The Teaching Gap ─ Best Ideas from the World's Teachers for Improving Education in the Classroom

In the first edition of The Teaching Gap, the authors drew on the conclusions of the 1999 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) -- an innovative study of teaching in several cultures -- to refocus education reform efforts. Foremost among the authors' initial discoveries was that reform must start with dramatic changes in the culture of teaching. Using videotaped lessons from dozens of randomly selected eighth-grade classrooms in the United States, Japan, and Germany, the authors offered a surprising view of teaching and a bold action plan for improving education inside the American classroom. They called for a cultural shift within schools that would demand perpetual teacher training, with stricter requirements, better peer review, higher academic standards, and more shoptalk between teachers. Ten years on, the authors share their latest discoveries and offer fresh solutions for the American school system, which has long lagged behind international standards in nearly every area of academic achievement. If given the opportunity, teachers can change the way our students learn.

James W. Stigler, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at UCLA and the coauthor of The Learning Gap. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

James Hiebert, Ph.D., is H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education at the University of Delaware and coauthor of Making Sense: Teaching and Learning Mathematics with Understanding. He lives in Kemblesville, Pennsylvania.