Foundations of Education
Explore the historical, social, and philosophical underpinnings of education.
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Foundations of Modern School Practices: A Sourcebook Educational Wisdom
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This is a book is of educational ideas, commentaries, and observations from the past. The passages recorded here come from educational writings that were produced between 1880 and 1935a time period that began with spirited calls for school reform and ended with a new and different concept of what it meant to be educated. It was this new concept of education that laid the foundation for the modern American school system.
Handbook of Research in the Social Foundations of Education
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Parts one and two of this volume present the theoretical lenses used to study the social contexts of education. These include long-established foundations disciplines such as sociology of education and philosophy of education as well as newer theoretical perspectives such as critical race theory, feminist educational theory, and cultural studies in education. Parts three, four, and five demonstrate how these theoretical lenses are used to examine such phenomena as globalization, media, popular culture, technology, youth culture, and schooling. This groundbreaking volume helps readers understand the history, evolution, and significance of this wide-ranging, often misunderstood, and increasingly important field of study. This book is appropriate as a reference volume not only for scholars in the social foundations of education but also for scholars interested in the cultural contexts of teaching and learning (formal and informal). It is also appropriate as a textbook for graduate-level courses in Social Foundations of Education, School and Society, Educational Policy Studies, Cultural Studies in Education, and Curriculum and Instruction.
Foundations of Education: A Christian Vision
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Ideas about education have consequences. This book, edited by Matthew Etherington, provides readers with ideas and insights drawn from fifteen international scholars in Christian thought within the fields of philosophy, theology, and education. Each author responds to the philosophical, historical, and sociological challenges that confront their particular line of educational inquiry. The authors offer a view of Christian education that promotes truth, human dignity, peace, love, diversity, and justice. The book critically analyzes public discourse on education, including the wisdom, actions, recommendations, and controversies of Christian education in the twenty-first century. This timely book will appeal to those concerned with Christian perspectives on education, Aboriginality, gender, history, evangelism, secularism, constructivism, purpose, hope, school choice, and community.
Philosophical and Sociological Foundations of Education
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Philosophy is to preceive the original source of certain ideas from which the practical matters of education are held to be derived by a series of logical inferences. Philosophy and education are like two faces of the same coin. Similarly, Social ideologies have their own impact on educational theories and practices. The aims and methods of education vary considerable due to varied conceptions of social organization. Education is an instrument of social control and social change. Education is a means for social transformation. Both the knowledge of philosophy and Sociology plays a vital role in the Classroom teaching ? learning process and hence giving a wide range of scope for teachers as well as students.
The Struggle for the History of Education
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The history of education is a contested field of study, and has represented a site of struggle for the past century of its development. It is highly relevant to an understanding of broader issues in history, education and society, and yet has often been regarded as being merely peripheral rather than central to them. Over the years the history of education has passed through a number of approaches, more recently engaging with a different areas such as curriculum, teaching and gender, although often losing sight of a common cause. In this book McCulloch contextualizes the struggle for educational history, explaining and making suggestions for the future on a number of topics, including: finding a set of common causes for the field as a whole engaging more effectively with social sciences and humanities while maintaining historical integrity forming a rationale of missions and goals for the field defining the overall content of the subject, its priorities and agendas and reassessing the relevance of educational history to current educational and social issues. Throughout this book the origins of unresolved debates and tensions about the nature of the field of history of education are discussed and key examples are analysed to present a new view of future development. The Struggle for the History of Education demonstrates the key changes and continuities in the field and its relationship with education, history and the social sciences over the past century. It also reveals how the history of education can build on an enhanced sense of its own past, and the common and integrating mission that makes it distinctive, interesting and important for a wide range of scholars from different backgrounds.
Thinking about Schools
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"Designed specifically for students with little or no education background, Thinking About Schools is an essential collection of classic and contemporary readings that provides a complete, balanced overview of educational foundations. Anchored in classic scholarship from the 1960s to today, this book also incorporates a number of thought-provoking popular essays that will engage students and encourage critical thinking about vital issues concerning the purpose of education, curriculum content, the roles and responsibilities of students and teachers, and new directions for education in the twenty-first century. In addition to selecting each reading for its impact and accessibility, editor Eleanor Blair Hilty further promotes student comprehension by including introductions, discussion questions, guides to further reading, and related resources for each of the five parts"-- Provided by publisher.
Bad Education: Debunking Myths in Education
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Summary: "We all know that small classes are better than large classes; that children are best taught in groups according to their ability; that some schools are much better than others and that we should teach children according to their individual learning styles ... or do we? This book asks awkward questions about these and many other sacred cows of education. Each chapter tackles a persistent myth in education, confronting it with research evidence and teasing out any kernel of truth which may underlie the myth. Leading authors from the world of education each bring analysis and expertise to bear on their chosen subject, presenting their argument in an accessible manner based on sound scholarship. Some of the conclusions drawn in Bad Education are likely to be real eye-openers for many teachers and parents, who will find some of their basic assumptions about education called into question. It is also essential reading for anyone involved in educational policy making or management."--Publisher's website.
Critical Curriculum Leadership
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Summary: "Although traditional curriculum and instructional leadership frameworks have dominated educational administration training for almost thirty years, it has become increasingly clear that even the most recent frameworks have failed today's leaders who struggle with the politics of curriculum decisions on a daily basis. Critical Curriculum Leadership is an examination of curriculum leadership in the wake of US testing mandates and school reforms, all of which seem to support a particular set of conservative ideologies. Drawing from the author's longitudinal ethnographic study and from existing literature and research in the field, Ylimaki explores the formation of curriculum leadership in relation to broader cultural and political shifts. She shows how traditional leadership frameworks have come up short, and makes the case for an alternative leadership theory at the intersection of educational leadership and curriculum studies. She provides analytical tools that inspire progressive education and offers critical theories, strategies, research examples, problem-posing cases, and research ideas essential for curriculum leadership in the present conservative era. Critical Curriculum Leadership will appeal to the many educational leadership scholars and practitioners who are interested in developing effective and socially just curricula in their schools and districts as well as curriculum scholars who are interested in leadership issues"--Provided by publisher.
Educational Foundations
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Why Teach? Who Are Today’s Students? What Makes a Good Teacher? Educational Foundations: An Anthology of Critical Readings, Second Edition answers these questions and more, providing an exciting alternative to other foundations textbooks. This anthology is aimed at students about to enter the teaching profession, those new to the profession, and anyone interested in carefully examining schools and schooling. In this Second Edition, editors Alan S. Canestrari and Bruce A. Marlowe add new essays by classic and contemporary policy shapers and teachers. The readings are bold and refreshing, and their authors eschew unquestioning compliance. By taking a hard look at traditional educational practice, the contributors to this anthology serve as models for the kind of reflective practitioners that its editors hope that students will become while in the field. For a complete list of contributors, please see the Table of Contents.
Education Reconfigured
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As philosophers throughout the ages have asked: What is justice? What is truth? What is art? What is law? In Education Reconfigured, the internationally acclaimed philosopher of education, Jane Roland Martin, now asks: What is education? In answer, she puts forward a unified theory that casts education in a brand new light. Martin’s "theory of education as encounter" places culture alongside the individual at the heart of the educational process, thus responding to the call John Dewey made over a century ago for an enlarged outlook on education. Look through her theory’s lens and you can see that education takes place not only in school but at home, on the street, in the mall―everywhere and all the time. Look through that lens and you can see that education does not always spell improvement; rather, it can be for the better or the worse. Indeed, you can see that education is inevitably a maker and shaper of both individuals and cultures. Above all, Martin’s new educational paradigm reveals that education is too important to be left solely to the professionals; that it is one of the great forces in human society and, as such, deserves the attention and demands the vigilance of every thoughtful person.
Foundational Issues in Christian Education
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For almost twenty years, Foundational Issues in Christian Education has been a key text for many Christian education courses. Its perceptive analysis coupled with clear writing make it a resource without peer. In the book, Christian education expert Robert Pazmiño guides readers through a comprehensive discussion of the interdisciplinary foundations of Christian education, calling all Christian educators to reevaluate the fundamentals of their discipline. "A careful exploration of foundations," writes Pazmiño, "is essential before specifying principles and guidelines for practice."This updated edition includes interaction with professional developments over the past ten years and appendixes that assess the impact of postmodernism as an educational philosophy. In addition, each chapter includes "points to ponder" for personal reflection or classroom use.
Invitation to Educational Ministry
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Because teaching is at the heart of Christian ministry, the editors of Invitation to Educational Ministry have assembled a team of seasoned experts to present a comprehensive plan of Christian education. This volume will help church staff, parachurch leaders, and small-group teachers become more effective, influential, and creative. After laying a biblical and practical foundation for Christian education, the contributors provide specific guidance on teaching a variety of individuals and groups, including children, adults, singles, seniors, and non-Christians. The final section shares valuable insights on leading small groups, teaching innovatively, and overseeing a healthy educational ministry, among other topics. Each chapter is designed to equip educators with the most relevant information, and includes many useful features.
Teaching in the Cracks
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Summary: This engaging book shows how teachers and schools are creating emergent, democratic, progressive education amidst the current context of high stakes accountability. In this follow-up to his bestseller, Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way, Schultz explores how today's rhetoric and restrictive mandates result in curriculum that fails to capture the attention of students. For meaningful learning that develops transferable skills and engages students, teachers and sometimes whole schools need to find spaces to "teach in the cracks" so that students can connect with issues relevant to their lives. Teaching in the Cracks provides both a theoretical and practical foundation for incorporating an action-focused curriculum that meets academic standards and provides students with opportunities for agency and to use their voices in their own learning. -- Provided by publisher.
American Education: A History
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"American Education: A History, 5e is a comprehensive, highly-regarded history of American education from pre-colonial times to the present. Chronologically organized, it provides an objective overview of each major period in the development of American education, setting the discussion against the broader backdrop of national and world events. The first text to explore Native American traditions (including education) prior to colonization, it also offers strong, ongoing coverage of minorities and women. New to this much-anticipated fifth edition is substantial expanded attention to the discussions of Native American education to reflect recent scholarship, the discussion of teachers and teacher leaders, and the educational developments and controversies of the 21st century. "-- Provided by publisher.
American Schools
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In American Schools, Sam Chaltain interweaves the leading ideas from the education, business, and scientific communities to outline a framework for leadership that helps educators and organizational leaders create the optimal conditions for transformational change. By pairing a rich theoretical framework with the stories of communities that have, over several years, tried to create more democratic learning communities, Chaltain does what any reader of this book will have to do - provide enough structure to empower people to do their best work, and enough freedom so that each person's inherent creativity can be unleashed.
The Democratic Dilemma of American Education
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This compelling new book asks: How can American education policy be consistent with democratic ideals? Robust democracy is the combination of participation, self-rule, equality, understanding, and inclusion, but these norms can produce contradictory policy. Local control in education policy can undermine educational equality. Participation in teachers unions can improve working conditions but thwart self-rule by local taxpayers. The Democratic Dilemma of American Education draws on contemporary research in political science and education policy to offer remarkably balanced insights into these challenging issues. Expertly navigating through local, state, and federal layers of education policy, Arnold Shober examines contemporary controversies over education governance, teachers unions and collective bargaining, school funding, school choice, academic accountability, and desegregation. Shober describes the inherent practical dilemmas of current policy and the difficulties policymakers face in overcoming them to produce lasting educational reform in a democratic, federal system of government. Timely, engaging, and accessible, this is the ideal resource for courses in public policy as well as education and politics.
Education in America
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This series provides an overview on education in America today, with a focus on the current issues, analyses, policies and programs being implemented and challenged. This volume discusses year-round schools; charter school programs authorized by the elementary and secondary education act (ESEA title v-b): a primer; career and technical education (CTE); the relationship between science and engineering education and employment in stem occupations; school enrollment in the united states; the state of preschool 2013; key findings from recent institute of education sciences studies on disadvantaged students getting less effective teaching; and addressing teacher shortages in disadvantaged schools.
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education
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The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education brings together preeminent scholars to craft a comprehensive survey and assessment of the study of religion and education in the United States. Religion has been inextricably entwined with education in the United States since the days of colonial British America. Beginning with mothers schooling their children at home from the Bible, to the first establishment of Harvard College in 1636 with the principal mission to prepare clergy, the place of religion—and more to the point, whose religion and for what purpose—has been vigorously contested for nearly 400 years. This handbook aims to examine the current state of religion and American education from homeschooling to private religious schools to public schools to religious institutions and on through the range of public and private higher education. The book is organized into five sections: Frameworks; Lifespan Faith Development; Faith-Based K-12 education; Religion and Public Schools; and Religion and Higher Education. Within these sections forty leading scholars in the field of religion and education review these topics in thirty chapters. The contributors offer an in-depth synthesis of major issues within the field, while contributing to lively debates about the links between landmark research contributions and contemporary research agendas. Designed for an interdisciplinary audience, the Oxford handbook serves as a legacy project for leading scholars who are critically shaping the future direction of the field of religion and American education
The Politics of American Education
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Turning his distinctive analytical lens to the politics of American education, Joel Spring looks at contemporary educational policy issues from theoretical, practical, and historical perspectives. This comprehensive overview documents and explains who influences educational policy and how, bringing to life the realities of schooling in the 21st century and revealing the ongoing ideological struggles at play. Coverage includes the influence of global organizations on American school policies and the impact of emerging open source and other forms of electronic textbooks. Thought-provoking, lucid, original in its conceptual framework and rich with engaging examples from the real world, this text is timely and useful for understanding the big picture and the micro-level intricacies of the multiple forces at work in controlling U.S. public schools. It is the text of choice for any course that covers or addresses the politics of American education. Companion Website: The interactive Companion Website accompanying this text includes relevant data, public domain documents, YouTube links, and links to websites representing political organizations and interest groups involved in education.
The Allure of Order
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Summary: "Ted Kennedy and George W. Bush agreed on little, but united behind the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Passed in late 2001, it was hailed as a dramatic new departure in school reform. It would make the states set high standards, measure student progress, and hold failing schools accountable. A decade later, NCLB has been repudiated on both sides of the aisle. According to Jal Mehta, we should have seen it coming. Far from new, it was the same approach to school reform that Americans have tried before. In The Allure of Order, Mehta recounts a century of attempts at revitalizing public education, and puts forward a truly new agenda to reach this elusive goal. Not once, not twice, but three separate times-in the Progressive Era, the 1960s and '70s, and NCLB-reformers have hit upon the same idea for remaking schools. Over and over again, outsiders have been fascinated by the promise of scientific management and have attempted to apply principles of rational administration from above. Each of these movements started with high hopes and ambitious promises, but each gradually discovered that schooling is not easy to "order" from afar: policymakers are too far from schools to know what they need; teachers are resistant to top-down mandates; and the practice of good teaching is too complex for simple external standardization. The larger problem, Mehta argues, is that reformers have it backwards: they are trying to do on the back-end, through external accountability, what they should have done on the front-end: build a strong, skilled and expert profession. Our current pattern is to draw less than our most talented people into teaching, equip them with little relevant knowledge, train them minimally, put them in a weak welfare state, and then hold them accountable when they predictably do not achieve what we seek. What we want, Mehta argues, is the opposite approach which characterizes top-performing educational nations: attract strong candidates into teaching, develop relevant and usable knowledge, train teachers extensively in that knowledge, and support these efforts through a strong welfare state. The Allure of Order boldly challenges conventional wisdom with a sweeping, empirically rich account of the last century of education reform, and offers a new path forward for the century to come"-- Provided by publisher. Summary: "In The Allure of Order, Jal Mehta recounts a century of attempts at revitalizing public education, and puts forward a truly new agenda to reach this elusive goal. Not once, not twice, but three separate times-in the Progressive Era, the 1960s and '70s, and NCLB-reformers have hit upon the same idea for remaking schools. Over and over again, outsiders have been fascinated by the promise of scientific management and have attempted to apply principles of rational administration from above. Each of these movements started with high hopes and ambitious promises, but each gradually discovered that schooling is not easy to "order" from afar: policymakers are too far from schools to know what they need; teachers are resistant to top-down mandates; and the practice of good teaching is too complex for simple external standardization. The larger problem is that reformers have it backwards: they are trying to do on the back-end, through external accountability, what they should have done on the front-end: build a strong, skilled and expert profession. Our current pattern is to draw less than our most talented people into teaching, equip them with little relevant knowledge, train them minimally, put them in a weak welfare state, and then hold them accountable when they predictably do not achieve what we seek. What we want, Mehta argues, is the opposite approach which characterizes top-performing educational nations: attract strong candidates into teaching, develop relevant and usable knowledge, train teachers extensively in that knowledge, and support these efforts through a strong welfare state. This book boldly challenges conventional wisdom with a sweeping, empirically rich account of the last century of education reform, and offers a new path forward for the century to come"-- Provided by publisher.
Bringing Montessori to America
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Summary: "Bringing Montessori to America traces in engrossing detail one of the most fascinating partnerships in the history of American education--the collaboration between Maria Montessori and S. S. McClure, from their first meeting in 1910 until their final acrimonious dispute in 1915. Born on the Adriatic, Montessori first entered the world stage in 1906 as the innovator of a revolutionary teaching method that creates an environment where children learn at their own pace and initiate skills like reading and writing in a spontaneous way. As her school in Rome swiftly attracted attention, curiosity, and followers, Montessori recruited disciples whom she immersed in a rigorous and detailed teacher-training regimen of her own creation. McClure was an Irish-born media baron of America's Progressive Era, best known as the founder and publisher of McClure's Magazine. Against the backdrop of Theodore Roosevelt's Bull Moose insurgency, the brilliant and mercurial McClure used his flagship publication as a vehicle to advance Progressive Party causes. Together, McClure and Montessori undertook a five-year alliance to introduce Montessori's innovative teaching style in the United States. Gerald and Patricia Gutek trace the dramatic arc of the partnership between the Italian teacher and American publisher united by a vision of educational change in the United States. After her triumphal lecture tour in 1913, Montessori, secure in her trust of her American partner, gave McClure her power of attorney and returned to Italy. The surge in popularity of Montessori education in America, however, deeply concerned Montessori, who had heretofore exerted total control over her method, apparatus, schools, and teacher training. The American entrepreneurial spirit, along with a desire to disseminate the Montessori Method quickly, led to major conflicts between the Italian educator and American businesspeople, particularly McClure. Feeling betrayed, Montessori ended her relationship with her erstwhile collaborator. Gutek and Gutek describe the fascinating story of this first wave of Montessori education in the United States, which did not sustain itself during Montessori's lifetime. It would not be until the 1950s that Montessori education was revived with the successful establishment of Montessori academies throughout the United States." -- Publisher's description.
Building the Federal Schoolhouse
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Summary: "Over the past 50 years, the federal government's efforts to reform American public education have transformed U.S. schools from locally-run enterprises to complex systems in which federal, state and local actors jointly construct the educational environment of U.S. children. Through struggles over school integration, the growth of special education, the teaching of English learners and the rise of accountability politics, the federal role in U.S. education has meant a profound reconstruction of local expectations, roles and political alignments. Seeking to construct the federal schoolhouse - an educational system in which there are common national expectations and practices - has meant the creation of new modes of education within local institutions. The creation of this "education state" has also meant that federal educational initiatives have collided with - or reinforced - local political regimes in cities and suburbs alike. To the extent that "all politics is local," the federal role in public schools has changed both the conduct and the norms of local educational politics. Building the Federal Schoolhouse examines how increasing federal authority over public education in the U.S. changes the practices of 'operational localism' in education and how local regime commitments implement, thwart, or even block federal policy initiatives. The book examines these issues through an in-depth, fifty year examination of federal educational policies at work within one community, Alexandria, Virginia. The home of T.C. Williams High School, memorialized in the Hollywood movie Remember the Titans, Alexandria has been transformed within two generations from a Jim Crow school system to a new immigrant gateway school district with over 20 percent of its students English learners. Along the way, the school system has struggled to provide quality education for special needs students, sought to overcome the legacies of tracking and segregated learning and simultaneously retain upper-middle class students in this wealthy suburb of Washington, DC. Most recently, it has grappled with state and federally imposed accountability measures that seek to boost educational outcomes. All of these policy initiatives have contended with the existing political regime within Alexandria, at times forcing the local regime to a breaking point, and at times bolstering its reconstruction. At the same time, the local expectations and governing realities of administrators, parents, politicians and voters alike have sharply constrained federal initiatives, limiting their scope when in conflict with local commitments and amplifying them when they align. Through an extensive use of local archives, contemporary accounts, school data and interviews, Reed not only paints an intimate portrait of the conflicts that the creation of the federal schoolhouse has wrought in Alexandria, but also documents the successes of the federal commitment to greater educational opportunity. In so doing, he highlights the complexity of the American education state and the centrality of local regimes and local historical context to federal efforts to reform education"-- Provided by publisher. Summary: "Creating a truly national school system has, over the past fifty years, reconfigured local expectations and practices in American public education. Through a 50-year examination of Alexandria, Virginia, this book reveals how the 'education state' is nonetheless shaped by the commitments of local political regimes and their leaders and constituents"-- Provided by publisher.
The Democratic Dilemma of American Education
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This compelling new book asks: How can American education policy be consistent with democratic ideals? Robust democracy is the combination of participation, self-rule, equality, understanding, and inclusion, but these norms can produce contradictory policy. Local control in education policy can undermine educational equality. Participation in teachers unions can improve working conditions but thwart self-rule by local taxpayers. The Democratic Dilemma of American Education draws on contemporary research in political science and education policy to offer remarkably balanced insights into these challenging issues. Expertly navigating through local, state, and federal layers of education policy, Arnold Shober examines contemporary controversies over education governance, teachers unions and collective bargaining, school funding, school choice, academic accountability, and desegregation. Shober describes the inherent practical dilemmas of current policy and the difficulties policymakers face in overcoming them to produce lasting educational reform in a democratic, federal system of government. Timely, engaging, and accessible, this is the ideal resource for courses in public policy as well as education and politics.
The Enigmatic Academy
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Summary: "The Enigmatic Academy is a provocative look at the purpose and practice of education in America. Authors Christian Churchill and Gerald Levy use three case studies - a liberal arts college, a boarding school, and a Job Corps centre - to illustrate how class, bureaucratic, and secular-religious dimensions of education prepare youth for participation in American foreign and domestic policy at all levels. The authors describe how schools contribute to the formation of a bureaucratic character; how middle and upper class students are trained for leadership positions in corporations, government, and the military; and how the education of lower class students often serves more powerful classes and institutions. Exploring how youth and their educators encounter the complexities of ideology and bureaucracy in school, The Enigmatic Academy deepens our understanding of the flawed redemptive relationship between education and society in the United States. Paradoxically, these three studied schools all prepare students to participate in a society whose values they oppose"-- Provided by publisher.
The Great American Education-Industrial Complex
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The Great American Education-Industrial Complex examines the structure and nature of national networks and enterprises that seek to influence public education policy in accord with their own goals and objectives. In the past twenty years, significant changes have taken place in the way various interest groups seek to influence policies and practices in public education in the United States. No longer left to the experience and knowledge of educators, American education has become as much the domain of private organizations, corporate entities, and political agents who see it as a market for their ideas, technologies, and ultimately profits. Piccciano and Spring posit that educational technology is the vehicle whereby these separate movements, organizations, and individuals have become integrated in a powerful common entity, and detail how the educational-industrial complex has grown and strengthened its position of influence. This timely, carefully documented, well argued book brings together Picciano’s perspective and expertise in the field of technology and policy issues and Spring’s in the history and politics of education in a unique critical analysis of the education-industrial complex and its implications for the future.
Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice
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Summary: "Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice takes as its starting point a strikingly blunt question: "With so many major structural changes in U.S. public schools over the past century, why have classroom practices been largely stable, with a modest blending of new and old teaching practices, leaving contemporary classroom lessons familiar to earlier generations of school-goers?" It is a question that ought to be of paramount interest to all who are interested in school reform in the United States. It is also a question that comes naturally to Larry Cuban, whose much-admired books have focused on various aspects of school reform--their promises, wrong turns, partial successes, and troubling failures. In this book, he returns to this territory, but trains his focus on the still baffling fact that policy reforms--no matter how ambitious or determined--have generally had little effect on classroom conduct and practice." -- Publisher's website.
Reinventing America's Schools
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Summary: In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the city got an unexpected opportunity to recreate their school system from scratch. The state's Recovery School District (RSD), created to turn around failing schools, gradually transformed all of its New Orleans schools into charter schools, and the results are shaking the very foundations of American education. Test scores, school performance scores, graduation and dropout rates, ACT scores, college-going rates, and independent studies all tell the same story: the city's RSD schools have tripled their effectiveness in eight years. Now other cities are following suit, with state governments reinventing failing schools in Newark, Camden, Memphis, Denver, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Oakland. David Osborne uses stories from cities like New Orleans and lays out the history and possible future of public education. Ultimately, he uses his research to argue that in today's world, we should treat every public school like a charter school and grant them autonomy, accountability, diversity of school designs, and parental choice.
Restoring Opportunity
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Summary: "In this landmark volume, Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane lay out a meticulously researched case showing how--in a time of spiraling inequality--strategically targeted interventions and supports can help schools significantly improve the life chances of low-income children. The authors offer a brilliant synthesis of recent research on inequality and its effects on families, children, and schools. They describe the interplay of social and economic factors that has made it increasingly hard for schools to counteract the effects of inequality and that has created a widening wedge between low- and high-income students. Restoring Opportunity provides detailed portraits of proven initiatives that are transforming the lives of low-income children from prekindergarten through high school. All of these programs are research-tested and have demonstrated sustained effectiveness over time and at significant scale. Together, they offer a powerful vision of what good instruction in effective schools can look like. The authors conclude by outlining the elements of a new agenda for education reform." -- Publisher's description.
The Shifting Landscape of the American School District
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Summary: The Shifting Landscape of the American School District offers a new perspective on the American school district. The educational system of the United States has long been characterized by its tradition of local control, and the district has symbolized community involvement in education. Scholars have written insightful studies on individual city systems and school districts, but rarely has the district--as an organizational form itself--been the subject of scrutiny, and Americans have continued to take the district for granted as the primary unit of local schooling. In recent years reformers have also built many of their innovations upon the belief that it is the traditional, bureaucratic, hierarchical district that requires overhaul. The Shifting Landscape of the American School District seeks to challenge that perception. The editors argue that the pervasive view of district history--the notion that the school district is a holdover from the progressive reform movements of the early twentieth century--has shrouded a fascinating story of the ways in which districts have evolved, innovated, and reacted in response to state and federal mandates, national reform movements, demographic shifts, desegregation, structural/organizational changes, and a shifting political climate. The chapters in this volume offer compelling evidence of the many ways that districts have expanded, contracted, integrated, consolidated, reorganized, and been torn apart over the past century. By covering a wide range of time periods, the authors are able to draw fascinating parallels between the past and present--back cover.
The Teacher Wars
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Summary: A history of 175 years of teaching in America demonstrates that teachers have always borne the brunt of shifting, often impossible expectations. In other nations, public schools are one thread in a quilt that includes free universal childcare, health care, and job training. Here, schools are the whole cloth. Today we look around the world at countries like Finland and South Korea, whose students consistently outscore Americans on standardized tests, and wonder what we are doing wrong. Dana Goldstein first asks the often-forgotten question: "How did we get here?" She argues that we must take the historical perspective, understanding the political and cultural baggage that is tied to teaching, if we have any hope of positive change. In her lively, character-driven history of public teaching, Goldstein guides us through American education's many passages, including the feminization of teaching in the 1800s and the fateful growth of unions, and shows that the battles fought over nearly two centuries echo the very dilemmas we cope with today. Goldstein shows that recent innovations like Teach For America, merit pay and teacher evaluation via student testing are actually as old as public schools themselves. Goldstein argues that long-festering ambivalence about teachers -- are they civil servants or academic professionals? -- and unrealistic expectations that the schools alone should compensate for poverty's ills have driven the most ambitious people from becoming teachers and sticking with it. In America's past, and in local innovations that promote the professionalization of the teaching corps, Goldstein finds answers to an age-old problem.
The Best Teacher in You: How to Accelerate Learning and Change Lives
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"What turns ordinary teachers into highly effective teachers? How are great teachers able to ignite the love of learning among their students, accelerate that learning, and change students' lives? What does teaching look like at its very best? This book provides the best researched and most revealing answers to these questions"-- Provided by publisher.
The Nurturing Teacher: Managing the Stress of Caring
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The Nurturing Teacher tackles the concerns of stressed teachers. Whether from nurturance suffering (stress related to caring for students) or from the piles of paperwork yet to be tackled, this text helps the reader sort through the causes of stress, the emotional, physical and social reactions to stress and how one can begin to plan a stress management plan. The book includes a historical overview of feminist education, the perception of caring teachers in the media and a look at emotional labor and the impact on the teacher.
The Practically Perfect Teacher
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Teachers have the most important job in the world because they are creating the future. They need to be passionate about their subject and their pupils, expert facilitators, amazing role models, the very best learners in the class and massively resilient to survive and thrive in the 21st century educational minefield. Jackie Beere presents a pragmatic, practical guide to help you grow and flourish so that you can become the outstanding teacher that makes the difference between success and failure for our future generation. Expectations are high, time is short ... prepare to be challenged and supported to be the best you can be
The Skillful Teacher: On Technique, Trust, and Responsiveness in the Classroom
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"Energize your classrooms with these key techniques for college teachingStudents say the best teachers get them excited about learning, stretch their thinking, and keep them actively involved in class. But with increasingly diverse classrooms and constantly changing technology, each semester throws up new challenges for engaging students.Discover how to keep your teaching, and your students, energized with The Skillful Teacher, a practical guide to effective techniques, approaches, and methods for today's college classrooms. Providing insights, reflections, and advice from his four decades of college teaching, Stephen Brookfield now adapts his successful methods to teaching online, working with diverse student populations, and making classrooms truly inclusive. As well as being completely revised, updated, and rewritten, this edition adds six brand new chapters on: Teaching critical thinking Using play and creativity in the classroom Teaching in teams Helping students take responsibility for learning Teaching about racism Exercising teacher power responsibly Readers will delve into what learning feels like from a student's perspective, as well as absorb the wisdom of veteran college faculty with whom the author has worked. Themes from the bestselling previous editions remain, but are revisited and expanded with the perspective of an additional decade in the classroom. This authoritative guide is now even more comprehensive to better serve teachers looking to improve. Whether you are new to the classroom or are looking to rise to new challenges, The Skillful Teacher will provide answers, expand your repertoire of techniques, and invigorate your teaching and your classrooms"-- Provided by publisher.
Teacher: Mastering the Art and Craft of Teaching
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Most teacher manuals talk about what teachers need to do. That's useful enough, especially for new teachers. But no list, however long, can anticipate every circumstance, and in teaching unusual circumstances are an integral part of everyday life. But how do experienced teachers know what to do? Successful teachers develop a Teaching Character; they've worked on the qualities and personality traits that they need in order to cope successfully with the full spectrum of situations that being a teacher can involve. Veterans don't ask themselves, 'What does the teaching guide book tell me?' when confronted with difficult situations - they react instinctively, based on the character skills they've developed over time. Unfortunately, for most people this process of learning is unguided, and unconscious. It's time for a self-help manual that actually helps. This book includes case studies and anecdotes, chapter summaries and humorous illustrations to help teachers reflect on what it means to be a teacher, and why it is the most rewarding profession there is.
Teachers As Mentors: Models for Promoting Achievement with Disadvantaged and Underrepresented Students by Creating Community
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The book describes two similar and successful models of youth mentoring used by two acclaimed urban high schools that have consistently achieved exceptional graduation rates. Providing a detailed description of their methods - based upon extensive observation, and interviews with teachers, students, administrators, and parents - this book makes a major contribution to the debate on how to reduce the achievement gap. Using similar teacher-as-youth mentor and youth advising models, these two inner city schools - Fenway High School in Boston, Massachusetts; and the Kedma School in Jerusalem - have broken the cycle of failure for the student populations they serve--children from underrepresented groups living in poverty in troubled neighborhoods with few resources. Students in both schools have excelled academically, rarely dropout, and progress to college in significant numbers (Fenway has 90% graduation rate, with 95% of graduates going on to college. Kedma outperforms comparable urban schools by a factor of four). Both schools have won numerous awards, with Fenway High School gaining Pilot School status in Massachusetts, a recognition the state only awards to a few exemplary schools; and Kedma School being declared one of the 50 most influential educational endeavors in Israel. The success of both schools is directly attributable to their highly developed teacher-as-a-youth mentor programs that embody an ideology and mission that put students at the center of their programs and structures. The models are closely integrated with the curriculum, and support the social, emotional, cultural, and academic needs of students, as well as develop close mentor-student-parent relationships. The model furthermore includes extensive support for the mentors themselves. Apart from the potential of these models to narrow the achievement gap, these two schools have a record of creating a school climate that promotes safety, and reduces the incidence of bullying and violence. At the heart of both programs is creating community--between departments and functions in the school; and between teachers, staff, students, and parents. Everyone in the school system should read this book. Research suggests that caring relationships between students and teachers significantly enhance Social Emotional Learning (SEL) -- defined as the process through which children develop their ability to integrate thinking, feeling, and behaving to achieve important life tasks -- which is recognized as an important factor in children's success in school. However, caring schools are usually the exception, especially at the secondary level where relationships between students and teachers seem to deteriorate significantly. This book provides a schoolwide model for establishing caring secondary schools and enhancing SEL using a teacher-as-a youth mentor model.
Teachers as Servant Leaders
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In today's political environment with the emphasis on testing, standards, and accountability, teachers can easily feel frustrated by the amount of time and resources left over for teaching_for guiding students not only in academics but also in character education. Educators can find themselves losing focus of what initially inspired them to teach. Teachers as Servant Leaders provides pre-service teachers and those currently in the profession with a renewed perspective of not just being a content expert or classroom/behavioral manager, but leaders within their own classrooms, school buildings, and local communities. Building on Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness by Robert Greenleaf, this book applies the concept of servant leadership to the classroom teacher where the focus is on service to students, parents, colleagues, the school and community.
The Together Teacher: Plan Ahead, Get Organized, and Save Time
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"An essential guide for over-scheduled teachers. Maia Heyck-Merlin helps teachers build the habits, customize the tools, and create space to become a Together Teacher. This practical resource shows teachers how to be effective and have a life! Author and educator Maia Heyck-Merlin explores the key habits of Together Teachers--how they plan ahead, organize work and their classrooms, and how they spend their limited free time. The end goal is always strong outcomes for their students. So what does Together, or Together Enough, look like? To some teachers it might mean neat filing systems. To others it might mean using time efficiently to get more done in fewer minutes. Regardless, Together Teachers all rely on the same skills. In six parts, the book clearly lays out these essential skills. Heyck-Merlin walks the reader through how to establish simple yet successful organizational systems. There are concrete steps that every teacher can implement to achieve greater stability and success in their classrooms and in their lives. Contains templates and tutorials to create and customize a personal organizational system and includes a companion website: www.thetogetherteacher.com. Recommends various electronic or online tools to make a teacher's school day (and life!) more efficient and productive. Includes a Reader's Guide, a great professional development resource; teachers will answer reflection questions, make notes about habits, and select tools that best match individual needs and preferences"-- Provided by publisher.
Becoming the Teacher You Wish You'd Had
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What makes a good teacher? For all the effort that has gone into analyzing and breaking down its processes, teaching is not an exact science. According to Scott Holley, being a good teacher boils down to successfully translating theory into real-world situations. Becoming the Teacher You Wish You d Had, a mix of philosophy, memoir, and practical advice from Holley and other teachers with years of classroom experience, offers examples of this translation through stories of great lessons, failures to connect, and days of laughter. Holley addresses the issue of what it means to be an ideal teacher one who has the flexibility and insight to reach each student and to inspire them to want to learn while ensuring that becoming the teacher you wish you'd had only takes a mind open to the possibilities.
Building a Better Teacher
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Summary: "We've all had great teachers who opened new worlds, maybe even changed our lives. What made them so great? Everyone agrees that a great teacher can have an enormous impact. Yet we still don't know what, precisely, makes a teacher great. Is it a matter of natural-born charisma? Or does exceptional teaching require something more? Building a Better Teacher introduces a new generation of educators exploring the intricate science underlying their art. A former principal studies the country's star teachers and discovers a set of common techniques that help children pay attention. Two math teachers videotape a year of lessons and develop an approach that has nine-year-olds writing sophisticated mathematical proofs. A former high school teacher works with a top English instructor to pinpoint the key interactions a teacher must foster to initiate a rich classroom discussion. Through their stories, and the hilarious and heartbreaking theater that unfolds in the classroom every day, Elizabeth Green takes us on a journey into the heart of a profession that impacts every child in America. What happens in the classroom of a great teacher? Opening with a moment-by-moment portrait of an everyday math lesson--a drama of urgent decisions and artful maneuvers--Building a Better Teacher demonstrates the unexpected complexity of teaching. Green focuses on the questions that really matter: How do we prepare teachers and what should they know before they enter the classroom? How does one get young minds to reason, conjecture, prove, and understand? What are the keys to good discipline? Incorporating new research from cognitive psychologists and education specialists as well as intrepid classroom entrepreneurs, Green provides a new way for parents to judge what their children need in the classroom and considers how to scale good ideas. Ultimately, Green discovers that good teaching is a skill. A skill that can be taught" -- from publisher's web site.
Diving In: Bill Ayers and the Art of Teaching into the Contradiction
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Inspired by the life and work of Bill Ayers―particularly his advice to “teach into the contradiction”― Diving In reflects the intellectual adventures that Ayers has always encouraged those around him to undertake. Written by leading educators and activists, the collected chapters within this book are as diverse as the myriad contradictions that teachers encounter in their day-to-day practice and their out-of-class musings. The contributors use themes suggested by Ayers’s work to open up new perspectives and discourses on key issues in education, such as participatory democracy, social justice, liberation, and education as a human right. Diving In offers much-needed hope at a time when teachers need it the most.
Essential Knowledge for Teachers
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Essential Knowledge for Teachers keeps teachers focused and relevant in today's changing educational landscape. Short entries present one piece of wisdom, its benefits, and an example of the wisdom in action based on studies, real-world anecdotes, and Dr. Culp's opinions. Recommendations can be implemented in easy and inexpensive ways. Become a guide, mentor and role model with Essential Knowledge for Teachers.
Real Talk for Real Teachers
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Summary: In Real Talk for Real Teachers, Esquith tackles the three stages of life for the career teacher, and outlines both practical advice and inspiration for managing your classrooms, challenging your students, and keeping your own passions alive. Esquith's candor about the inevitable frustration and cynicism that strike at the heart of every teacher at some point offers both comfort and connection to those who experience doubt and struggle with difficult students, endless bureaucracy, and other standard pitfalls. Esquith's years of teaching have given him gems of wisdom about how to work smarter, not harder, and how to draw on those years of experience to flourish and continue growing. Esquith is the inner-city Los Angeles elementary school teacher featured in the award-winning documentary The Hobart Shakespeareans.
The Resilient Teacher
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As every educator knows all too well, teaching can be an incredibly challenging profession. Whether the challenges are rooted in district policies, colleagues’ actions, or student behaviors, the effect on teachers is always the same: frustrating and demoralizing. In The Resilient Teacher, Allen Mendler offers simple but effective strategies for dealing with a variety of thorny situations that most teachers will face in their careers. These strategies will help you to * Communicate tactfully but forthrightly with administrators, colleagues, and students whose actions interfere with your ability to do your job properly. * Confidently and convincingly express your thoughts and expectations to all stakeholders. * Increase your influence with coworkers, students, and parents. All teachers face roadblocks in their jobs that can keep them from doing what’s best for students. In these pages, you will find the solutions you need to resolve common problems quickly and neatly--and to bounce back stronger than ever.
Teaching Matters
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Summary: "Most of us have had at least one amazing teacher who has inspired, influenced, or encouraged us to do better, aim higher, or just be more confident. However, most of us have also had at least one teacher who has not met our expectations. In Teachers Matter, education researcher Marcus A. Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, argues that our failure to identify and reward high-quality teachers has been devastating for public school students. The question is how do we sort out the good teachers form the bad? Winters shows the shortcomings of the current system that relies on credentials and longevity and spells out a series of reforms based on results achieved in the classroom. For the first time, standardized test results offer an objective, reliable measure of student proficiency that can be tied to an individual teacher. Sure to be controversial, Winters's plan will be of interest to the education community, policy makers, and parent concerned about the future of education in America"-- Provided by publisher.
Teaching Soft Skills in a Hard World
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Summary: "This book will introduce fourteen of the most important soft skills in the field of education. It will explain how each skill is used in teaching as well as ideas for how to model and explain them in college classrooms, field experiences, and student teaching"-- Provided by publisher.
Thinking Like a Teacher
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Today’s classrooms present a variety of challenges for teachers, many of which result from unanticipated, unpredictable events, from minor to serious. This collection of teacher narratives highlights several of these challenges with subsequent reflections and commentaries that invite conversations about aspects of teaching that often remain unacknowledged in educator preparation programs but that can have deleterious effects on the implementation of the pedagogical content knowledge that is promoted in these programs. Thinking Like a Teacher: Preparing New Teachersfor Today’s Classrooms aims to address this gap in educator preparation programs through sharing and affirming teachers’ voices as sources of pedagogical knowledge. Engagement with the narratives included in this collection will help teacher candidates perceive and think about teaching in new ways as they make the transition from instructional consumers to instructional leaders while simultaneously forging a new professional identity.
What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers Across America
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Summary: Innovation expert Ted Dintersmith took a trip across America, visiting all fifty states in a single school year. He originally set out to raise awareness about the urgent need to reimagine education to prepare students for a world marked by innovation -- but America's teachers one-upped him. All across the country, he met teachers in ordinary settings doing extraordinary things, creating innovative classrooms where children learn deeply and joyously as they gain purpose, agency, essential skillsets and mindsets, and real knowledge. Together, these new ways of teaching and learning offer a vision of what school could be -- and a model for transforming schools throughout the United States. Better yet, teachers and parents don't have to wait for the revolution to come from above. They can readily implement small changes that can make a big difference. America's clock is ticking. Our archaic model of education trains our kids for a world that no longer exists, and accelerating advances in technology are eliminating millions of jobs. But the trailblazing of many American educators gives us reasons for hope. Capturing bold ideas from teachers and classrooms across America, Dintersmith provides a realistic and profoundly optimistic roadmap for creating cultures of innovation and real learning in all our schools.