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Author: Eric Kalenze Publisher: John Catt ISBN: 1398384054 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 311
Book Description
Early in the 2000s, a high-school principal in Minnesota, Dr. Bob Perdaems, faced a complex challenge. The demographics of his school were shifting, political tensions in the surrounding communities were rising, and, thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act's new testing and accountability requirements, his school's performance was soon to be scrutinized more intensely and more publicly than ever before. While he had several visions of how his school could continuously improve through these realities, however, he had no additional budget to bring his ideas to life.Undaunted, Dr. Bob set to creating school improvements the best way he knew how--and that, of course, he could afford: he prioritized his school's areas for growth, found teachers who would lend minds and hands, and gathered them to look at the blueprints. What the Academy Taught Us is a book about the collaborative school-improvement culture Dr. Bob created in his Minnesota high school: the principles that initiated it, the collective effort that kept it running, and the lasting effects it had on its teachers and students. The book also brilliantly explores how bottom-up approaches like Dr. Bob's fare in the current era, which seeks to transform schools through more top-down and 'disruptive' means. Ultimately, What the Academy Taught Us offers today's educators a way forward. While largely viewing the difficult work of school improvement through the prism of a single school, it presents abundant recommendations about how schools everywhere can build effective and continuous improvement from the bottom up.
Author: Eric Kalenze Publisher: John Catt ISBN: 1398384054 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 311
Book Description
Early in the 2000s, a high-school principal in Minnesota, Dr. Bob Perdaems, faced a complex challenge. The demographics of his school were shifting, political tensions in the surrounding communities were rising, and, thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act's new testing and accountability requirements, his school's performance was soon to be scrutinized more intensely and more publicly than ever before. While he had several visions of how his school could continuously improve through these realities, however, he had no additional budget to bring his ideas to life.Undaunted, Dr. Bob set to creating school improvements the best way he knew how--and that, of course, he could afford: he prioritized his school's areas for growth, found teachers who would lend minds and hands, and gathered them to look at the blueprints. What the Academy Taught Us is a book about the collaborative school-improvement culture Dr. Bob created in his Minnesota high school: the principles that initiated it, the collective effort that kept it running, and the lasting effects it had on its teachers and students. The book also brilliantly explores how bottom-up approaches like Dr. Bob's fare in the current era, which seeks to transform schools through more top-down and 'disruptive' means. Ultimately, What the Academy Taught Us offers today's educators a way forward. While largely viewing the difficult work of school improvement through the prism of a single school, it presents abundant recommendations about how schools everywhere can build effective and continuous improvement from the bottom up.
Author: Patrick M. Shields Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office ISBN: Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 216
Book Description
This document presents findings of a national study of effective schools programs and other school-based reforms conducted during school year 1991-92. The reforms were broadly defined to encompass school-site improvement efforts designed to develop schoolwide capacity for problem solving, to improve teaching, and to increase student learning. Data were obtained from a survey of a nationally representative sample of local school districts (n=1,555), surveys of administrators in all state education agencies, and intensive case studies of 5 states, 16 districts, and 32 schools. Data from the district survey show that school-based reform was relatively widespread, occurring at all school levels. The case-study data suggest that change efforts varied widely across districts and schools. The study examined the degree to which the reform effort involved meaningful collaboration among school staff, staff ownership of the change process, a focus on teaching and curriculum, building professional capacity among staff, and a focus on student outcomes and equity. The case-study data suggest that the more promising examples of school-based reform often shared a set of characteristics--a clear focus on creating more challenging learning experiences for all students, a school culture in which teachers worked collaboratively and had a voice in decision making, and opportunities for faculty development. The following recommendations are made for supporting promising reform efforts: (1) find a balance between top-down and bottom-up structures; (2) adapt leadership and vision at every level of the system; (3) build local capacity-building systems; (4) devolve some authority to school staff; and (5) clearly tie government mandates and requirements to learning goals. A total of 32 tables and 1 figure are included. Appendices contain notes on methodology and copies of the survey instruments. (LMI)
Author: Jal Mehta Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674988396 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 465
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.
Author: Eric Nadelstern Publisher: Teachers College Press ISBN: 0807771996 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 126
Book Description
In this provocative and practical book, author Eric Nadelstern provides a proven-effective blueprint for narrowing the achievement gap in our schools, especially for children of color who have been historically underserved. The author, one of the chief architects of the New York City reforms under Joel Klein, discusses the cutting-edge changes that were implemented in the last decade in NYC and identifies the ten most important lessons learned about whole-school-system improvement. In this last decade, NYCs public schools underwent extensive reforms that increased graduation rates by 30%the first significant increase in more than 50 years. For the first time, this book presents an insiders view of the Bloomberg-Klein years and the reforms that transformed the nations largest school system. 10 Lessons from New York City Schools is a must-read for those who believe schools can succeed and for all those who want to understand how.
Author: Allison Zmuda Publisher: ASCD ISBN: 0871208458 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 209
Book Description
Contains a set of six operating principles through a fictional dialogue that provides practical guidance to school leaders, including identifying core beliefs, creating a shared vision, and developing and implementing an action plan.
Author: Emily Krone Phillips Publisher: The New Press ISBN: 1620973243 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 273
Book Description
A Washington Post Bestseller An entirely fresh approach to ending the high school dropout crisis is revealed in this groundbreaking chronicle of unprecedented transformation in a city notorious for its "failing schools" In eighth grade, Eric thought he was going places. But by his second semester of freshman year at Hancock High, his D's in Environmental Science and French, plus an F in Mr. Castillo's Honors Algebra class, might have suggested otherwise. Research shows that students with more than one semester F during their freshman year are very unlikely to graduate. If Eric had attended Hancock—or any number of Chicago's public high schools—just a decade earlier, chances are good he would have dropped out. Instead, Hancock's new way of responding to failing grades, missed homework, and other red flags made it possible for Eric to get back on track. The Make-or-Break Year is the largely untold story of how a simple idea—that reorganizing schools to get students through the treacherous transitions of freshman year greatly increases the odds of those students graduating—changed the course of two Chicago high schools, an entire school system, and thousands of lives. Marshaling groundbreaking research on the teenage brain, peer relationships, and academic performance, journalist turned communications expert Emily Krone Phillips details the emergence of Freshman OnTrack, a program-cum-movement that is translating knowledge into action—and revolutionizing how teachers grade, mete out discipline, and provide social, emotional, and academic support to their students. This vivid description of real change in a faulty system will captivate anyone who cares about improving our nation's schools; it will inspire educators and families to reimagine their relationships with students like Eric, and others whose stories affirm the pivotal nature of ninth grade for all young people. In a moment of relentless focus on what doesn't work in education and the public sphere, Phillips's dramatic account examines what does.
Author: Mara Benitez Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0470615532 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 418
Book Description
Small Schools, Big Ideas shows how the principle-based and equity-focused model from the Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) can be used to redesign existing schools and create new schools that prepare students for this century's challenges and opportunities. Filled with inspirational stories and illustrative examples from schools that have successfully implemented CES principles and practices, Small Schools, Big Ideas offers information and inspiration needed to: Transform schools in order to achieve equitable outcomes for all students Understand various school design options Establish school vision, mission, and goals to raise educational expectations and results Develop transformational leadership Cultivate a professional learning community Implement student-centered teaching, learning, and curricula Build productive relationships with families and communities Establish strategies for sustainability These recommendations and proven strategies can help educators transform their schools to become truly equitable, personalized, and academically challenging.
Author: Alexis Wiggins Publisher: ASCD ISBN: 1416624716 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 177
Book Description
The best classes have a life of their own, powered by student-led conversations that explore texts, ideas, and essential questions. In these classes, the teacher’s role shifts from star player to observer and coach as the students Think critically, Work collaboratively, Participate fully, Behave ethically, Ask and answer high-level questions, Support their ideas with evidence, and Evaluate and assess their own work. The Spider Web Discussion is a simple technique that puts this kind of class within every teacher’s reach. The name comes from the weblike diagram the observer makes to record interactions as students actively participate in the discussion, lead and support one another’s learning, and build community. It’s proven to work across all subject areas and with all ages, and you only need a little know-how, a rubric, and paper and pencil to get started. As students practice Spider Web Discussion, they become stronger communicators, more empathetic teammates, better problem solvers, and more independent learners—college and career ready skills that serve them well in the classroom and beyond. Educator Alexis Wiggins provides a step-by-step guide for the implementation of Spider Web Discussion, covering everything from introducing the technique to creating rubrics for discussion self-assessment to the nuts-and-bolts of charting the conversations and using the data collected for formative assessment. She also shares troubleshooting tips, ideas for assessment and group grading, and the experiences of real teachers and students who use the technique to develop and share content knowledge in a way that’s both revolutionary and truly inspiring.
Author: Ted Dintersmith Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 069118061X Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 261
Book Description
An inspiring account of teachers in ordinary circumstances doing extraordinary things, showing us how to transform education What School Could Be offers an inspiring vision of what our teachers and students can accomplish if trusted with the challenge of developing the skills and ways of thinking needed to thrive in a world of dizzying technological change. Innovation expert Ted Dintersmith took an unprecedented 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 and beyond. 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, What School Could Be provides a realistic and profoundly optimistic roadmap for creating cultures of innovation and real learning in all our schools.
Author: Eric Kalenze
Author: Eric Kalenze
Author: Patrick M. Shields
Author: Jal Mehta
Author: Eric Nadelstern
Author: 
Author: Allison Zmuda
Author: Emily Krone Phillips
Author: Mara Benitez
Author: Alexis Wiggins
Author: Ted Dintersmith