Learning from the Federal Market?Based Reforms

Learning from the Federal Market?Based Reforms PDF Author: William J. Mathis
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1681235056
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 720

Get Book Here

Book Description
Over the past twenty years, educational policy has been characterized by top?down, market?focused policies combined with a push toward privatization and school choice. The new Every Student Succeeds Act continues along this path, though with decision?making authority now shifted toward the states. These market?based reforms have often been touted as the most promising response to the challenges of poverty and educational disenfranchisement. But has this approach been successful? Has learning improved? Have historically low?scoring schools “turned around” or have the reforms had little effect? Have these narrow conceptions of schooling harmed the civic and social purposes of education in a democracy? This book presents the evidence. Drawing on the work of the nation’s most prominent researchers, the book explores the major elements of these reforms, as well as the social, political, and educational contexts in which they take place. It examines the evidence supporting the most common school improvement strategies: school choice; reconstitutions, or massive personnel changes; and school closures. From there, it presents the research findings cutting across these strategies by addressing the evidence on test score trends, teacher evaluation, “miracle” schools, the Common Core State Standards, school choice, the newly emerging school improvement industry, and re?segregation, among others. The weight of the evidence indisputably shows little success and no promise for these reforms. Thus, the authors counsel strongly against continuing these failed policies. The book concludes with a review of more promising avenues for educational reform, including the necessity of broader societal investments for combatting poverty and adverse social conditions. While schools cannot single?handedly overcome societal inequalities, important work can take place within the public school system, with evidence?based interventions such as early childhood education, detracking, adequate funding and full?service community schools—all intended to renew our nation’s commitment to democracy and equal educational opportunity.

Learning from the Federal Market?Based Reforms

Learning from the Federal Market?Based Reforms PDF Author: William J. Mathis
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1681235056
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 720

Get Book Here

Book Description
Over the past twenty years, educational policy has been characterized by top?down, market?focused policies combined with a push toward privatization and school choice. The new Every Student Succeeds Act continues along this path, though with decision?making authority now shifted toward the states. These market?based reforms have often been touted as the most promising response to the challenges of poverty and educational disenfranchisement. But has this approach been successful? Has learning improved? Have historically low?scoring schools “turned around” or have the reforms had little effect? Have these narrow conceptions of schooling harmed the civic and social purposes of education in a democracy? This book presents the evidence. Drawing on the work of the nation’s most prominent researchers, the book explores the major elements of these reforms, as well as the social, political, and educational contexts in which they take place. It examines the evidence supporting the most common school improvement strategies: school choice; reconstitutions, or massive personnel changes; and school closures. From there, it presents the research findings cutting across these strategies by addressing the evidence on test score trends, teacher evaluation, “miracle” schools, the Common Core State Standards, school choice, the newly emerging school improvement industry, and re?segregation, among others. The weight of the evidence indisputably shows little success and no promise for these reforms. Thus, the authors counsel strongly against continuing these failed policies. The book concludes with a review of more promising avenues for educational reform, including the necessity of broader societal investments for combatting poverty and adverse social conditions. While schools cannot single?handedly overcome societal inequalities, important work can take place within the public school system, with evidence?based interventions such as early childhood education, detracking, adequate funding and full?service community schools—all intended to renew our nation’s commitment to democracy and equal educational opportunity.

Dissertation Abstracts International

Dissertation Abstracts International PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations, Academic
Languages : en
Pages : 700

Get Book Here

Book Description
Abstracts of dissertations available on microfilm or as xerographic reproductions.

The Big Lies of School Reform

The Big Lies of School Reform PDF Author: Paul C. Gorski
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134607482
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 181

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Big Lies of School Reform provides a critical interruption to the ongoing policy conversations taking place around public education in the United States today. By analyzing the discourse employed by politicians, lobbyists, think tanks, and special interest groups, the authors uncover the hidden assumptions that often underlie popular statements about school reform, and demonstrate how misinformation or half-truths have been used to reshape public education in ways that serve the interests of private enterprise. Through a thoughtful series of essays that each identify one “lie“ about popular school reform initiatives, the authors of this collection reveal the concrete impacts of these falsehoods—from directing funding to shaping curricula to defining student achievement. Luminary contributors including Deborah Meier, Jeannie Oakes, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and Jim Cummins explain how reform movements affect teachers and administrators, and how widely-accepted mistruths can hinder genuine efforts to keep public education equitable, effective, and above all, truly public. Topics covered include common core standards, tracking, alternative paths to licensure, and the disempowerment of teachers’ unions. Beyond critically examining the popular rhetoric, the contributors offer visions for improving educational access, opportunity, and outcomes for all students and educators, and for protecting public education as a common good.

High Stakes

High Stakes PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309173469
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 350

Get Book Here

Book Description
Everyone is in favor of "high education standards" and "fair testing" of student achievement, but there is little agreement as to what these terms actually mean. High Stakes looks at how testing affects critical decisions for American students. As more and more tests are introduced into the country's schools, it becomes increasingly important to know how those tests are usedâ€"and misusedâ€"in assessing children's performance and achievements. High Stakes focuses on how testing is used in schools to make decisions about tracking and placement, promotion and retention, and awarding or withholding high school diplomas. This book sorts out the controversies that emerge when a test score can open or close gates on a student's educational pathway. The expert panel: Proposes how to judge the appropriateness of a test. Explores how to make tests reliable, valid, and fair. Puts forward strategies and practices to promote proper test use. Recommends how decisionmakers in education shouldâ€"and should notâ€"use test results. The book discusses common misuses of testing, their political and social context, what happens when test issues are taken to court, special student populations, social promotion, and more. High Stakes will be of interest to anyone concerned about the long-term implications for individual students of picking up that Number 2 pencil: policymakers, education administrators, test designers, teachers, and parents.

A Nation Deceived

A Nation Deceived PDF Author: Nicholas Colangelo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book Here

Book Description


The 2004 Brown Center Report on American Education

The 2004 Brown Center Report on American Education PDF Author: Tom Loveless
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 9780815753292
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 50

Get Book Here

Book Description
This year the Brown Center analyzes individual math items from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), attempting to gauge the countrys computation skills.

Research on Schools, Neighborhoods and Communities

Research on Schools, Neighborhoods and Communities PDF Author: William F. Tate
Publisher: American Educational Research Association
ISBN: 1442204699
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 565

Get Book Here

Book Description
Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities: Toward Civic Responsibility focuses on research and theoretical developments related to the role of geography in education, human development, and health. William F. Tate IV, the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and former President of the American Educational Research Association, presents a collection of chapters from across disciplines to further understand the strengths of and problems in our communities. Today, many research literatures—e.g., health, housing, transportation, and education—focus on civic progress, yet rarely are there efforts to interrelate these literatures to better understand urgent problems and promising possibilities in education, wherein social context is central. In this volume, social context—in particular, the unequal opportunities that result from geography—is integral to the arguments, analyses, and case studies presented. Written by more than 40 educational scholars from top universities across the nation, the research presented in this volume provides historical, moral, and scientifically based arguments with the potential to inform understandings of civic problems associated with education, youth, and families, and to guide the actions of responsible citizens and institutions dedicated to advancing the public good.

Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools

Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools PDF Author: California. Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book Here

Book Description


Alternatives to Tracking and Ability Grouping

Alternatives to Tracking and Ability Grouping PDF Author: Anne Wheelock
Publisher: R&L Education
ISBN: 9780876521991
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 92

Get Book Here

Book Description
A number of respected school systems are now seeking alternatives to tracking and ability grouping, alternatives that will ensure a better education for all students whatever their abilities. This handbook introduces practitioners to educators around the United States who are developing alternatives to harmful grouping practices. After a brief review of the roots of sorting practices and their impact on teaching and learning, the book describes features of classrooms and schools that have begun to use heterogeneous groupings and other innovative strategies. These features include high expectations for all, agreed-upon outcomes, coaching to help all students, innovative learning strategies for all, structures that support inclusive learning, and counseling for all students for success. The steps that schools may take to replace traditional grouping practices include developing school-based leadership and parental support, providing professional development, and support, creating districtwide commitment, planning for change, phasing in change, and developing supporting policies. In conclusion, schools that have started the untracking process have seen student achievement and self-esteem rise. Sufficient training and resources for teachers and staff is crucial for making for process work. Contains a glossary and nine references. (LMI)

Keeping Track

Keeping Track PDF Author: Jeannie Oakes
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300174069
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book Here

Book Description
Selected by the American School Board Journal as a “Must Read” book when it was first published and named one of 60 “Books of the Century” by the University of South Carolina Museum of Education for its influence on American education, this provocative, carefully documented work shows how tracking—the system of grouping students for instruction on the basis of ability—reflects the class and racial inequalities of American society and helps to perpetuate them. For this new edition, Jeannie Oakes has added a new Preface and a new final chapter in which she discusses the “tracking wars” of the last twenty years, wars in which Keeping Track has played a central role. From reviews of the first edition:“Should be read by anyone who wishes to improve schools.”—M. Donald Thomas, American School Board Journal“[This] engaging [book] . . . has had an influence on educational thought and policy that few works of social science ever achieve.”—Tom Loveless in The Tracking Wars“Should be read by teachers, administrators, school board members, and parents.”—Georgia Lewis, Childhood Education“Valuable. . . . No one interested in the topic can afford not to attend to it.”—Kenneth A. Strike, Teachers College Record