The Truth About Our Schools

The Truth About Our Schools PDF Author: Melissa Benn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317331761
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
"A superb, crucial, blistering expose of all the myths about our education system that are all too often used to attack it. Melissa Benn again proves why she is one of country's most formidable education campaigners - and why the powerful should fear her. Owen Jones, Guardian columnist and best-selling author Never has it been more urgent to publicise the truth about what works and doesn't work in our education system. Debunking the ideology of marketisation, and exposing the half-truths that pass for objective reporting, Benn and Downs meticulously lay out the evidence: that a national system of comprehensive schools delivers the best outcomes. This hugely important book should be required reading for each new Education Secretary. Caroline Lucas, MP Opinions about comprehensive education are often made into easy-to-swallow sound-bites by media and politicians alike and whilst the benefits of a genuinely comprehensive education for all pupils are obvious, untruths have unwittingly evolved into hard facts. Based on Melissa Benn and Janet Downs’ work as part of the pioneering Local Schools Network, The Truth About Our Schools calls for us to urgently and articulately challenge unquestioned myths about state education. Benn and Downs have meticulously built an argument for its still enormously vital role, and rigorously challenge assumptions that: Comprehensive education has failed Local authorities control and hold back schools Choice, competition and markets are the route to educational success Choice will improve education in England: the free school model. Academies raise standards Teachers don’t need qualifications Private schools have the magic DNA Progressive education lowers standards Anyone who thinks that comprehensive education cannot deliver, that local authorities are the chief block to improving our school system, that competition and markets are the route to educational success and that private schools hold the magic DNA that can simply be transferred to other state schools will have their beliefs shaken by this blisteringly incisive book. .

The Truth About Our Schools

The Truth About Our Schools PDF Author: Melissa Benn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317331761
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Get Book Here

Book Description
"A superb, crucial, blistering expose of all the myths about our education system that are all too often used to attack it. Melissa Benn again proves why she is one of country's most formidable education campaigners - and why the powerful should fear her. Owen Jones, Guardian columnist and best-selling author Never has it been more urgent to publicise the truth about what works and doesn't work in our education system. Debunking the ideology of marketisation, and exposing the half-truths that pass for objective reporting, Benn and Downs meticulously lay out the evidence: that a national system of comprehensive schools delivers the best outcomes. This hugely important book should be required reading for each new Education Secretary. Caroline Lucas, MP Opinions about comprehensive education are often made into easy-to-swallow sound-bites by media and politicians alike and whilst the benefits of a genuinely comprehensive education for all pupils are obvious, untruths have unwittingly evolved into hard facts. Based on Melissa Benn and Janet Downs’ work as part of the pioneering Local Schools Network, The Truth About Our Schools calls for us to urgently and articulately challenge unquestioned myths about state education. Benn and Downs have meticulously built an argument for its still enormously vital role, and rigorously challenge assumptions that: Comprehensive education has failed Local authorities control and hold back schools Choice, competition and markets are the route to educational success Choice will improve education in England: the free school model. Academies raise standards Teachers don’t need qualifications Private schools have the magic DNA Progressive education lowers standards Anyone who thinks that comprehensive education cannot deliver, that local authorities are the chief block to improving our school system, that competition and markets are the route to educational success and that private schools hold the magic DNA that can simply be transferred to other state schools will have their beliefs shaken by this blisteringly incisive book. .

Exploring Talk in School

Exploring Talk in School PDF Author: Neil Mercer
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446242765
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Selected as an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice Magazine, January 2010 Classroom talk, by which children make sense of what their peers and teachers mean, is the most important educational tool for guiding the development of understanding and for jointly constructing knowledge. So what practical steps can teachers take to develop effective classroom interaction? Bringing together leading international researchers and drawing on the pioneering work of Douglas Barnes, this book considers ways of improving classroom talk. Chapters cover: - classroom communication and managing social relations; - talk in science classrooms; - using critical conversations in studying literature; - exploratory talk and thinking skills; - talking to learn and learning to talk in the mathematics classroom; - the ′emerging pedagogy′ of the spoken word. With an accessible blend of theory, research and practice, the book will be a valuable resource for teachers, teacher-trainers, policy makers, researchers and students.

Unconscious Bias in Schools

Unconscious Bias in Schools PDF Author: Tracey A. Benson
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1682533719
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
In Unconscious Bias in Schools, two seasoned educators describe the phenomenon of unconscious racial bias and how it negatively affects the work of educators and students in schools. “Regardless of the amount of effort, time, and resources education leaders put into improving the academic achievement of students of color,” the authors write, “if unconscious racial bias is overlooked, improvement efforts may never achieve their highest potential.” In order to address this bias, the authors argue, educators must first be aware of the racialized context in which we live. Through personal anecdotes and real-life scenarios, Unconscious Bias in Schools provides education leaders with an essential roadmap for addressing these issues directly. The authors draw on the literature on change management, leadership, critical race theory, and racial identity development, as well as the growing research on unconscious bias in a variety of fields, to provide guidance for creating the conditions necessary to do this work—awareness, trust, and a “learner’s stance.” Benson and Fiarman also outline specific steps toward normalizing conversations about race; reducing the influence of bias on decision-making; building empathic relationships; and developing a system of accountability. All too often, conversations about race become mired in questions of attitude or intention–“But I’m not a racist!” This book shows how information about unconscious bias can help shift conversations among educators to a more productive, collegial approach that has the potential to disrupt the patterns of perception that perpetuate racism and institutional injustice. Tracey A. Benson is an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Sarah E. Fiarman is the director of leadership development for EL Education, and a former public school teacher, principal, and lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Exploring Probability in School

Exploring Probability in School PDF Author: Graham A. Jones
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387245308
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
Exploring Probability in School provides a new perspective into research on the teaching and learning of probability. It creates this perspective by recognizing and analysing the special challenges faced by teachers and learners in contemporary classrooms where probability has recently become a mainstream part of the curriculum from early childhood through high school. The authors of the book discuss the nature of probability, look at the meaning of probabilistic literacy, and examine student access to powerful ideas in probability during the elementary, middle, and high school years. Moreover, they assemble and analyse research-based pedagogical knowledge for teachers that can enhance the learning of probability throughout these school years. With the book’s rich application of probability research to classroom practice, it will not only be essential reading for researchers and graduate students involved in probability education; it will also capture the interest of educational policy makers, curriculum personnel, teacher educators, and teachers.

In Search of Deeper Learning

In Search of Deeper Learning PDF Author: Jal Mehta
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674988396
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 465

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Book Description
"The best book on high school dynamics I have ever read."--Jay Mathews, Washington Post An award-winning professor and an accomplished educator take us beyond the hype of reform and inside some of America's most innovative classrooms to show what is working--and what isn't--in our schools. What would it take to transform industrial-era schools into modern organizations capable of supporting deep learning for all? Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine's quest to answer this question took them inside some of America's most innovative schools and classrooms--places where educators are rethinking both what and how students should learn. The story they tell is alternately discouraging and hopeful. Drawing on hundreds of hours of observations and interviews at thirty different schools, Mehta and Fine reveal that deeper learning is more often the exception than the rule. And yet they find pockets of powerful learning at almost every school, often in electives and extracurriculars as well as in a few mold-breaking academic courses. These spaces achieve depth, the authors argue, because they emphasize purpose and choice, cultivate community, and draw on powerful traditions of apprenticeship. These outliers suggest that it is difficult but possible for schools and classrooms to achieve the integrations that support deep learning: rigor with joy, precision with play, mastery with identity and creativity. This boldly humanistic book offers a rich account of what education can be. The first panoramic study of American public high schools since the 1980s, In Search of Deeper Learning lays out a new vision for American education--one that will set the agenda for schools of the future.

Waiting for a Miracle

Waiting for a Miracle PDF Author: James P. Comer
Publisher: Plume Books
ISBN: 9780452276468
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
It is the thesis of this provocative book that the deteriorating state of America's public school system is actually a reflection of the problems in our culture and society. In "Waiting For A Miracle," James P. Comer M.D., Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University Child Study Center and the author of Maggie's American Dream, and co-author of Raising Black Children, outlines the cause of these afflictions and presents an inspiring paradigm for a new way of thinking and acting with regard to children and family.At the root of the problem, he states, is a social failure to make a commitment to families, and to community and child development.Using many examples from his personal experience of growing up poor, and from more than thirty years of community involvement, Comer argues that schools can be the most important instrument of change in a society. He spells out how private, public and non-profit sectors can collaborate to enable children, families, and communities to survive and thrive.

Timeless Learning

Timeless Learning PDF Author: Ira Socol
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119461693
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Reinvent public schools with proven, innovative practices Our homes, communities, and the world itself need the natural assets our children bring with them as learners, and which they often lose over time on the assembly line that pervades most of the public education system today. We see no actions as more important in school than developing, supporting, and reinforcing children's sense of agency, the value of their voices, and their potential to influence their own communities. In Timeless Learning, an award-winning team of leaders, Chief Technology Officer Ira Socol, Superintendent Pam Moran, and Lab Schools Principal Chad Ratliff demonstrate how you can implement innovative practices that have shown remarkable success. The authors use progressive design principles to inform pathways to disrupt traditions of education today and show you how to make innovations real that will have a timeless and meaningful impact on students, keeping alive the natural curiosity and passion for learning with which children enter school. Discover the power of project-based and student-designed learning Find out what “maker learning” entails Launch connected and interactive digital learning Benefit from the authors’ “opening up learning” space and time Using examples from their own successful district as well as others around the country, the authors create a deep map of the processes necessary to move from schools in which content-driven, adult-determined teaching has been the traditional norm to new learning spaces and communities in which context-driven, child-determined learning is the progressive norm.

The Leader in Me

The Leader in Me PDF Author: Stephen R. Covey
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 147110446X
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Children in today's world are inundated with information about who to be, what to do and how to live. But what if there was a way to teach children how to manage priorities, focus on goals and be a positive influence on the world around them? The Leader in Meis that programme. It's based on a hugely successful initiative carried out at the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina. To hear the parents of A. B Combs talk about the school is to be amazed. In 1999, the school debuted a programme that taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleto a pilot group of students. The parents reported an incredible change in their children, who blossomed under the programme. By the end of the following year the average end-of-grade scores had leapt from 84 to 94. This book will launch the message onto a much larger platform. Stephen R. Covey takes the 7 Habits, that have already changed the lives of millions of people, and shows how children can use them as they develop. Those habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw -- are critical skills to learn at a young age and bring incredible results, proving that it's never too early to teach someone how to live well.

Back to School

Back to School PDF Author: Michael Anthony Rose
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1595587861
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
"Shines a light on institutions that are teaching students, young and old, how to rebuild our economy and put America back to work" (President Bill Clinton). It's a statistic that's sure to surprise: Close to forty-five percent of postsecondary students in the United States today did not enroll in college directly out of high school, and many attend only part-time. Following a tradition of self-improvement as old as the Republic, the "nontraditional" college student is becoming the norm. Back to School is the first book to look at the schools that serve a growing population of "second-chancers," exploring what higher education--in the fullest sense of the term--can offer our rapidly changing society and why it is so critical to support the institutions that make it possible for millions of Americans to better their lot in life. In the anecdotal style of his bestselling Possible Lives, Mike Rose crafts rich and moving vignettes of people in tough circumstances who find their way, who get a second . . . or third . . . or even fourth chance, and who, in a surprising number of cases, reinvent themselves as educated, engaged citizens. Rose reminds us that our nation's economic and civic future rests heavily on the health of the institutions that serve millions of everyday people--not simply the top twenty universities listed in U.S. News and World Report--and paints a vivid picture of the community colleges and adult education programs that give so many a shot at reaching their aspirations. "Thoughtful and surprising." --The Washington Post "Inspiring stories of older Americans attending secondary schools." --Kirkus Reviews

Exploring Education

Exploring Education PDF Author: Alan R. Sadovnik
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131540852X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 878

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Book Description
This much-anticipated fifth edition of Exploring Education offers an alternative to traditional foundations texts by combining a point-of-view analysis with primary source readings. Pre- and in-service teachers will find a solid introduction to the foundations disciplines -- history, philosophy, politics, and sociology of education -- and their application to educational issues, including school organization and teaching, curriculum and pedagogic practices, education and inequality, and school reform and improvement. This edition features substantive updates, including additions to the discussion of neo-liberal educational policy, recent debates about teacher diversity, updated data and research, and new selections of historical and contemporary readings. At a time when foundations of education are marginalized in many teacher education programs and teacher education reform pushes scripted approaches to curriculum and instruction, Exploring Education helps teachers to think critically about the "what" and "why" behind the most pressing issues in contemporary education.