Yong Zhao - Reach for Greatness: Personalizable Education for All Children

Praise for Reach for Greatness

Yong Zhao again provokes and challenges our thinking by sounding a call to immediate action. Our education system must fundamentally change to meet the needs of our children. With insightful personal stories and penetrating analysis of our current education system, Zhao, at once challenging, provocative, and optimistic, shows us that personalizable education models are the way to transform our education system from one that supports mediocrity to one which magnifies the passions and talents of each student.

Rod Allen

Superintendent, Cowichan Valley School District

Former Assistant Deputy Minister of Education

British Columbia, Canada

A bold and compelling call for a wholesale shift in our education priorities. With powerful stories and examples, Dr. Zhao lays out an aspirational goal for our schools: empower each child to create a distinctive path to greatness by reinforcing strengths and unleashing passions. Read this, and youll be inspired!

Ted Dintersmith

Author of What School Could Be

Executive Producer of the Documentary Most Likely to Succeed

Reach for Greatness is a must-read for the truly professional educator today. Common sense and expert practice are hard to find. Yong Zhao brings insight and intelligence in arguing for a dramatic shift of thinking about schooling that is fit for todays world. This book helps give shape to a robust narrative sorely needed for every student.

Greg Whitby

Executive Director of Schools, Diocese of Parramatta, Australia

Author of Educating Gen Wi-Fi

Are you keen for the real depth and substance of an education that helps all students to reach their full potential but tired of empty promises for personalized learning? If so, Yong Zhaos Reach for Greatness is the book for you! With vivid examples and carefully scaffolded argumentation, Zhao shows how what he calls personalizable education offers an exciting and practical future for all of our students truly to become great. Zhaos writing is so full of whimsy and humor that you cant wait to see what this wonderful alchemist of educational change is going to say next. Best of all, this gem of a book is one that not only all teachers, but also a rising generation of students, will cherish.

Dennis Shirley

Professor, Lynch School of Education, Boston College

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Educational Change

Reading a book by Yong Zhao is always an educational awakening! In Reach for Greatness, Zhao makes it clear that students are the potential for greatness within schools, not a problem our educational system needs to fix. This book challenges educators to re-examine the true purpose of education and commit to supporting students passions and cultivating their strengths. Personalizable education occurs when students are in the drivers seattheir voices need to be heard, valued, and acted upon. Thanks to Zhao, I am more determined than ever to ensure that students are not just along for the ride.

Russell J. Quaglia

Author of Teacher Voice, Parent Voice, Student Voice, and Aspire High

Yong Zhao, ever the engaging education contrarian, delivers a compelling read that systematically outlines how to break away from educational systems that narrow, dictate, and sort learners, and readjust to focus on students unique skills, needs, and passions. It brings the role of educationin society and for the individualto the forefront and, in doing so, has the reader reappraise its purpose. Moving beyond just a recommendation of personalization, Zhao promotes the idea of education personalized by, not for, the learner.

Sean Slade