Download or read book Funding Public Schools written by Kenneth K. Wong and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the fundamental role of politics in funding our public schools and fills a conceptual imbalance in the current literature in school finance and educational policy. Unlike those who are primarily concerned about cost efficiency, Kenneth Wong specifies how resources are allocated for what purposes at different levels of the government. In contrast to those who focus on litigation as a way to reduce funding gaps, he underscores institutional stalemate and the lack of political will to act as important factors that affect legislative deadlock in school finance reform. Wong defines how politics has sustained various types of "rules" that affect the allocation of resources at the federal, state, and local level. While these rules have been remarkably stable over the past twenty to thirty years, they have often worked at cross-purposes by fragmenting policy and constraining the education process at schools with the greatest needs. Wong's examination is shaped by several questions. How do these rules come about? What role does politics play in retention of the rules? Do the federal, state, and local governments espouse different policies? In what ways do these policies operate at cross-purposes? How do they affect educational opportunities? Do the policies cohere in ways that promote better and more equitable student outcomes? Wong concludes that the five types of entrenched rules for resource allocation are rooted in existing governance arrangements and seemingly impervious to partisan shifts, interest group pressures, and constitutional challenge. And because these rules foster policy fragmentation and embody initiatives out of step with the performance-based reform agenda of the 1990s, the outlook for positive change in public education is uncertain unless fairly radical approaches are employed. Wong also analyzes four allocative reform models, two based on the assumption that existing political structures are unlikely to change and two that seek to empower actors at the school level. The two models for systemwide restructuring, aimed at intergovernmental coordination and/or integrated governance, would seek to clarify responsibilities for public education among federal, state, and local authorities-above all, integrating political and educational accountability. The other two models identified by Wong shift control from state and district to the school, one based on local leadership and the other based on market forces. In discussing the guiding principles of the four models, Wong takes care to identify both the potential and limitations of each. Written with a broad policy audience in mind, Wong's book should appeal to professionals interested in the politics of educational reform and to teachers of courses dealing with educational policy and administration and intergovernmental relations.

Download or read book New Ideas for Effective School Improvement written by William Ramsay and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book develops an approach to school development which is contextual in that it considers both the larger social structure of which the school is a part and those special features of schools themselves which impact upon the possibilities for their improvement. The book derives from a eight year longitudinal study of school evaluation at St Mary's College, a Catholic girls school in Tasmania. It builds upon, and provides a practical exploration of, such recent developments as Straratt and Caldwell's work on educational vision, the role of evaluation in measuring the extent to which a school's vision has become reality; the effective implementation and management of change, and Coleman and Hoffer's notion of social capital and the importance of school community networks in effective education.

Download or read book Current Issues and Answers in Education written by Ronald Holmes Ph. D. and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2012-04 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through extensive research and best practices of various schools nationwide, this book provides educators with solutions to the problems in our public schools. These solutions include articles on some of the latest federal programs afforded to state education agencies to address challenges plaguing public schools such as the No Child Left Behind Act. The book can be very helpful to school stakeholders such as parents, teachers, principals and district administrators since the topics focus on the K-12 environments. With a plethora of references to support numerous suggestions, discrepancies and issues, this book can be useful to graduate students, professors, researchers, university administrators and education state agencies. In a proposal format, this book also provides a roadmap for successful and struggling schools in the U.S. with objectives, goals, strategies and performance measures.

Download or read book Hearing on the Hawkins Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Act written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and Labor. Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Special Focus Competition College school Partnerships to Improve Learning of Essential Academic Subjects Kindergarten Through College written by and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Improving Schools and Empowering Parents written by Nancy Paulu and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Six Degrees of School Improvement written by Ted Purinton and published by IAP. This book was released on 2011-02-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amidst the contentious debates about teacher effectiveness, most people believe that unions, education colleges, charter networks, consulting agencies, textbook publishers, test producers, professional associations, teachers, and researchers disagree with one another about the most essential school reforms. Though all these groups do certainly have their own interests and perspectives, they also all desire to see that students are better prepared for a competitive world. What if all these groups worked together for that very goal? What would happen if all reform work in PK-12 education centered on the improvement of teaching? Would teachers be treated differently? Would they respond to their work in more innovative ways? Would it change the quality of education that children in the United States receive? Six Degrees of School Improvement: Empowering a New Profession of Teaching provides glimpses of this realistic approach to American education reform with an eye toward what the system might look like in one to two generations from now. The book makes a solid case for "collaborative professionalism," a system that binds professionals together under a common set of understandings about the ways in which children and adolescents learn content knowledge and acquire skills. It argues that popular approaches to school improvement circumvent teachers and thus further de-skill and disempower the very people responsible for student learning in classrooms. Most importantly, the book provides very clear guidance on building a system of collaborative professionalism among teachers.

Download or read book Bulletin written by South Carolina School Improvement Association and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book IJER Vol 8 N3 written by International Journal of Educational Reform and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1999-07-01 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mission of the International Journal of Educational Reform (IJER) is to keep readers up-to-date with worldwide developments in education reform by providing scholarly information and practical analysis from recognized international authorities. As the only peer-reviewed scholarly publication that combines authors’ voices without regard for the political affiliations perspectives, or research methodologies, IJER provides readers with a balanced view of all sides of the political and educational mainstream. To this end, IJER includes, but is not limited to, inquiry based and opinion pieces on developments in such areas as policy, administration, curriculum, instruction, law, and research. IJER should thus be of interest to professional educators with decision-making roles and policymakers at all levels turn since it provides a broad-based conversation between and among policymakers, practitioners, and academicians about reform goals, objectives, and methods for success throughout the world. Readers can call on IJER to learn from an international group of reform implementers by discovering what they can do that has actually worked. IJER can also help readers to understand the pitfalls of current reforms in order to avoid making similar mistakes. Finally, it is the mission of IJER to help readers to learn about key issues in school reform from movers and shakers who help to study and shape the power base directing educational reform in the U.S. and the world.

Download or read book Improving Student Learning When Budgets Are Tight written by Allan R. Odden and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2012-02-06 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A how-to manual for achieving excellence despite budget cuts This book offers a comprehensive framework to enhance student achievement in good times and in bad. The author provides a school improvement action plan and then shows how to target resources to implement that plan. More than just a “theory” book, this text describes concrete, specific actions that can be taken immediately. Key strategies include: Using data to support boosting student performance Focusing on effective instruction Setting goals to drive resource allocation priorities Setting priorities for situations that require budget cuts Hiring top teachers and providing ongoing professional development Providing needed technology resources

Download or read book The Economics of School Choice written by Caroline M. Hoxby and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared school voucher programs constitutional, the many unanswered questions concerning the potential effects of school choice will become especially pressing. Contributors to this volume draw on state-of-the-art economic methods to answer some of these questions, investigating the ways in which school choice affects a wide range of issues. Combining the results of empirical research with analyses of the basic economic forces underlying local education markets, The Economics of School Choice presents evidence concerning the impact of school choice on student achievement, school productivity, teachers, and special education. It also tackles difficult questions such as whether school choice affects where people decide to live and how choice can be integrated into a system of school financing that gives children from different backgrounds equal access to resources. Contributors discuss the latest findings on Florida's school choice program as well as voucher programs and charter schools in several other states. The resulting volume not only reveals the promise of school choice, but examines its pitfalls as well, showing how programs can be designed that exploit the idea's potential but avoid its worst effects. With school choice programs gradually becoming both more possible and more popular, this book stands out as an essential exploration of the effects such programs will have, and a necessary resource for anyone interested in the idea of school choice.

Download or read book Programs Focused on Improving Academic Achievement Producing Quality Teachers and Promoting School Safety written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce. Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth, and Families and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Handbook of Research on School Choice written by Mark Berends and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-05-07 with total page 649 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the early 1990s when the nation’s first charter school was opened in Minneapolis, the scope and availability of school-based options to parents has steadily expanded. No longer can public education be characterized as a monopoly. Sponsored by the National Center on School Choice (NCSC), this handbook makes readily available the most rigorous and policy-relevant research on K-12 school choice. Coverage includes charters, vouchers, home schooling, magnet schools, cyber schools, and other forms of choice, with the ultimate goal of defining the current state of this evolving field of research, policy, and practice. Key Features include: Comprehensive – this is the first book to provide a comprehensive review of what is known about the major forms of school choice from multiple perspectives: historical, political, economic, legal, methodological, and international. It also includes work on the governance, structure, process, effectiveness, and costs of school choice. Readable – the editors and authors have taken care to translate rigorous research findings into comprehensible prose accessible to a broad range of readers. International – in addition to thorough coverage of domestic research, the volume also draws on international and comparative studies of choice in foreign countries. Expertise – the National Center on School Choice (NCSC) is a consortium that is headquartered at Vanderbilt University and includes the following partners: Brookings Institution, Brown University, Harvard University, National Bureau of Economic Research, Northwest Evaluation Association, and Stanford University. This book is suitable for researchers, faculty and graduate students in education policy studies, politics of education, and social foundations of education. It should also be of interest to inservice administrators and policy makers.

Download or read book Creating Effective Community Partnerships for School Improvement written by Hazel M. Carter and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-02 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Creating Effective Partnerships for School Improvement places the school within the community which is composed of a number of key players, including school leaders, classroom teachers, private foundations, higher education institutions, business and community based organizations, and government agencies. This book encourages leaders to embrace this broader community of stakeholders and to focus on the often overlooked and underutilized college and university partnerships. Grounded in case study analysis of innovative programs and practices, this book explores research-based strategies for educational leaders to implement in order to develop and sustain effective partnerships. Creating Effective Partnerships for School Improvement is an important text for aspiring and practicing administrators interested in creating effective partnerships for school improvement. Special Features: Reflective exercises and portfolio building activities help aspiring and practicing leaders make on-the-ground connections. Learning objectives, key terms, and additional resources further engage readers with the chapter content. Extensive appendices with sample activities, evaluation plans, meeting agendas, promotional materials, and budgets provide additional support to leaders. Alignment to the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) Standards.

Download or read book School Improvement for the Next Generation written by Stephen White and published by Solution Tree Press. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover a fundamentally different way to improve schools. Learn best practices from successful schools that use next-generation school-improvement methods. Focused chapters guide you through the modified planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation cycle at the core of this school-improvement model. Specific strategies empower you to put the knowledge to use.

Download or read book World Development Report 1997 written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the twentieth in the annual series assessing major development issues. The report is devoted to the role and effectiveness of the state:what it should do, how it should do it, and how it can improve in a rapidly changing world. Governments with both centrally-planned and mixed economies are shrinking their market role because of failed state interventions. This report takes an opposite stance:that state's role in the institutional environment underlying the economy, that is, its ability to enforce a rule of law to underpin transactions, is vital to making government contribute more effectively to development. It argues against reducing government to a minimalist state, explaining that development requires an effective state that plays a facilitator role in encouraging and complementing the activities of private businesses and individuals. The report presents a state reform framework strategy:First, focus the state's activities to match its capabilities; and second, look for ways to improve the state's capability by re-invigorating public institutions. Successful and unsuccessful examples of states and state reform provide illustrations.

Download or read book Handbook on Statewide Systems of Support written by Sam Redding and published by IAP. This book was released on 2008-02-01 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (published in co-operation with The Center on Innovation & Improvement) As subsequent chapters point out, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires states to provide assistance to districts in improving the schools within their purview. Of course, the U.S. Constitution and federal laws leave the control of education largely to the states, and states have long provided support to school districts. In return for federal monies, however, NCLB requires states to provide such help under the statewide systems of support (SSOS) provision of the Act. The purposes of this Handbook are to survey the research related to statewide systems of support, to present the experience and insights of educational leaders in how such support can best be conducted, and to derive actionable principles for improving schools. It is intended for use not only by the staff of the U.S. Department of Education-sponsored Regional Centers that serve state department staff but also by the staff of school districts and schools. Also sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the Center on Innovation & Improvement (CII) previously developed the Handbook on Restructuring and Substantial School Improvement (Walberg, 2007) that became the basis of CII’s technical assistance to Regional Centers on this topic. CII made available for downloading Power Point presentations and web-based seminars (“webinars”) based on the previous Handbook. CII’s intended audiences widely employed the previous Handbook on Restructuring and Substantial School Improvement and auxiliary materials and found them useful in their technical assistance efforts to disseminate and encourage evidence-based ideas for restructuring and improving schools. With advice from the U.S. Department of Education, scholarly experts, and experienced educators in the Regional Centers, state departments of education, and school districts, the CII staff concluded that what it envisioned as the present Handbook would be similarly useful.