standardized testing  especially in early years, and the shift that we now have to embrace to make this change today.

"Delay gratification" is such an important concept that I have recently put at higher priority for addressing in my students. It is interesting to see in my own classroom how used to "instant gratification" students are because of the technology and resources we are equipped and exposed to in today's society. Students have a question and can instantly get the answer with a google search. This hinders their curiosity and engagement during inquiry.

But what is an effective way to teach students that it is okay to embrace the "Uncomfortable" feeling of not knowing the answer to something? I have been trying so hard to instill "Curiosity" but also the engagement and excitement to put forth the effort to want to find the answer.

How many positives need to happen to undo the biological pathways created from the constant exposure to stressors

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Questions, comments, or concerns...

Podcast transcript link

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474: Back to School - This American Life

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Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard, not read. We strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.

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Cognitive skills are easier to assess than non-cognitive ones.  When we want to judge our teachers' ability to teach, it seems they have only reached so far as what is easy to assess.

Our adolescent students want to fit into school so bad that most will never admit to having a different home life than their peers.  We have to be the ones that pick up on cues and relationships to have conversations with them to get a better idea who they are outside of school.  Doing that with our students will help us learn how to work with them and provide them more opportunities for success.

What percentage of our students have lived through these adverse experiences?

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Non-cognitive skills are linked to future success.  My immediate thought is how can we develop the skills in our classrooms?

We can't control stress from outside of school.  How do we make the time we control productive in meeting the needs of the students experiencing this stress?

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Stress has effects, but I think kids also respond to how adults around them deal with that stress. The modeling of appropriate responses to stressors is really important to kids. If they don't see it at home, it's got to be helpful for them to see it at school. However, we can't take all stress away from kids. They need to learn how to positively handle the stress in a way that makes them stronger. In an education setting, it is important to create that safe environment where they know that they can respond to stress and make a positive difference in their own experiences

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So many students come to mind that have the "angry child" model. We don't know what is going on at home.

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Biological effects of stress...Students with much stress in lives follow these biological effects when small stressors occur in the school setting.
Pathways are created in brain due to repeated stress in lives

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Can soft skills be integrated into standards and/or curriculum??

-- Could these skills help the generational poverty cycle?

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Cognitive Development- Important but too much emphasis in early years????

Non-cognitive, soft skills, social skills, personality traits, character, personality.

Self control, resist impulse, keep your temper.

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Are standardized tests worth it?

Test scores only determine a small fraction of students cognitive ability.

Why is standardize testing dominating education???

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Need a balance between content and relationships.

Test scores don't show the whole picture.  There is a lot more that is important in school then just the content

In talking to people that are looking for employees, missing those "non-cognitive" traits are their biggest complaint.

Repeated stress actually effects the development of the brain.
4 or more adverse childhood experience 32x more likely to not being successful in school.  4 is not that high of a number.

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Teachers are life-savers!
Soft Skills-Social Skills
Stress has an impact on learning