Paul Tough talks about his new book, How Children Succeed. He says it’s character that matters when it comes to learning. Children need curiosity, optimism and self-control.

Vocational education took hold when American schools were facing a swelling immigrant population and manufacturers’ needs for trained workers. Jeannie Oakes, who has studied tracking for decades, says vocational ed and “tracking” are connected, and that sorting students by race and class is still a problem.

Guest: Jeannie Oakes, director of education and scholarship at the Ford Foundation.

A new international survey of 15-year-olds shows students in the United States are pretty good problem solvers. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development wanted to learn whether young people are prepared for jobs of the future.

Guest: Francesco Avvisati, PISA Analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris.