Academies and Educational Reform

Academies and Educational Reform PDF Author: Elizabeth Leo
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 184769487X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Behind the headlines and controversy surrounding new academy schools, many of their principals, teachers and pupils have been quietly changing the culture of learning and achievement in some of the most disadvantaged communities in England. While successful innovation and change is not unique to academies, this book illustrates how the academy policy represents a significant opportunity to improve the life chances of their pupils. Too much attention has focused on unanswerable questions about whether academies are better or worse than their predecessor or comparable schools in their neighbourhood. Too little focus has been on what policy makers and practitioners can learn from the different, and often conflicting, perspectives of the key players, notably sponsors, architects, principals, parents and pupils in order to create a school that can truly serve their community with distinction.

A Nation at Risk

A Nation at Risk PDF Author: United States. National Commission on Excellence in Education
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description


The Keys to Effective Schools

The Keys to Effective Schools PDF Author: Willis D. Hawley
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1452280800
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Raise organizational effectiveness to improve the quality of instruction and dramatically impact student achievement! Working in tandem with the powerful National Education Association′s KEYS initiative (Keys to Excellence in Your Schools), this second edition focuses on how to change a school′s organizational structure and culture to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Each chapter, revised and updated to address continuous improvement and narrowing the achievement gap, provides a wealth of knowledge from leading experts in the field including Patricia A. Alexander, Eva L. Baker, James A. Banks, Peter Cookson, Lorna M. Earl, Richard F. Elmore, Michael Fullan, Geneva Gay, Willis D. Hawley, Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Kenneth Leithwood, Ann Lieberman, Judith Warren Little, Lynne Miller, P. Karen Murphy, Fred M. Newmann, Sonia Nieto, Janet Ward Schofield, Walter G. Stephan, Gary Sykes, and Linda Valli. Educators at all levels, policymakers, and parents will discover how to apply the lessons learned from research. This essential handbook provides new chapters, including exemplary practice on teaching and learning for a multicultural society and on continuous school improvement. Now you can advance to the next level of change with an integral resource for school reform.

A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia's Public Schools

A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia's Public Schools PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309209390
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
The District of Columbia (DC) has struggled for decades to improve its public education system. In 2007 the DC government made a bold change in the way it governs public education with the goal of shaking up the system and bringing new energy to efforts to improve outcomes for students. The Public Education Reform Amendment Act (PERAA) shifted control of the city's public schools from an elected school board to the mayor, developed a new state department of education, created the position of chancellor, and made other significant management changes. A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia's Public Schools offers a framework for evaluating the effects of PERAA on DC's public schools. The book recommends an evaluation program that includes a systematic yearly public reporting of key data as well as in-depth studies of high-priority issues including: quality of teachers, principals, and other personnel; quality of classroom teaching and learning; capacity to serve vulnerable children and youth; promotion of family and community engagement; and quality and equity of operations, management, and facilities. As part of the evaluation program, the Mayor's Office should produce an annual report to the city on the status of the public schools, including an analysis of trends and all the underlying data. A Plan for Evaluating the District of Columbia's Public Schools suggests that D.C. engage local universities, philanthropic organizations, and other institutions to develop and sustain an infrastructure for ongoing research and evaluation of its public schools. Any effective evaluation program must be independent of school and city leaders and responsive to the needs of all stakeholders. Additionally, its research should meet the highest standards for technical quality.

Small Schools and Strong Communities

Small Schools and Strong Communities PDF Author: Kenneth A. Strike
Publisher: Teachers College Press
ISBN: 9780807750582
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this insightful book, Kenneth Strike develops a new vision of school reform. Arguing that good schools are first and foremost strong communities, Strike maintains that the small schools movement is the best hope to create such schools. He shows how the core assumptions that characterize the “community paradigm” are preferable to those of standards-based reform and choice. Part I examines student disengagement as an issue largely unaddressed by current views of school reform; demonstrates that belonging is essential to authentic learning; and argues that good schools create a sense that “we are all in this together.” Good schools have a “shared educational project” and exhibit the four Cs of community: coherence, cohesion, care, and connectivity. Part II discusses the small schools movement. The author shows that small size is not sufficient to create strong communities or good schools—we cannot just downsize and hope that something good will happen. Strike looks at the educational practices and policies required to create successful small schools, and develops a view of accountability appropriate for building successful educational communities. He argues that if we expect small schools to be successful we cannot view them as simply a strategy for succeeding on standards-based reform, but rather we must see the creation of strong communities as a distinct paradigm for school reform.

Extending Educational Reform

Extending Educational Reform PDF Author: Amanda Datnow
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415240703
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Can a fundamental reform in the organisation of a school lead to school improvement? This shows how theory can be applied in practice to get around issues that are preventing change and improvement.

Educational Reform: Essays and Addresses

Educational Reform: Essays and Addresses PDF Author: Charles William Eliot
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 438

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Book Description


Schools Within Schools

Schools Within Schools PDF Author: Valerie E. Lee
Publisher: School Reform
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
How effective is whole-school high school reform, such as the Schools-Within-Schools (SWS) model? What benefits does it have for students and in which areas does it fall short? This book seeks to answer these questions through the compelling stories of five public high schools that have embraced the SWS method. In order to fully understand the effectiveness of such a system, Valerie Lee and Douglas Ready have delved into every aspect of the reform in these settings, including participants’ reactions, curriculum structures, governance and leadership, and the allocation of students to the schools. The result is a thoughtful look at the SWS model that considers the benefits and problems of implementation, along with issues of equity and access. Provides the first comprehensive, systematic report on the Schools-Within-Schools reform. Offers suggestions for how this popular high school reform can be implemented to work for all students, not just the most academically able or socially advantaged. Follows five schools for several years to determine the long-term results of the reform.

Reform Can Make a Difference

Reform Can Make a Difference PDF Author: Darlene Leiding
Publisher: R&L Education
ISBN: 1607094088
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
Public education in the United States does not fulfill either the educational needs or the social needs of children. Its deficiencies have serious negative consequences in our political system, our economy, and within our social and cultural affairs. We must seek to improve education through research, policy analysis, and the development of alternatives to existing policies and practices. Educational reform should include promoting greater parental choice in education, a competitive educational industry, and other policies that address the problems of both public and private schools. The ultimate goal is improved student achievement, especially in our nation's cities, where large numbers of students, are not reaching the levels of achievement they need in order to live successful lives as adults. This book explores some of the unique characteristics of school reform and focuses on the role of poverty in reform, including the negative effects of low-income neighborhoods on the youth who reside there, concluding that reducing poverty can lead to more positive academic behavior and success. Reform Can Make a Difference enables readers to look at different reform programs that are available for schools and determine which model, if any, will fit their needs. The book assists schools in designing their own reform model that will help address issues students and families have with public schools.

Other People's Colleges

Other People's Colleges PDF Author: Ethan W. Ris
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022682022X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
"America's constant push to make its colleges and universities more efficient and more accountable is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, in Other People's Colleges, Ethan Ris argues that the reform impulse is baked into American higher education. For well over one hundred years, elite reformers have called for sweeping changes in the sector and raised existential questions about its sustainability. Colleges and universities have responded with a combination of resistance and acquiescence. The end result is a sector that has learned to accept top-down reform as part of its existence. When that reform is beneficial (offering major rewards for minor changes), colleges and universities know how to assimilate it. When it is hostile (attacking autonomy or values), they know how to resist it. In the early twentieth century, the "academic engineers," a cadre of elite, external reformers from foundations, businesses, and government, worked to reshape and reorganize the vast base of the higher education pyramid. Their reform efforts were largely directed at the lower tiers of higher education, but their efforts fell short, despite their wealth and power, leaving a legacy of successful resistance that affects every college and university in the United States. Today, another coalition of business leaders, philanthropists, and politicians are again demanding efficiency, accountability, and utility from American higher education. But top-down design is not destiny. Today's reform agenda in higher education should not be viewed as a new existential threat. It is a longstanding fact of life to be assimilated, diverted, or subverted on an ongoing basis"--