Download or read book Making Schools Work written by Eric A. Hanushek and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Educational reform is a big business in the United States. Parents, educators, and policymakers generally agree that something must be done to improve schools, but the consensus ends there. The myriad of reform documents and policy discussions that have appeared over the past decade have not helped to pinpoint exactly what should be done. The case for investment in education is an economic one: schooling improves the productivity and earnings of individuals and promotes stronger economic growth and better functioning of society. Recent trends in schooling have, however, lessened the value of society's investments as costs have risen dramatically while student performance has stayed flat or even fallen. The task is to improve performance while controlling costs. This book is the culmination of extensive discussions among a panel of economists led by Eric Hanushek. They conclude that economic considerations have been entirely absent from the development of educational policies and that economic reality is sorely needed in discussions of new policies. The book outlines an improvement plan that emphasizes changing incentives in schools and gathering information about effective approaches. Available research and analysis demonstrates that current central decisionmaking has worked poorly. Concentrating on inputs such as pupil-teacher ratios or teacher graduate degrees appears quite inferior to systems that directly reward performance. Nonetheless, since experience with such alternatives is very limited, a program of extensive evaluation appears to be in order. Attempts to institute radical change on the basis of currently available information involve substantial risks of failure. Many people today find proposals such as charter schools, expanded use of merit pay, or educational vouchers to be appealing. Yet there is little evidence of their effectiveness, and widespread adoption of these proposals is sure to run into substantial problems of im

Download or read book Improving Academic Achievement written by Joshua Aronson and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2002-04-15 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, authors discuss research and theory on the social psychological forces that shape academic achievement. A key focus is to show how psychological principles can be used to foster achievement and make schooling a more enjoyable process. Topics are highly relevant to both social and educational psychology, with discussions of core concepts such as intelligence, motivation, self-esteem and self-concept, expectations and attributions, prejudice, and interpersonal and intergroup relations.

Download or read book School Improvement Through Performance Feedback written by A.J. Visscher and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Internationally there is an increasing trend to publish and feed back information to schools and teachers on their functioning. School improvement is often the central goal, though accountability and the promotion of parental/student school choice also play an important role.Practical initiatives and research in this field have often failed to recognize the full complexity of improving schools through school performance feedback. Relevant questions are, for example, to what extent: the information fed back to schools is valued and understood by them; the school performance feedback enables appropriate diagnosis and remediation to take place in schools; the use of the feedback generates conflicts and tensions for teachers and administrators; the features of the implementation process and school organization influence the utilization of school performance feedback systems; schools do actually improve as a result of performance feedback; and the feedback systems have unintended effects. This book fills the gap by including: a thorough conceptualization of school feedback as a performance enhancing mechanism, and the prerequisites for utilizing this information in schools; a typology of school performance indicators; a review of the research on the impact of feeding back performance information to individuals and to organizations; evidence on the process, problems and impact of school performance feedback from an international variety of contexts (Australia, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA); and reflections on these experiences within the theoretical framework, leading to recommended strategies for school improvement through performance feedback.

Download or read book Educating the Student Body written by Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-11-13 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. Emerging literature has suggested that in terms of mortality, the global population health burden of physical inactivity approaches that of cigarette smoking. The prevalence and substantial disease risk associated with physical inactivity has been described as a pandemic. The prevalence, health impact, and evidence of changeability all have resulted in calls for action to increase physical activity across the lifespan. In response to the need to find ways to make physical activity a health priority for youth, the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment was formed. Its purpose was to review the current status of physical activity and physical education in the school environment, including before, during, and after school, and examine the influences of physical activity and physical education on the short and long term physical, cognitive and brain, and psychosocial health and development of children and adolescents. Educating the Student Body makes recommendations about approaches for strengthening and improving programs and policies for physical activity and physical education in the school environment. This report lays out a set of guiding principles to guide its work on these tasks. These included: recognizing the benefits of instilling life-long physical activity habits in children; the value of using systems thinking in improving physical activity and physical education in the school environment; the recognition of current disparities in opportunities and the need to achieve equity in physical activity and physical education; the importance of considering all types of school environments; the need to take into consideration the diversity of students as recommendations are developed. This report will be of interest to local and national policymakers, school officials, teachers, and the education community, researchers, professional organizations, and parents interested in physical activity, physical education, and health for school-aged children and adolescents.

Download or read book Handbook of School Improvement written by Jo Blase and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2010-03-30 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how successful principals make a difference in their school’s performance! Based on a ground-breaking study and numerous firsthand accounts, this illuminating book captures unique perspectives from 20 outstanding principals, representing a wide range of urban and rural schools. This resource includes: The nine personal characteristics that help principals lead high-performing schools Practical strategies for balancing both administrative responsibilities and instructional leadership Guidance on using a systems-development approach to support excellence at every level Discussion of the use of research and data for school improvement Tips and suggestions from effective principals, along with recommended resources for further learning

Download or read book Making Money Matter written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1999-11-30 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States annually spends over $300 billion on public elementary and secondary education. As the nation enters the 21st century, it faces a major challenge: how best to tie this financial investment to the goal of high levels of achievement for all students. In addition, policymakers want assurance that education dollars are being raised and used in the most efficient and effective possible ways. The book covers such topics as: Legal and legislative efforts to reduce spending and achievement gaps. The shift from "equity" to "adequacy" as a new standard for determining fairness in education spending. The debate and the evidence over the productivity of American schools. Strategies for using school finance in support of broader reforms aimed at raising student achievement. This book contains a comprehensive review of the theory and practice of financing public schools by federal, state, and local governments in the United States. It distills the best available knowledge about the fairness and productivity of expenditures on education and assesses options for changing the finance system.

Download or read book Class and Schools written by Richard Rothstein and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary public policy assumes that the achievement gap between black and white students could be closed if only schools would do a better job. According to Richard Rothstein, "Closing the gaps between lower-class and middle-class children requires social and economic reform as well as school improvement. Unfortunately, the trend is to shift most of the burden to schools, as if they alone can eradicate poverty and inequality." In this book, Rothstein points the way toward social and economic reforms that would give all children a more equal chance to succeed in school. This book features: a summary of numerous studies linking school achievement to health care quality, nutrition, childrearing styles, housing stability, parental economic security, and more ; aA look at erroneous and misleading data that underlie commonplace claims that some schools "beat the demographic odds and therefore any school can close the achievement gap if only it adopted proper practices." ; and an analysis of how the over-emphasis of standardized tests in federal law obscures the true achievement gap and makes narrowing it more difficult.

Download or read book Testing Teaching and Learning written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1999-10-06 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: State education departments and school districts face an important challenge in implementing a new law that requires disadvantaged students to be held to the same standards as other students. The new requirements come from provisions of the 1994 reauthorization of Title I, the largest federal effort in precollegiate education, which provides aid to "level the field" for disadvantaged students. Testing, Teaching, and Learning is written to help states and school districts comply with the new law, offering guidance for designing and implementing assessment and accountability systems. This book examines standards-based education reform and reviews the research on student assessment, focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students covered by Title I. With examples of states and districts that have track records in new systems, the committee develops a practical "decision framework" for education officials. The book explores how best to design assessment and accountability systems that support high levels of student learning and to work toward continuous improvement. Testing, Teaching, and Learning will be an important tool for all involved in educating disadvantaged studentsâ€"state and local administrators and classroom teachers.

Download or read book The Homework Myth written by Alfie Kohn and published by Da Capo Lifelong Books. This book was released on 2007-04-03 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death and taxes come later; what seems inevitable for children is the idea that, after spending the day at school, they must then complete more academic assignments at home. The predictable results: stress and conflict, frustration and exhaustion. Parents respond by reassuring themselves that at least the benefits outweigh the costs. But what if they don't? In The Homework Myth, nationally known educator and parenting expert Alfie Kohn systematically examines the usual defenses of homework--that it promotes higher achievement, "reinforces" learning, and teaches study skills and responsibility. None of these assumptions, he shows, actually passes the test of research, logic, or experience. So why do we continue to administer this modern cod liver oil -- or even demand a larger dose? Kohn's incisive analysis reveals how a mistrust of children, a set of misconceptions about learning, and a misguided focus on competitiveness have all left our kids with less free time and our families with more conflict. Pointing to parents who have fought back -- and schools that have proved educational excellence is possible without homework -- Kohn shows how we can rethink what happens during and after school in order to rescue our families and our children's love of learning.

Download or read book Performance Management for School Improvement written by Jeff Jones and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-04 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The recently introduced Performance Management (PM) arrangements for headteachers and teachers will replace the existing appraisal systems for schools in England. The introduction of PM places a significant responsibility upon governors strategically, and upon senior and middle managers operationally. This is a manual for middle managers and head teachers in secondary schools. It offers support and guidance on the new performance management legislation, the practical issues surrounding its introduction and strategies for successful implementation. The book will include sections on how to integrate PM into the school's other management processes, what roles and responsibilities need to be carried out, and managing the performance of teachers and headteachers. It will also cover the appraisal cycle, setting objectives, classroom observation, and selecting and appointing team leaders. The book also discussed auditing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting.

Download or read book Improving Student Learning written by Herbert J. Walberg and published by Information Age Pub Incorporated. This book was released on 2011 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book summarizes the major research findings that show how to substantially increase student achievement. This book draws on a number of investigators who have statistically synthesized many studies. A new education method showing superior results in 90% of the studies concerning it has more credibility than a method that shows results in only 60% of the cases. Research synthesis of many studies can also test the possibility that the new method works with a variety of students and circumstances. A robust method shown to work well at many grade levels with boys and girls in cities and suburbs is more desirable than one that only works well in special cases. Subsequent chapters weigh these considerations. Obviously policymakers and educators must also consider the costs and difficulties of implementing new policies and practices. Some innovations, however, are not only more effective but less costly. Teachers well prepared in their subject matter are usually a better investment than small classes, and, despite conventional beliefs, the Internet and other distance instruction delivery can be both more effective and cheaper than traditional classroom teaching. Thus, both old and new methods should be viewed in terms of efficacy, frugality, ethics, and other considerations. The remaining chapters begin with the most fundamental, well-established principles of academic learning within and outside schools. Because children spend approximately 92% of the total hours in the first 18 years of life outside school and under the responsibility of parents, the features of home conditions and parents' behaviors that foster learning before and during the school years are described. In successive chapters, the book describes the most effective classroom practices and school, district, and state policies.

Download or read book Learning Strategies and Learning Styles written by Ronald R. Schmeck and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A style is any pattern we see in a person's way of accomplishing a particular type of task. The "task" of interest in the present context is education-learning and remembering in school and transferring what is learned to the world outside of school. Teachers are expressing some sort of awareness of style when they observe a particular action taken by a particular student and then say something like: "This doesn't surprise me! That's just the way he is. " Observation of a single action cannot reveal a style. One's impres sion of a person's style is abstracted from multiple experiences of the person under similar circumstances. In education, if we understand the styles of individual students, we can often anticipate their perceptions and subsequent behaviors, anticipate their misunderstandings, take ad vantage of their strengths, and avoid (or correct) their weaknesses. These are some of the goals of the present text. In the first chapter, I present an overview of the terminology and research methods used by various authors of the text. Although they differ a bit with regard to meanings ascribed to certain terms or with regard to conclusions drawn from certain types of data, there is none theless considerable agreement, especially when one realizes that they represent three different continents and five different nationalities.

Download or read book Low performing Students written by Oecd and published by OCDE. This book was released on 2016 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is no country or economy participating in PISA 2012 that can claim that all of its 15-year-old students have achieved a baseline level of proficiency in mathematics, reading and science. Poor performance at school has long-term consequences, both for the individual and for society as a whole. Reducing the number of low-performing students is not only a goal in its own right but also an effective way to improve an education system's overall performance - and equity, since low performers are disproportionately from socio-economically disadvantaged families. Low-performing Students: Why they Fall Behind and How to Help them Succeed examines low performance at school by looking at low performers' family background, education career and attitudes towards school. The report also analyses the school practices and educational policies that are more strongly associated with poor student performance. Most important, the evidence provided in the report reveals what policy makers, educators, parents and students themselves can do to tackle low performance and succeed in school.

Download or read book Urban Schools written by Laura Lippman and published by Department of Education Office of Educational. This book was released on 1996 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illuminates the condition of education in urban schools compared to schools in other locations. Also explores differences between students from urban schools and students in other locations on a broad spectrum of student and school characteristics. Contents: education outcomes (student achievement, educational attainment, economic outcomes); student background characteristics and afterschool activities; school experiences (school resources and staff, school programs and coursetaking, student behavior). Bibliography. Over 100 charts and tables.

Download or read book School Improvement for Real written by David Hopkins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As societies continue to set educational goals that are, on current performance, beyond the capacity of the system to deliver, strategies for enhancing student learning through school and classroom intervention have become increasingly important. Yet, as David Hopkins argues in his book, many of the educational initiatives recently developed under the umbrella of school improvement are inadequate or unhelpful. Simply blaming teachers and delegating financial responsibility, he maintains, has little positive impact on classroom practice. This is the bleak context within which school improvement has to operate today. School Improvement for Real offers a genuine alternative: a strategy for educational change that focuses on student achievement by modifying classroom practice and adapting the management arrangements within the school to support teaching and learning. It outlines an approach to school improvement that has a medium term, systemic orientation, providing both principles and suggestions for better practice. The author's experience in the field of school improvement ensures that the text is informed by a practical wisdom that is so often lacking from the more typical managerial texts on improvement and effectiveness.

Download or read book The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning written by Peter Barrett and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-02-04 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The Impact of School Infrastructure on Learning: A Synthesis of the Evidence provides an excellent literature review of the resources that explore the areas of focus for improved student learning, particularly the aspiration for “accessible, well-built, child-centered, synergetic and fully realized learning environments.†? Written in a style which is both clear and accessible, it is a practical reference for senior government officials and professionals involved in the planning and design of educational facilities, as well as for educators and school leaders. --Yuri Belfali, Head of Division, Early Childhood and Schools, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills This is an important and welcome addition to the surprisingly small, evidence base on the impacts of school infrastructure given the capital investment involved. It will provide policy makers, practitioners, and those who are about to commission a new build with an important and comprehensive point of reference. The emphasis on safe and healthy spaces for teaching and learning is particularly welcome. --Harry Daniels, Professor of Education, Department of Education, Oxford University, UK This report offers a useful library of recent research to support the, connection between facility quality and student outcomes. At the same time, it also points to the unmet need for research to provide verifiable and reliable information on this connection. With such evidence, decisionmakers will be better positioned to accurately balance the allocation of limited resources among the multiple competing dimensions of school policy, including the construction and maintenance of the school facility. --David Lever, K-12 Facility Planner, Former Executive Director of the Interagency Committee on School Construction, Maryland Many planners and designers are seeking a succinct body of research defining both the issues surrounding the global planning of facilities as well as the educational outcomes based on the quality of the space provided. The authors have finally brought that body of evidence together in this well-structured report. The case for better educational facilities is clearly defined and resources are succinctly identified to stimulate the dialogue to come. We should all join this conversation to further the process of globally enhancing learning-environment quality! --David Schrader, AIA, Educational Facility Planner and Designer, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Association for Learning Environments (A4LE)

Download or read book Leaders of Learning written by Richard DuFour and published by Solution Tree Press. This book was released on 2011-07-26 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many years, the authors have been fellow travelers on the journey to help educators improve their schools. Their first coauthored book focuses on district leadership, principal leadership, and team leadership and addresses how individual teachers can be most effective in leading students—by learning with colleagues how to implement the most promising pedagogy in their classrooms