This idea doesn’t require billions of dollars and the careful coordination of government agencies. And it doesn’t depend on who becomes the next mayor of Chicago. Just go to the library or raid your friends’ bookshelves or head to a bookstore to start reading one of these books. It’s one small thing you can do to change how we think about solving problems in education.

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
• Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

By Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

The big idea in Mindset: There are two basic mindsets. People with a fixed mindset believe that talents and abilities are set in stone. People with a growth mindset believe that talents and abilities develop over time through persistence and hard work. The fixed mindset leads to stagnation. The growth mindset leads to success. Fortunately, people with a fixed mindset can learn to adopt a growth mindset.

Mindset and education: There’s one thing kids are learning well in schools today: the fixed mindset. If we’re going to revolutionize education, we must design our learning environments to promote the growth mindset.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

By Daniel H. Pink

The big idea in Drive: Everything we think we know about motivation is wrong. Businesses have unwittingly squashed creativity and innovation by using traditional extrinsic rewards. Businesses must start working with our intrinsic motivations by promoting autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Drive and education: Just like many businesses, schools haven’t upgraded their views of motivation. We must stop using carrots and sticks with our students and start giving them autonomy, opportunities for mastery, and a sense of purpose.

Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die

By Chip Heath and Dan Heath

The big idea in Made To Stick: You don’t have to be John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King Jr. to deliver an unforgettable message. Ideas that stick have certain qualities in common (simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions and stories), and crafting a message with these qualities will make it more memorable. Anybody can make a sticky idea.

Made To Stick and education: Teachers try to make ideas stick with their students. Made To Stick will help any teacher do that better.

Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard

By Chip Heath and Dan Heath

The big idea in Switch: Do big problems always need big solutions? Nope. We can use a small set of simple strategies that are often highly effective in situations where change looks impossible.

Switch and education: Maybe fixing education doesn’t require billions of dollars, the careful coordination of government agencies, and a particular outcome of a mayoral race. Maybe asking people to read one book is enough to get the ball rolling.