Download or read book What s at Stake in the K 12 Standards Wars written by Sandra Stotsky and published by Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers. This book was released on 2000 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The «standards wars» are another manifestation of the «culture wars.» Few educational policy makers understand the many disciplinary, pedagogical, and curricular issues occuring at the heart of the conflicts as states develop or revise their K-12 standards and standards-based assessments in the major subjects. The issues differ from subject to subject. This collection of essays addresses the issues that have arisen in the development and implementation of national and state standards in science, mathematics, history, economics, and the English language arts from the perspective of scholars in those disciplines. These scholars are writing not for other scholars in their field but for those who help shape K-12 educational policy legislators, members of boards of education, and those who teach courses in government or education policy making. The purpose of this collection is to clarify what is at stake in the standards wars and in standards-based systemic reform.
Download or read book System wide Efforts to Improve Student Achievement written by Kenneth K. Wong and published by IAP. This book was released on 2006-03-01 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Strong system-wide support is increasingly being identified as laying an important role in policy efforts aimed at increasing student achievement (Hightower, Knapp, March, and McLaughlin: 2002). Yet current research often views district and other system-wide support as largely governance changes without substantive linkage to school improvement outcomes (Cuban and Usdan: 2003). In this volume we seek to deepen our understanding of the role of school districts and system-wide initiatives through a series of case studies that focus on how school districts and system-wide actors facilitate policy innovation and reform initiatives that are designed to improve student achievement. Through both quantitative and qualitative studies from diverse settings across the country, chapters in this volume examine the role of instructional technology, alternative accountability practices, management and partnership reforms, and school improvement efforts through new incentive and support practices. While challenges remain, these case studies demonstrate how districts support and facilitate school change aimed at improving student achievement.
Download or read book Mathematical Cognition written by James M. Royer and published by IAP. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Decline of Learning in America written by Charles T. Stewart and published by Nova Publishers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a complete and coherent analysis of the interrelated problems of student achievement at every level, the supply of scientific and technical manpower, its contribution to the nation's economic future, and the diverse policies directed at improving school achievement and the quality of labor supply.
Download or read book Changing the Course of Failure written by Sandra Stotsky and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-05-18 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The basic purpose of this book is to help policy makers at all levels of government understand that (1) widespread adolescent underachievement is not susceptible to solution by educational interventions no matter how much money is allocated to public education; and (2) there are unidentified educational and civic costs to focusing on low achievement and to expecting public institutions of education (for K–12 and college) to solve a growing social problem. Many policy makers seem to think that teachers/schools are the primary cause of low achievement. Educational institutions still cannot solve a non-education-caused problem and haven’t done so for over fifty years despite all the public and private money that has been allocated. The book concludes with suggested policies for addressing the damage to public education from “gap-closing” standards and with suggested areas for policy making in order to change the current course of failure for many low-achieving students.
Download or read book The Death and Resurrection of a Coherent Literature Curriculum written by Sandra Stotsky and published by R&L Education. This book was released on 2012 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is addressed to teachers who know that the secondary literature curriculum in our public schools is in shambles. Unless experienced and well-read English teachers can develop coherent and increasingly demanding literature curricula in their schools, average high school students will remain at about the fifth or sixth grade reading level--where they now are to judge from several independent sources. This book seeks to challenge education policy makers, test developers, and educators who discourage the assignment of appropriately difficult works to high school students and make construction of a coherent literature curriculum impossible. It first traces the history of the literature curriculum in our middle schools and high schools and shows how it has been diminished and distorted in the past half-century. It then offers examples of coherent literature curricula and spells out the cognitive principles upon which coherence is based. Finally, it suggests what English teachers in our public schools could do to develop a literature curriculum that gives all their students an adequate basis for participation in an English-speaking civic culture.
Download or read book The Education Invasion written by Joy Pullmann and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most Americans had no idea what Common Core was in 2013, according to polls. But it had been creeping into schools nationwide over the previous three years, and children were feeling its effects. They cried over math homework so mystifying their parents could not help them, even in elementary school. They read motley assortments of “informational text” instead of classic literature. They dreaded the high-stakes tests, in unfamiliar formats, that were increasingly controlling their classrooms. How did this latest and most sweeping “reform” of American education come in mostly under the radar? Joy Pullmann started tugging on a thread of reports from worried parents and frustrated teachers, and it led to a big tangle of history and politics, intrigue and arrogance. She unwound it to discover how a cabal of private foundation honchos and unelected public officials cooked up a set of rules for what American children must learn in core K–12 classes, and how the Obama administration pressured states to adopt them. Thus a federalized education scheme took root, despite legal prohibitions against federal involvement in curriculum. Common Core and its testing regime were touted as “an absolute game-changer in public education,” yet the evidence so far suggests that kids are actually learning less under it. Why, then, was such a costly and disruptive agenda imposed on the nation’s schools? Who benefits? And how can citizens regain local self-governance in education, so their children’s minds will be fed a more nourishing intellectual diet and be protected from the experiments of emboldened bureaucrats? The Education Invasion offers answers and remedies.
Download or read book A History of Mathematics Education during the Twentieth Century written by Angela Lynn Evans Walmsley and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2007-05-22 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A History of Mathematics Education during the Twentieth Century describes the history of mathematics education in the United States with conceptual themes concerning philosophy, mathematics content, teacher education, pedagogy, and assessment. Each decade of the twentieth century is analyzed using historical documents, within the context of the aforementioned themes, to create a concise history of mathematical reform as it relates to history within the United States. Finally, conclusions are drawn as to which reform movements are similar and different throughout the century—depicting which aspects of reform can be seen again. Mathematics education tends to swing on a pendulum from "traditional education" including teacher-directed instruction with an emphasis on computation skills to "reform education," including student-directed instruction with an emphasis on problem solving. All decades are analyzed to see where they were on the pendulum and what aspects may have contributed to the current reform movements led by the Standards movement.
Download or read book Secondary English Teacher Education in the United States written by Donna L. Pasternak and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-12-14 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the ELATE Richard A. Meade Award 2018 Identifying key areas of teacher education that cross countries and disciplines, this book provides the first extensive research-based insight into how secondary English teachers are prepared at institutions of higher education in the United States of America (US) since the last major study in 1995. In the two decades since then, English teacher education programs have developed in contextually dependent ways that often have been driven by institutional, economic, social and political considerations. The authors provide an overview of their nationwide study of English teacher educators, which was conducted over a four-year period. They analyze the context under which teacher educators currently prepare pre-service English teachers in the US and support teacher educators in other countries to make comparisons to their own unique historical and cultural settings. The authors also offer a comprehensive evaluation of the content, practices and skills being taught to future teachers of English in university-based teacher preparation programs in the US. The book draws on evidence from a nationwide questionnaire, case studies of teacher educators in their respective programs, course syllabi and focus group interviews to focus on areas of instruction that resonate with teacher educators in countries where English is the dominant language of communication. These areas include: - field experiences - standards and assessment - teaching literacy to integrate reading and writing - working with English language learners to address cultural and linguistic diversity - new technologies in English education
Download or read book The Struggle for Identity in Today s Schools written by Patrick M. Jenlink (Ed) and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "Struggle for Identity in Today's Schools" examines cultural recognition and the struggle for identity in America's schools. In particular, the contributing authors focus on the recognition and misrecognition as antagonistic cultural forces that work to shape, and at times distort identity. What surfaces throughout the chapters are two lessons to be learned in relation to identity. The first lesson is that identities and the acts attributed to them are always forming and re-forming in relation to historically specific contexts, and these contexts are political in nature, I.E., defined by issues of diversity such as race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, gender, and economics. The second lesson presented by the authors is that identity forms in and across intimate and social contexts, over long periods of time. The historical timing of identity formation cannot simply be dictated by discourse. The identities posited by any particular discourse become important and a part of everyday life based on the intersection of social histories and social actors. Importantly, the social-cultural use of identities leads to another way of conceptualizing histories, personhoods, cultures, and their distributions over social and political groups. Contents of this book include: (1) Cultural Identity--Discovering Authentic Voice; (2) Introduction: Cultural Identity and the Struggle for Recognition (Patrick M. Jenlink and Faye Hicks Townes), which includes: (a) Affirming Diversity, Politics of Recognition, and the Cultural Work of Schools (Patrick M. Jenlink); (b) Dialoguing Toward a Racialized Identity: a Necessary First Step in a Politics of Recognition (Kris Sloan); and (c) Misrecognition Compounded (Faye Hicks Townes); and (3) Struggle for Recognition--Embracing Cultural Politics, which includes: (a) Recognition, Identity Politics, and English Language Learners (Angela Crespo Cozart); (b) Identity Formation and Recognition in Asian-American Students (Kim Woo); (c) Curriculum and Recognition (Ray Horn); (d) Extracurricular Activities and Student Identity (Amanda Rudolph); (e) Recognition, Identity Politics, and the Special Needs Student (Sandra Stewart); (f) Athletes, Recognition, and the Formation of Identity (Vincent Mumford); (g) Administrator to Parent Recognition: Treat Me with Respect (Julia Ballenger); (h) Recognition and Parent Involvement (Betty Alford); (I) Student Identity and Cultural Communication (Sandy Harris); (j) Value-Added Community: Recognition, Induction-Year Teacher Diversity and the Shaping of Identity (John Leonard); and (k) Coda: Recognition, Difference, and the Future of America's Schools (Patrick M. Jenlink).
Download or read book What Works May Hurt written by Yong Zhao and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2018-06-29 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Yong Zhao shines a light on the long-ignored phenomenon of side effects of education policies and practices, bringing a fresh and perhaps surprising perspective to evidence-based practices and policies. Identifying the adverse effects of some of the "best" educational interventions with examples from classrooms to boardrooms, the author investigates causes and offers clear recommendations" --
Download or read book Critical Issues in Social Studies Teacher Education written by Susan Adler and published by IAP. This book was released on 2006-03-01 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taken together, these authors explore the many and varied challenges faced by teacher educators generally, and social studies teacher educators specifically. Their analyses and recommendations provide a starting point for ongoing deliberations about the nature and challenges of the field. There are no easy answers; but continuing the discussion is crucial.
Download or read book Professional Responsibility written by Douglas E. Mitchell and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the center of this book is the complex and perplexing question of how to design professional preparation programs, organizational management practices, public policy systems and robust professional associations committed to and capable of, maintaining confidence, trust and the other hallmarks of responsible professionalism. To do this, we need to rebuild our understanding of professional responsibility from the ground up. We describe how individuals might be prepared to engage in responsible professional service delivery, examine promising options for the reform of professional service systems and finally, outline a reform strategy for improving practice in education and medicine – two essential public services. The nexus of the reform problem in professionalism is establishing a more robust and effective working relationship between teachers and their students; between health care professionals and their patients and between educators and health professionals. Professionalism means acceptance of professional responsibility for student and patient outcomes — not just acceptance of responsibility for technical expertise, but commitment to the social norms of the profession, including trustworthiness and responsibility for client wellbeing. In the past, it may have been sufficient to assume that adequate knowledge can be shaped into standards of professional practice. Today, it is clear that we must take careful account of the ways in which practicing professionals develop, internalize and sustain professionalism during their training, along with the ways in which this commitment to professionalism may be undermined by the regulatory, fiscal, technological, political and emotional incentive systems that impinge on professional workplaces and professional employment systems.
Download or read book Linguistics at School written by Kristin Denham and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-07 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Linguistics is a subject that has remained largely confined to the academy, rather than being integrated into school curricula. This is unfortunate but not surprising, as although some teacher education programs include courses on linguistics, it is not comprehensively integrated into teacher education, so it is largely absent from the curriculum. This volume brings together a team of leaders in the field of linguistics and education, to provide an overview of the current state of research and practice. It demonstrates changes which can be made to teaching, such as revising teacher's preparation, developing and implementing practical applications of linguistics in both primary and secondary classrooms, partnering linguists with classroom teachers, and working to improve state and national education standards. The contributors emphasize the importance of collaboration between professional linguists and educators in order to meet a common goal: to raise awareness of the workings of language.
Download or read book Philosophy of Science Today written by Peter Clark and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A state-of-the-art guide to the fast-developing area of the philosophy of science.
Download or read book Whose History written by Linda Symcox and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1990s the debate over what history, and more importantly whose history, should be taught in American schools resonated through the halls of Congress, the national press, and the nation's schools. Politicians such as Lynne Cheney, Newt Gingrich, and Senator Slade Gorton, and pundits such as Rush Limbaugh, John Leo, and Charles Krauthammer fiercely denounced the findings of the National Standards for History which, subsequently, became a major battleground in the nation's ongoing struggle to define its historical identity. To help us understand what happened, Linda Symcox traces the genealogy of the National History Standards Project from its origins as a neo-conservative reform movement to the drafting of the Standards, through the 18 months of controversy and the debate that ensued, and the aftermath. Broad in scope, this case study includes debates on social history, world history, multiculturalism, established canons, national identity, cultural history, and "liberal education." Symcox brilliantly illuminates the larger issue of how educational policy is made and contested in the United States, revealing how a debate about our children's education actually became a struggle between competing political forces.
Download or read book What Lies Ahead for America s Children and Their Schools written by Richard Sousa and published by Hoover Institution Press. This book was released on 2014-03-01 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The coming decade holds immense potential for dramatic improvement in U.S. education and in the achievement of American children and in this volume, members of the Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force on K–12 Education examine both the potential gains and the pitfalls that lie ahead, informed by where U.S. education has been, what changes have been made in recent years, and what’s still required for the comprehensive overhaul that this vital enterprise so urgently needs. Looking backward is infinitely easier than predicting the future, but planning for the future is necessary if anything is to change and by analyzing the recent past and present condition of American primary and secondary school education across a host of key topics, task force members in this volume chart a bold course for the years ahead. Optimistic about the opportunities at hand, they identify essential—and feasible—reforms as well as the barriers that must be overcome if those changes are to occur. They offer high-quality scholarship and thoughtful prescriptions for productive policy alternatives.
