Exam Schools

Exam Schools PDF Author: Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400844576
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
An in-depth look at academically selective public high schools in America What is the best education for exceptionally able and high-achieving youngsters? Can the United States strengthen its future intellectual leadership, economic vitality, and scientific prowess without sacrificing equal opportunity? There are no easy answers but, as Chester Finn and Jessica Hockett show, for more than 100,000 students each year, the solution is to enroll in an academically selective public high school. Exam Schools is the first-ever close-up look at this small, sometimes controversial, yet crucial segment of American public education. This groundbreaking book discusses how these schools work--and their critical role in nurturing the country's brightest students. The 165 schools identified by Finn and Hockett are located in thirty states, plus the District of Columbia. While some are world renowned, such as Boston Latin and Bronx Science, others are known only in their own communities. The authors survey the schools on issues ranging from admissions and student diversity to teacher selection. They probe sources of political support, curriculum, instructional styles, educational effectiveness, and institutional autonomy. Some of their findings are surprising: Los Angeles, for example, has no "exam schools" while New York City has dozens. Asian-American students are overrepresented—but so are African-American pupils. Culminating with in-depth profiles of eleven exam schools and thoughtful reflection on policy implications, Finn and Hockett ultimately consider whether the country would be better off with more such schools. At a time of keen attention to the faltering education system, Exam Schools sheds positive light on a group of schools that could well provide a transformative roadmap for many of America's children.

Exam Schools

Exam Schools PDF Author: Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400844576
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book Here

Book Description
An in-depth look at academically selective public high schools in America What is the best education for exceptionally able and high-achieving youngsters? Can the United States strengthen its future intellectual leadership, economic vitality, and scientific prowess without sacrificing equal opportunity? There are no easy answers but, as Chester Finn and Jessica Hockett show, for more than 100,000 students each year, the solution is to enroll in an academically selective public high school. Exam Schools is the first-ever close-up look at this small, sometimes controversial, yet crucial segment of American public education. This groundbreaking book discusses how these schools work--and their critical role in nurturing the country's brightest students. The 165 schools identified by Finn and Hockett are located in thirty states, plus the District of Columbia. While some are world renowned, such as Boston Latin and Bronx Science, others are known only in their own communities. The authors survey the schools on issues ranging from admissions and student diversity to teacher selection. They probe sources of political support, curriculum, instructional styles, educational effectiveness, and institutional autonomy. Some of their findings are surprising: Los Angeles, for example, has no "exam schools" while New York City has dozens. Asian-American students are overrepresented—but so are African-American pupils. Culminating with in-depth profiles of eleven exam schools and thoughtful reflection on policy implications, Finn and Hockett ultimately consider whether the country would be better off with more such schools. At a time of keen attention to the faltering education system, Exam Schools sheds positive light on a group of schools that could well provide a transformative roadmap for many of America's children.

The Public School Advantage

The Public School Advantage PDF Author: Christopher A. Lubienski
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022608907X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Nearly the whole of America’s partisan politics centers on a single question: Can markets solve our social problems? And for years this question has played out ferociously in the debates about how we should educate our children. From the growth of vouchers and charter schools to the implementation of No Child Left Behind, policy makers have increasingly turned to market-based models to help improve our schools, believing that private institutions—because they are competitively driven—are better than public ones. With The Public School Advantage, Christopher A. and Sarah Theule Lubienski offer powerful evidence to undercut this belief, showing that public schools in fact outperform private ones. For decades research showing that students at private schools perform better than students at public ones has been used to promote the benefits of the private sector in education, including vouchers and charter schools—but much of these data are now nearly half a century old. Drawing on two recent, large-scale, and nationally representative databases, the Lubienskis show that any benefit seen in private school performance now is more than explained by demographics. Private schools have higher scores not because they are better institutions but because their students largely come from more privileged backgrounds that offer greater educational support. After correcting for demographics, the Lubienskis go on to show that gains in student achievement at public schools are at least as great and often greater than those at private ones. Even more surprising, they show that the very mechanism that market-based reformers champion—autonomy—may be the crucial factor that prevents private schools from performing better. Alternatively, those practices that these reformers castigate, such as teacher certification and professional reforms of curriculum and instruction, turn out to have a significant effect on school improvement. Despite our politics, we all agree on the fundamental fact: education deserves our utmost care. The Public School Advantage offers exactly that. By examining schools within the diversity of populations in which they actually operate, it provides not ideologies but facts. And the facts say it clearly: education is better off when provided for the public by the public.

A More Beautiful Question

A More Beautiful Question PDF Author: Warren Berger
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620401460
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
To get the best answer-in business, in life-you have to ask the best possible question. Innovation expert Warren Berger shows that ability is both an art and a science. It may be the most underappreciated tool at our disposal, one we learn to use well in infancy-and then abandon as we grow older. Critical to learning, innovation, success, even to happiness-yet often discouraged in our schools and workplaces-it can unlock new business opportunities and reinvent industries, spark creative insights at many levels, and provide a transformative new outlook on life. It is the ability to question-and to do so deeply, imaginatively, and “beautifully.” In this fascinating exploration of the surprising power of questioning, innovation expert Warren Berger reveals that powerhouse businesses like Google, Nike, and Netflix, as well as hot Silicon Valley startups like Pandora and Airbnb, are fueled by the ability to ask fundamental, game-changing questions. But Berger also shares human stories of people using questioning to solve everyday problems-from “How can I adapt my career in a time of constant change?” to “How can I step back from the daily rush and figure out what really makes me happy?” By showing how to approach questioning with an open, curious mind and a willingness to work through a series of “Why,” “What if,” and “How” queries, Berger offers an inspiring framework of how we can all arrive at better solutions, fresh possibilities, and greater success in business and life.

The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test

The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test PDF Author: Linda F. Nathan
Publisher: Beacon Press (MA)
ISBN: 9780807032749
Category : Education, Urban
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Boston Arts Academy comprises an ethnically and socio-economically diverse student body, yet 95 percent of its graduates are accepted to college. This remarkable success rate, writes Nathan, is in large part due to asking the right questions and being open to seeking answers collaboratively with faculty, parents, and the students themselves.

81 Questions for Parents

81 Questions for Parents PDF Author: Kristen J. Amundson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 9781475859348
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
This book provides answers to parents everyday questions regarding school.

The Three Questions

The Three Questions PDF Author: graf Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Creative Company
ISBN: 9780871919625
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description
A king visits a hermit to gain answers to three important questions.

15 School Questions and Discussion

15 School Questions and Discussion PDF Author: Mark F. Goldberg
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 9780810843578
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Here's a timely, useful book that gets at some of the most pressing educational issues of our time. From school safety and testing to standards, leadership and a multitude of curriculum-related issues, Goldberg cuts through the rhetoric and jargon and provides readers clear information and practical answers and direction for each question he raises.

The School Book Question

The School Book Question PDF Author: Egerton Ryerson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description


The Gifted School

The Gifted School PDF Author: Bruce Holsinger
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525534970
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 562

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Book Description
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Wise and addictive... The Gifted School is the juiciest novel I've read in ages... a suspenseful, laugh-out-loud page-turner and an incisive inspection of privilege, race and class." –J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Friends and Strangers, in The New York Times Smart and juicy, a compulsively readable novel about a previously happy group of friends and parents that is nearly destroyed by their own competitiveness when an exclusive school for gifted children opens in the community, from the author of The Displacements This deliciously sharp novel captures the relentless ambitions and fears that animate parents and their children in modern America, exploring the conflicts between achievement and potential, talent and privilege. Set in the fictional town of Crystal, Colorado, The Gifted School is a keenly entertaining novel that observes the drama within a community of friends and parents as good intentions and high ambitions collide in a pile-up with long-held secrets and lies. Seen through the lens of four families who've been a part of one another's lives since their kids were born over a decade ago, the story reveals not only the lengths that some adults are willing to go to get ahead, but the effect on the group's children, sibling relationships, marriages, and careers, as simmering resentments come to a boil and long-buried, explosive secrets surface and detonate. It's a humorous, keenly observed, timely take on ambitious parents, willful kids, and the pursuit of prestige, no matter the cost.

Asking the Right Questions

Asking the Right Questions PDF Author: Edie L. Holcomb
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 9780761976769
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
This work provides school change leaders with tools, techniques, tips, examples, illustrations, and stories about promoting school change. Tools provided include histograms, surveys, run charts, weighted voting, force-field analysis, decision matrices, and many others. Chapter 1, "Introduction," applies a matrix for asking questions about change in four typical scenarios. Chapter 2, "Asking the Right Questions," presents critical questions regarding five stages of school improvement: preparation, focus, diagnosis, plan development, and implementation/monitoring. Chapter 3, "Answering the 'Where Are We Now?' Question," discusses ways to use data on student achievement, perceptual data, and the need to clarify roles and responsibilities. Chapter 4, "Answering the 'Where Do We Want to Go?' Question," applies the initiation, planning, and training stages of three models. Chapter 5, "Answering the 'How Will We Get There?' Question," contrasts the planning, training, and implementation stages of three relevant models. Chapter 6, "Answering the 'How Will We Know We Are (Getting) There?' Question," explores elements of assessing outcomes and reveals the importance of accurate monitoring. Chapter 7, "Answering the 'How Will We Sustain the Focus and Momentum?' Question" demonstrates the need for such critical elements as maintenance, institutionalization, and the PDCA tasks of check, act, and adjust plans. Chapter 8, "Bonus Questions" includes additional guidance for administrators on other aspects of school-improvement efforts. Chapter 9, "Using This Book," contains an index of tools and reviews scenarios and examples to further clarify the use of the tools described in earlier chapters. (Contains 21 annotated references and a 7-page index.) (TEJ)