Ken Robinson: How to Escape Education's Death Valley

High School dropout rates reach as high as 60% in some U.S. communities, because the education system is inherently flawed and doesn't speak to students. Modifying the systems to encourage creativity and natural curiosity would create a climate of achievement and could dramatically positively impact the U.S. economy. 

Timothy Bartik: The Economic Case for Preschool

There is an economic spillover of benefits when larger portions of a population receive quality education. In an interconnected economic system the education of others around us directly affects our personal wages and economic health. Investing in preschool education will lead to long term prosperity for state economies. 

Shai Reshef: An Ultra-low-cost College Education

The world of education is changing as the internet makes the precious commodity of education available to those previously prevented from enjoying it. The University of the People is a near-free online university, which is training the people hungering for education around the world. 

Angela Lee Duckworth: The Key to Success? Grit

Duckworth has studied what personality traits determine which individuals will succeed in a wide variety of circumstances. She has found that it isn't intelligence or socioeconomic background; it is grit. 

Carol Dweck: The Power of Believing that you can Improve

There are two different mindsets: the growth mindset, and the fixed mindset. People with the growth mindset are willing to take risks and engage deeply with errors. Those with a growth mindset are more likely to improve and innovate.

Andreas Schleicher: Use Data to Build Better Schools

Schleicher has used a system called PISA to measure performance in schools throughout the world. He argues that the quality is not about the amount of money invested in schools but about where that invested money goes. 

Fred Swaniker: The Leaders Who Ruined Africa and the Generation who can Fix It 

Things have now been stabilized in Africa. It is the next generation's responsibility to bring prosperity to the continent. The African Leadership Academy is training the leaders who will create the jobs and build the institutions that will cause Africa to prosper. 

Sagata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud

The system of education needs to be modified to capture and encourage the innate curiosity of children. If you give impoverished children a computer they will quickly master the technology. The world's people are hungry for information and the future of learning is exciting and vibrant. 

Bill Gates: How State Budgets are Breaking US Schools

The education funding mechanism is broken in the United States. The problems with school funding are results of bad accounting

Eddie Obeng: Smart Failure for a Fast-changing World

The world is speeding up and we are falling behind. In the new world of change we need to learn how to fail smartly in order to survive. We need to train people to not only survive, but thrive in the fast-changing world.