The authors recently studied how well schools were teaching a a range of complex, higher-order skills. Their findings were grim. Out of 25 skills that researchers have found to be critical to success in life and work, just three were the focus of most instruction: recall, application, and (occasionally) analysis. Even when teachers explicitly made it a priority to make greater intellectual demands on students, they rarely did so. Yet, the authors did find islands of excellence. They share seven findings about the kinds of teachers and classrooms that foster deeper learning.