School Reform from the Inside Out

School Reform from the Inside Out PDF Author: Richard F. Elmore
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This is essential reading for any school leader, education reformer, policymaker, or citizen interested in the forces that promote school change. "Giving test results to an incoherent, badly run school doesn't automatically make it a better school. The work of turning a school around entails improving the knowledge and skills of teachers-changing their knowledge of content and how to teach it-and helping them to understand where their students are in their academic development. Low-performing schools, and the people who work in them, don't know what to do. If they did, they would be doing it already." So writes Richard Elmore in "Unwarranted Intrusion," an essay critiquing the accountability mandates and high-stakes testing policies of the No Child Left Behind Act. In School Reform from the Inside Out, one of the country's leading experts on the successes and failures of American education policy tackles issues ranging from teacher development to testing to "failing" schools. As Elmore aptly notes, successful school reform begins "from the inside out" with teachers, administrators, and school staff, not with external mandates or standards.

School Reform from the Inside Out

School Reform from the Inside Out PDF Author: Richard F. Elmore
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This is essential reading for any school leader, education reformer, policymaker, or citizen interested in the forces that promote school change. "Giving test results to an incoherent, badly run school doesn't automatically make it a better school. The work of turning a school around entails improving the knowledge and skills of teachers-changing their knowledge of content and how to teach it-and helping them to understand where their students are in their academic development. Low-performing schools, and the people who work in them, don't know what to do. If they did, they would be doing it already." So writes Richard Elmore in "Unwarranted Intrusion," an essay critiquing the accountability mandates and high-stakes testing policies of the No Child Left Behind Act. In School Reform from the Inside Out, one of the country's leading experts on the successes and failures of American education policy tackles issues ranging from teacher development to testing to "failing" schools. As Elmore aptly notes, successful school reform begins "from the inside out" with teachers, administrators, and school staff, not with external mandates or standards.

Tinkering toward Utopia

Tinkering toward Utopia PDF Author: David B. TYACK
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674044525
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
For over a century, Americans have translated their cultural anxieties and hopes into dramatic demands for educational reform. Although policy talk has sounded a millennial tone, the actual reforms have been gradual and incremental. Tinkering toward Utopia documents the dynamic tension between Americans' faith in education as a panacea and the moderate pace of change in educational practices. In this book, David Tyack and Larry Cuban explore some basic questions about the nature of educational reform. Why have Americans come to believe that schooling has regressed? Have educational reforms occurred in cycles, and if so, why? Why has it been so difficult to change the basic institutional patterns of schooling? What actually happened when reformers tried to reinvent schooling? Tyack and Cuban argue that the ahistorical nature of most current reform proposals magnifies defects and understates the difficulty of changing the system. Policy talk has alternated between lamentation and overconfidence. The authors suggest that reformers today need to focus on ways to help teachers improve instruction from the inside out instead of decreeing change by remote control, and that reformers must also keep in mind the democratic purposes that guide public education.

Grading from the Inside Out

Grading from the Inside Out PDF Author: Tom Schimmer
Publisher: Solution Tree
ISBN: 9781936763856
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The time for grading reform is now. While the transition to standards-based practices may be challenging, it is essential for effective instruction and assessment. In this practical guide, the author outlines specific steps your team can take to transform grading and reporting schoolwide. Each chapter includes examples of grading dilemmas, vignettes from teachers and administrators, and ideas for bringing parents on board with change.

From the Inside-Out

From the Inside-Out PDF Author: Rich Andrusiak
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1475853785
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
If we want our students to be prepared for a life involved with artificial intelligence, global awareness, cultural understanding, racial, religious and lifestyle diversity, and changing economic and political realities, then we have to change what we are doing in our schools from pre-school to graduate school. We can no longer wait for large-scale reforms to develop, because those reforms will only occur due to some kind of tragedy. If schools are going to reform proactively, educators in each school and in each district have to lead the way.

Changing Schools from the Inside Out

Changing Schools from the Inside Out PDF Author: Robert L. Larson
Publisher: R&L Education
ISBN: 1607095297
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
At any time, public schools labor under great economic, political, and social pressures that make it difficult to create large-scale, 'whole school' change. But current top-down mandates require that schools close achievement gaps while teaching more problem solving, inquiry, and research skills_with fewer resources. Failure to meet test-based standards can produce consequences such as school closure or staff replacement. With this real-world challenge to education foremost, this book presents pertinent research and instructive case studies of two 'good' high schools. It advocates a proven strategy of small-scale, incremental change_small wins_which increases the likelihood that schools will improve despite a climate of 'do more with less.' Chapters describe the current societal context; the history of major change projects since the 1970s; the organizational and social characteristics of schools and classrooms; human factors that encourage and support improvement; the effects of technology; forces affecting teachers and principals; commonplace components of and vehicles for change; and practical 'levers and footings' for change that can have a high positive payoff.

Leading from the Inside Out

Leading from the Inside Out PDF Author: David Grubb
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317256824
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
This book proposes that the collective responsibility of teachers as classroom and school leaders working together to solve their own problems provides the fulcrum of school change. It makes the case that teachers and school leaders do not operate in a vacuum, but rather, they work within the larger context of policy and other social influences. Grubb and Tredway provide the building blocks of history, policy, and social analysis that are necessary if teachers are to be effective in the collective school a place where adults thrive as learners and are able to co-create joyful learning experiences for children and youth. By encouraging teachers to move out of the individual classroom and to think critically and institutionally about the schools they would like to work in, about their own responsibilities for creating such schools, about the range of policies from outside the school and how they can influence those policies rather than being subjected to them this book shows that a teacher s influence is not limited to the classroom and students, but can significantly shape and inform external policies and decisions."

Inside Teaching

Inside Teaching PDF Author: Mary M. Kennedy
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674039513
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Reform the schools, improve teaching: these battle cries of American education have been echoing for twenty years. So why does teaching change so little? Arguing that too many would-be reformers know nothing about the conflicting demands of teaching, Mary Kennedy takes us into the controlled commotion of the classroom, revealing how painstakingly teachers plan their lessons, and how many different ways things go awry. Teachers try simultaneously to keep track of materials, time, students, and ideas. In their effort to hold all of these things together, they can inadvertently quash students' enthusiasm and miss valuable teachable moments. Kennedy argues that pedagogical reform proposals that do not acknowledge all of the things teachers need to do are bound to fail. If reformers want students to learn, they must address all of the problems teachers face, not just those that interest them.

Bringing School Reform to Scale

Bringing School Reform to Scale PDF Author: Heather Zavadsky
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Bringing School Reform to Scale looks in detail at five school districts that have been honored in recent years by The Broad Foundation, whose annual award is granted "each year to the urban school districts that demonstrate the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among poor and minority students." Heather Zavadsky examines five Broad Prize winners--Long Beach Unified School District, Garden Grove Unified School District, Norfolk Public Schools, Boston Public Schools, and Aldine Independent School District. As she notes, "the successes highlighted in this book do not represent one-year positive performance blips in these districts, and this book does not provide a list of 'best practice' silver bullets that sound effective but cannot be applied outside a unique context. Rather, the book describes the paths these districts have taken over years of intentional, sustained, patient focus on improving teaching and learning that fully aligns instructional practices across all organizational levels of a school system--something that can be done in any district given the right knowledge and tools." Bringing School Reform to Scale is a volume in the Educational Innovations series. "This book offers an unusually detailed look inside some of our best run school districts. Heather Zavadsky offers honest assessments, highlighting not only the inspiring successes, but also the many daunting challenges that remain. Very enlightening!" -- Ronald F. Ferguson, faculty cochair and director of the Achievement Gap Initiative, Harvard University "Bringing School Reform to Scale highlights the practices in five districts that won the prestigious Broad Prize--and shows how important fundamentals of good practices (including rigorous standards, aligned curriculum, and smart investments in human capital) can lead to great schools and successful districts." -- Mark Schneider, vice president, American Institutes for Research; former commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics "The media are good at spotlighting random school successes, education reforms that subsequently seem to evaporate. Why is it so difficult to sustain and spread productive change from school system to school system? The answers to these questions are crucial, and Bringing School Reform to Scale is a powerful contribution to an accumulation of knowledge regarding these issues." -- James W. Guthrie, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, Vanderbilt University "The analysis of the five high-performing districts points to practices, beliefs, systems, and structures that have led to dramatic turnarounds. The compilation of this work provides a road map toward scalable reform." -- William R. Hite, superintendent, Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland Heather Zavadsky is director of policy and communications at the Institute for Public School Initiatives for the University of Texas system.

The Education We Need for a Future We Can′t Predict

The Education We Need for a Future We Can′t Predict PDF Author: Thomas Hatch
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1071838504
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 181

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Book Description
Improve Schools and Transform Education In order for educational systems to change, we must reevaluate deep-seated beliefs about learning, teaching, schooling, and race that perpetuate inequitable opportunities and outcomes. Hatch, Corson, and Gerth van den Berg challenge the narrative when it comes to the "grammar of schooling"--or the conventional structures, practices, and beliefs that define educational experiences for so many children—to cast a new vision of what school could be. The book addresses current systemic problems and solutions as it: Highlights global examples of successful school change Describes strategies that improve educational opportunities and performance Explores promising approaches in developing new learning opportunities Outlines conditions for supporting wide-scale educational improvement This provocative book approaches education reform by highlighting what works, while also demonstrating what can be accomplished if we redefine conventional schools. We can make the schools we have more efficient, more effective, and more equitable, all while creating powerful opportunities to support all aspects of students’ development. "You won’t find a better book on system change in education than this one. We learn why schools don’t change; how they can improve; what it takes to change a system; and, in the final analysis, the possibilities of system change. Above all, The Education We Need renders complexity into clarity as the writing is so clear and compelling. A powerful read on a topic of utmost importance." ~Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, OISE/Universtiy of Toronto "I cannot recommend this book highly enough – Tom tackles long-standing and emerging educational issues in new ways with an impressive understanding of the challenging complexities, but also feasible possibilities, for ensuring excellence and equity for all students." ~Carol Campbell, Associate Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

Inside/outside

Inside/outside PDF Author: Marilyn Cochran-Smith
Publisher: Teachers College Press
ISBN: 9780807732359
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Provides a thoughtful conceptual frame-work for reading and understanding teacher research, exploring its history, potential, and relationship to university-based research. In the second half, the voices of teacher researchers contrast, engage, and combine as contributors explore the meaning and significance of their approaches and findings. These authors enter into the "national conversation about school reform, teacher professionalism, multicultural curriculum and pedagogy, and language and literacy education."