Common Sense School Reform

Common Sense School Reform PDF Author: Frederick M. Hess
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250086396
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 274

Book Description
Forget everything you think you know about school reform. Cutting through the cant, sentiment, and obfuscation characterizing the current school reform debate, Frederick M. Hess lacerates the conventional "status quo" reform efforts and exposes the naivete underlying reform strategies that rest on solutions like class size reduction, small schools, and enhanced professional development. He explains that real improvement requires a bracing regime of common sense reforms that create a culture of competence by rewarding excellence, punishing failure, and giving educators the freedom and flexibility to do their work. He documents the scope of the challenges we face and then provides concrete recommendations for addressing them through reforms to promote accountability, competition, a 21st-century workforce, effective school leadership, and sensible reinvention. Engagingly written and drawing on real world experiences and examples, Common Sense School Reform will generate debate and help set the agenda for the future.

Common Sense

Common Sense PDF Author: A. Teacher
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781460900673
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 116

Book Description
All students are different. They show up on the first day of school with different strengths and weaknesses as well as varied levels of readiness and motivation. For teachers to continue to believe they can address all these differences with one lesson for the whole class for the majority of the school day is folly. This practice is simply unfair to our students and must change if our schools are ever to realize legitimate education reform. This book attempts to address the parameters surrounding this issue while also offering strategies as to how this can be accomplished, PreK-16. Teachers should not be hesitant to attempt the model described herein because of its seeming complexity. It's not as difficult as it may appear and can be implemented incrementally into your school day. Once established, it's no more work than a traditional classroom. Some parents will be thrilled to know their child will never have to wait for the rest of the class to catch up to their pace of learning. Other parents will be equally pleased to realize their child will not have to struggle in an attempt to keep up with the rest of the class; that if their child needs more time to learn a lesson or concept, they'll have it. In short, it's a win/win for all students. As the orchestrator of this environment, teachers will feel a much greater sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. They will conclude they have successfully met the needs of all their students regardless of how fast or slow each one moves through the curriculum.

Against Common Sense

Against Common Sense PDF Author: Kevin K. Kumashiro
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135198055
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 164

Book Description
Drawing on his own experience teaching diverse grades and subjects, Kevin Kumashiro examines aspects of teaching and learning toward social justice, and suggests concrete implications for K-12 teachers and teacher educators.

Looping

Looping PDF Author: Steven T. Schwartz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nongraded schools
Languages : en
Pages : 64

Book Description


Back to Common Sense

Back to Common Sense PDF Author: Joe Dawidziak
Publisher: R&L Education
ISBN: 1607095610
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 137

Book Description
There are times in today's educational world when it seems as if common sense has lost its place as a factor in critical decision making. This book strives to provide alternative, practical, and commonsense solutions to decision making in several traditional areas of education. Intended for professional leaders in education, including administrators and teachers, the chapters are cleverly divided into stories, theory, and practice. It is a myth that experience always equates to quality and that creating successful school change can start with anyone, anywhere. Research and best practice can work hand in hand with common sense to bridge the gap between today's educational world and the days of the one-room schoolhouse. Teachers and administrators interested in commonsense practice will also be left with a reminder of why they got into the game of education in the first place and why the field cannot go forward without them.

Beyond Common Sense

Beyond Common Sense PDF Author: Fred Wulczyn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351327984
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 317

Book Description
Helping vulnerable children develop their full potential is an attractive idea with broad common-sense appeal. However, child well-being is a broad concept, and the legislative mandate for addressing well-being in the context of the current child welfare system is not particularly clear. This volume asserts that finding a place for well-being on the list of outcomes established to manage the child welfare system is not as easy as it first appears. The overall thrust of this argument is that policy should be evidence-based, and the available evidence is a primary focus of the book. Because policymakers have to make decisions that allocate resources, a basic understanding of incidence in the public health tradition is important, as is evidence that speaks to the question of what works clinically. The rest of the book addresses the evidence. Chapter 2 integrates bio-ecological and public health perspectives to give the evidence base coherence. Chapters 3 and 4 combine evidence from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, the Multistate Foster Care Data Archive, and the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being to offer an unprecedented profile of children as they enter the child welfare system. Chapters 5 and 6 address the broad question of what works. A concluding chapter focuses on policy and future directions, suggesting that children starting out, children starting school, and children starting adolescence are high-risk populations for which explicit strategies have to be formed. This timely volume offers useful insights into the child welfare system and will be of particular interest to policymakers, academics with an interest in Child Welfare Policy, Social Work educators, and Child Advocates.

Common Sense Education

Common Sense Education PDF Author: Ernest J. Zarra
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1475825129
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 195

Book Description
The 2015 passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) has again changed education for public schools and communities. Common Core is now optional and the role of Secretary of Education has been limited by no longer incentivizing states, as done under Common Core. This book analyzes the new direction today’s schools must pursue for student learning and their success beyond high school. States and local educational agencies are once again empowered and will have more authority over curriculum and assessment. Common Sense Education includes samples from these states, ideas from several universities which are retooling their teacher education programs and focusing on teacher excellence, as well as schools recalibrating their programs for student learning. This book advocates for common sense education, uses a national survey to provide parent and teacher perspectives, and suggests a new paradigm for exciting twenty-first century high schools.

Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age

Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age PDF Author: Frederick M. Hess
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1452255490
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 217

Book Description
“By deconstructing learning science and making the connection to technology, Hess and Saxberg have outlined key strategies for school leaders as they work to transform traditional practices in schools. Whether it is whole-school reform or targeted interventions, principals will be motivated to rethink or‘re-engineer’ the use of technology to optimize teaching and learning.” —Gail Connelly, Executive Director National Association of Elementary School Principals.

Try Common Sense: Replacing the Failed Ideologies of Right and Left

Try Common Sense: Replacing the Failed Ideologies of Right and Left PDF Author: Philip K. Howard
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1324001771
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
Award-winning author Philip K. Howard lays out the blueprint for a new American society. In this brief and powerful book, Philip K. Howard attacks the failed ideologies of both parties and proposes a radical simplification of government to re-empower Americans in their daily choices. Nothing will make sense until people are free to roll up their sleeves and make things work. The first steps are to abandon the philosophy of correctness and our devotion to mindless compliance. Americans are a practical people. They want government to be practical. Washington can’t do anything practically. Worse, its bureaucracy prevents Americans from doing what’s sensible. Conservative bluster won’t fix this problem. Liberal hand-wringing won’t work either. Frustrated voters reach for extremist leaders, but they too get bogged down in the bureaucracy that has accumulated over the past century. Howard shows how America can push the reset button and create simpler frameworks focused on public goals where officials—prepare for the shock—are actually accountable for getting the job done.

The Big Lies of School Reform

The Big Lies of School Reform PDF Author: Paul C. Gorski
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134607415
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 188

Book Description
The Big Lies of School Reform provides a critical interruption to the ongoing policy conversations taking place around public education in the United States today. By analyzing the discourse employed by politicians, lobbyists, think tanks, and special interest groups, the authors uncover the hidden assumptions that often underlie popular statements about school reform, and demonstrate how misinformation or half-truths have been used to reshape public education in ways that serve the interests of private enterprise. Through a thoughtful series of essays that each identify one “lie“ about popular school reform initiatives, the authors of this collection reveal the concrete impacts of these falsehoods—from directing funding to shaping curricula to defining student achievement. Luminary contributors including Deborah Meier, Jeannie Oakes, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and Jim Cummins explain how reform movements affect teachers and administrators, and how widely-accepted mistruths can hinder genuine efforts to keep public education equitable, effective, and above all, truly public. Topics covered include common core standards, tracking, alternative paths to licensure, and the disempowerment of teachers’ unions. Beyond critically examining the popular rhetoric, the contributors offer visions for improving educational access, opportunity, and outcomes for all students and educators, and for protecting public education as a common good.