Download or read book Teachers Leading Educational Reform written by Alma Harris and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-07-31 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teachers Leading Educational Reform explores the ways in which teachers across the world are currently working together in professional learning communities (PLCs) to generate meaningful change and innovation in order to transform pedagogy and practice. By discussing how teachers can work collectively and collaboratively on the issues of learning and teaching that matter to them, it argues that through collective action and collaborative agency, teachers are leading educational reform. By offering contemporary examples and perspectives on the practice, impact and sustainability of PLCs, this book takes a global, comparative view showing categorically that those educational systems that are performing well, and seek to perform well, are using PLCs as the infrastructure to support teacher-led improvement. Split into three sections that look at the macro, meso and micro aspects of how far professional collaboration is building the capacity and capability for school and system improvement, this text asks the questions: Is the PLC work authentic? Is the PLC work being implemented at a superficial or deep level? Is there evidence of a positive impact on students/teachers at the school/district/system level? Is provision in place for sustaining the PLC work? Teachers Leading Educational Reform illustrates how focused and purposeful professional collaboration is contributing to change and reform across the globe. It reinforces why teachers must be at the heart of the school reform processes as the drivers and architects of school transformation and change.
Download or read book Teaching in Context written by Esther Quintero and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teaching in Context provides new evidence from a range of leading scholars showing that teachers become more effective when they work in organizations that support them in comprehensive and coordinated ways. The studies featured in the book suggest an alternative approach to enhancing teacher quality: creating conditions and school structures that facilitate the transmission and sharing of knowledge among teachers, allowing teachers to work together effectively, and capitalizing on what we know about how educators learn and improve. The chapters in this book point to the need to reevaluate current policies for assessing and ensuring teacher effectiveness, and establish the foundation for a more thoughtful, research-informed approach. "What a wonderful collection of diverse voices in this book, all sounding a similar message. Successful schools encourage and support purposeful collaboration among adults and they focus on students. In these schools, teachers feel more rewarded for their efforts and students learn more. Practitioners and researchers understand these findings. Now, let's build education policies that enable them." --John Q. Easton, vice president of programs, Spencer Foundation "Teaching in Context is a call to action--one to which Esther Quintero and her colleagues invite us to imagine, build, nurture, and protect a profession and culture fueled by supportive networks that produce more trust and less churn." --Ralph R. Smith, managing director, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Esther Quintero is a senior fellow at the Albert Shanker Institute. Andy Hargreaves is the Brennan Chair in Education at Boston College.
Download or read book Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain written by Zaretta Hammond and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2014-11-13 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation—until now. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes: Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection
Download or read book The Dimensions of Time and the Challenge of School Reform written by Patricia C. Gandara and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the education reform movement matures into its second decade, it is clear that many promising efforts have fallen short in their attempts to create real school change. One reason for this is that the process of school reform is much more complex than most reformers realized or were willing to acknowledge. The Dimensions of Time and the Challenge of School Reform points to another problem--the problem of time--and its role in both the success and failure of school reform efforts. The importance of understanding the role that time plays in both learning and instruction and finding ways to provide time for teachers grappling with change and students learning to accommodate a new language and culture are important themes in this book. This book is directed to policymakers and practitioners as well as to academics in that it combines theory with the "real world" experiences of many who have been active in the school reform movement and who have learned, through trial and error, how to think about time in innovative ways. -- Back cover.
Download or read book The Keys to Effective Schools written by Willis D. Hawley and published by Corwin Press. This book was released on 2006-10-18 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Raise organizational effectiveness to improve the quality of instruction and dramatically impact student achievement! Working in tandem with the powerful National Education Association′s KEYS initiative (Keys to Excellence in Your Schools), this second edition focuses on how to change a school′s organizational structure and culture to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Each chapter, revised and updated to address continuous improvement and narrowing the achievement gap, provides a wealth of knowledge from leading experts in the field including Patricia A. Alexander, Eva L. Baker, James A. Banks, Peter Cookson, Lorna M. Earl, Richard F. Elmore, Michael Fullan, Geneva Gay, Willis D. Hawley, Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Kenneth Leithwood, Ann Lieberman, Judith Warren Little, Lynne Miller, P. Karen Murphy, Fred M. Newmann, Sonia Nieto, Janet Ward Schofield, Walter G. Stephan, Gary Sykes, and Linda Valli. Educators at all levels, policymakers, and parents will discover how to apply the lessons learned from research. This essential handbook provides new chapters, including exemplary practice on teaching and learning for a multicultural society and on continuous school improvement. Now you can advance to the next level of change with an integral resource for school reform.
Download or read book Continuing Challenges and Potential for Collaborative Approaches to Education Reform written by Susan J. Bodilly and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2011 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of Progress Toward GoalsThe Alianza; Promote Quality in Teaching and Learning; Promote Policies That Lead to Quality in Teaching and Learning; Ask for More; Promote Quality in Teaching and Learning; Promote Policies That Lead to Quality in Teaching and Learning; Become a Voice for Collaboration; Austin Interfaith; Promote Quality in Teaching and Learning; Promote Policies That Lead to Quality in Teaching and Learning; Become a Voice in the Community; DC VOICE; Promote Policies That Lead to Quality in Teaching and Learning; Become a Voice for the Community; Grow Your Own
Download or read book Building School Based Teacher Learning Communities written by Milbrey W. McLaughlin and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building on extensive evidence that school-based teacher learning communities improve student outcomes, this book lays out an agenda to develop and sustain collaborative professional cultures. McLaughlin and Talbert—foremost scholars of school change and teaching contexts—provide an inside look at the processes, resources, and system strategies that are necessary to build vibrant school-based teacher learning communities. Offering a compelling, straightforward blueprint for action, this book: Takes a comprehensive look at the problem of improving the quality of teaching across the United States, based on evidence and examples from the authors’ nearly two decades of research.Demonstrates how and why school-based teacher learning communities are bottom-line requirements for improved instruction. Outlines the resources and supports needed to build and sustain a long-term school-based teacher professional community. Discusses the nature of high-quality professional development to support learning and changes in teaching.Details the roles and responsibilities of policymakers at all levels of the school system. “This book offers vivid examples of how teacher learning communities are formed and sustained. A must-read for educators at all levels who are serious about enacting change.” —Amy M. Hightower, Assistant Director, American Federation of Teachers
Download or read book Teacher Learning That Matters written by Mary Kooy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-02-27 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the continuing global call for educational reforms and change, the contributors in this edited collection address the critical issue of teacher learning from diverse national contexts and perspectives. They define "teacher learning that matters" as it shapes and directs pedagogical practices with the goal of improving student learning. This book weaves together major studies, research findings and theoretical orientations to represent a globalized network of inquiries into the what, how and why of teacher learning that shapes teacher skill and knowledge. Teacher learning matters on an international scale because teachers are the portals through which any initiative for change and reform is realized. Recognizing that a highly skilled teaching force is instrumental to improving student achievement adds import to generating interactive dialogue on teacher learning around the globe.
Download or read book Teacher Agency written by Mark Priestley and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-22 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent worldwide education policy has reinvented teachers as agents of change and professional developers of the school curriculum. Academic literature has analyzed changes in how teacher professionalism is conceived in policy and in practice but Teacher Agency provides a fresh perspective on this issue, drawing upon an ecological theory of agency. Using this model for understanding agency, Mark Priestley, Gert Biesta and Sarah Robinson explore empirical findings from the 'Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change' project, funded by the UK-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Drawing together this research with the authors' international experiences and perspectives, Teacher Agency addresses theoretical and practical issues of international significance. The authors illustrate how teacher agency should be understood not only in terms of individual capacity of teachers, but also in respect of the cultures and structures of schooling.
Download or read book After the Education Wars written by Andrea Gabor and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a fresh take on the endless battles over school reform, in Beyond the Education Wars journalist, bestselling author, and business professor Andrea Gabor argues that despite being championed by the likes of Bill Gates and Eli Broad, the market-based changes and carrot-and-stick incentives informing today's school reforms are out of sync with the nurturing culture that good schools foster - and at odds with the best practices of thriving twenty-first-century companies as well. A welcome exception to the doom-and-gloom canon of education reform, Beyond the Education Wars makes clear that what's needed is not more grand ideas, but practical ways to grow the great ones schools already have.
Download or read book Leading Standards Based Education Reform written by Linda R. Vogel and published by R&L Education. This book was released on 2010-11-16 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Standards-based education (SBE) has been the dominant educational reform movement since the early 1980s, reinforced by federal and state accountability systems. This book examines the efforts of educational leaders in implementing SBE to improve student achievement in a variety of demographic contexts but with common challenges. Four stages of SBE implementation are identified that focus on strong district leadership of the articulation of how SBE can benefit students, an investment in collaborative structures and teacher training, and the facilitation of dialogue among all educational stakeholders. The descriptions of leadership actions and educator development at each stage can serve as a guide for educators and policy makers to assess which stage schools and districts are in and what steps can be taken to effectively move SBE reform efforts forward. The reflective questions for district, school, and teacher leaders at each stage can facilitate the dialogues that can ensure that SBE reform supports changes in classroom instruction that improve the learning opportunities and educational outcomes of all students.
Download or read book Student Voice in School Reform written by Dana L. Mitra and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2014-03-14 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High schools continue to be places that isolate, alienate, and disengage students. But what would happen if students were viewed as part of the solution in schools rather than part of the problem? This book examines the emergence of "student voice" at one high school in the San Francisco Bay area where educators went straight to the source and asked the students to help. Struggling, like many high schools, with how to improve student outcomes, educators at Whitman High School decided to invite students to participate in the reform process. Dana L. Mitra describes the evolution of student voice at Whitman, showing that the students enthusiastically created partnerships with teachers and administrators, engaged in meaningful discussion about why so many failed or dropped out, and partnered with teachers and principals to improve learning for themselves and their peers. In documenting the difference that student voice made, this book helps expand ideas of distributed leadership, professional learning communities, and collaboration. The book also contributes much needed research on what student voice initiatives look like in practice and provides powerful evidence of ways in which young people can increase their sense of agency and their sense of belonging in school.
Download or read book Revisiting The Culture of the School and the Problem of Change written by Seymour B. Sarason and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revisiting “The Culture of the School and the Problem of Change” provocatively and seamlessly joins Seymour Sarason’s classic, landmark text on school change with his own insightful re?ections on those same issues in the face of today’s crisis in public schools. This is an extensive, monograph–length revisiting. Part I of this book reproduces the second edition of Sarason’s ground–breaking work, The Culture of the School and the Problem of Change, in which he detailed how change can affect a school’s culturally diverse environment—either through the implementation of new programs or as a result of federally imposed regulations. Throughout, many of the major assumptions about change in institutions are challenged. Speci?c events and examples demonstrate that any attempt to implement change involves some existing regularity within the school. Dr. Sarason also takes a close look at government involvement in change efforts in schooling—and includes a detailed examination of current efforts to implement PL 94–142 into public schools. He presents compelling evidence that the federal effort to change and improve schools has largely been a failure. Also included are investigations into the purposes of schooling and how these purposes can be affected by change, and the process by which educators and administrators formulate intended outcomes of change efforts. In Part II, Dr. Sarason “revisits” the text and the issues 25 years after the original publication. As he explains in his preface, to him the word crisis means “a point in time when a dangerous situation contains con?icting forces of an intensity or seriousness that in the near term will be dramatically altered depending on which forces win out. When I wrote the book a quarter century ago, I did not regard our schools as in crisis...[though] my intuition . . . was that a crisis would come sooner or later. It has, in my opinion, come.” Believing that “what happens in our cities and our schools will determine the fate of our society,” Dr. Sarason is deeply concerned that the reform arena is being manipulated by forces that are at best untroubled by and at worst intent on the dismantling of the public school system. That, coupled with his fear that even the system’s defenders are not focusing on the real issues, has infused Dr. Sarason’s return to the topic of educational change with a great sense of urgency. The important things he has to say will be welcomed by all who truly care about the state of the public schools that America’s children attend.
Download or read book Trust in Schools written by Anthony Bryk and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2002-09-05 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most Americans agree on the necessity of education reform, but there is little consensus about how this goal might be achieved. The rhetoric of standards and vouchers has occupied center stage, polarizing public opinion and affording little room for reflection on the intangible conditions that make for good schools. Trust in Schools engages this debate with a compelling examination of the importance of social relationships in the successful implementation of school reform. Over the course of three years, Bryk and Schneider, together with a diverse team of other researchers and school practitioners, studied reform in twelve Chicago elementary schools. Each school was undergoing extensive reorganization in response to the Chicago School Reform Act of 1988, which called for greater involvement of parents and local community leaders in their neighborhood schools. Drawing on years longitudinal survey and achievement data, as well as in-depth interviews with principals, teachers, parents, and local community leaders, the authors develop a thorough account of how effective social relationships—which they term relational trust—can serve as a prime resource for school improvement. Using case studies of the network of relationships that make up the school community, Bryk and Schneider examine how the myriad social exchanges that make up daily life in a school community generate, or fail to generate, a successful educational environment. The personal dynamics among teachers, students, and their parents, for example, influence whether students regularly attend school and sustain their efforts in the difficult task of learning. In schools characterized by high relational trust, educators were more likely to experiment with new practices and work together with parents to advance improvements. As a result, these schools were also more likely to demonstrate marked gains in student learning. In contrast, schools with weak trust relations saw virtually no improvement in their reading or mathematics scores. Trust in Schools demonstrates convincingly that the quality of social relationships operating in and around schools is central to their functioning, and strongly predicts positive student outcomes. This book offer insights into how trust can be built and sustained in school communities, and identifies some features of public school systems that can impede such development. Bryk and Schneider show how a broad base of trust across a school community can provide a critical resource as education professional and parents embark on major school reforms. A Volume in the American Sociological Association's Rose Series in Sociology
Download or read book Reform Inclusion and Teacher Education written by Christine Forlin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-06-05 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ground-breaking book considers current perspective on educational reform in the Asia-Pacific regions with a focus on a new era of special education, particularly as this relates to the educational reform towards inclusive education.
Download or read book Teacher Education in Transition written by Linda P. Blanton and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses the need for collaboration in teacher education programs and presents the efforts of ten collaborative teacher training programs from across the United States, demonstrating how and why the programs are effective.
Download or read book Race Class and Power in School Restructuring written by Pauline Lipman and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1998-02-26 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the intersection of two central issues in American education today: school reform through restructuring and alienation from school of many children of color. A tough look at the impact of teachers' and administrators' beliefs and practices.
