Trying to do well and trying to beat others are two different things. Excellence and victory are conceptually distinct . . . and are experienced differently.

When test scores go up, we should worry, because of how poor a measure they are of what matters, and what you typically sacrifice in a desperate effort to raise scores.

We can't value only what is easy to measure; measurable outcomes may be the least important results of learning.

To be well-educated is to have the desire as well as the means to make sure that learning never ends.

Educators remind us that what counts in a classroom is not what the teacher teaches; it’s what the learner learns.

Very few things are as dangerous as a bunch of incentive-driven individuals trying to play it safe.

A preoccupation with achievement is not only different from, but often detrimental to, a focus on learning. Thoughts and emotions while performing an action are more important in determining subsequent engagement than the actual outcome of that action.