I have the headline from an August 8, 1998, Wisconsin State Journal article posted on the bulletin board in front of my desk so that I will always remember what it says. The headline reads as follows:

Research: More education produces smarter children

It's really important that all of us — educators and the community at large — remember this. How smart a child is when she or he enters our schools does not determine how smart the child is when she or he leaves our schools. Smart isn't what a person is; smart is what a person can become. What we can do in our schools is actually make children smarter!

Smart doesn't just mean that students know more "stuff." Smart means they know what to do with that "stuff": they know how to analyze it, evaluate it, use it in multiple contexts, and connect it to new ideas. In MMSD, the education we provide our students is rigorous. It includes teaching information and ideas, but not just any information and ideas — information and ideas that are accurate and worth knowing. We also create learning opportunities that require students to think about and use the information and ideas.

Smart also doesn't just mean that students know and can use more information and ideas about math, science, social studies and all the other subjects we teach in our schools. Smart means they know how to identify what they need to know, how to learn it, and how to use what they have learned to solve new problems. In MMSD, the education we provide our students teaches them "learning to learn skills" so they are not only smart in school, but they are smart about real world issues and problems, as well.

More education about important information and ideas that students learn how to use in productive ways will, indeed, produce smarter children. And that's the job of educators: helping every student become smarter than she or he was the day before, the week before, the month before, and the year before.