Linda Skrla – författare

Despite the intense political attention that has been focused on accountability, on standardized testing, and on the equity effects of both accountability and testing, the great majority of recent debate in education policy circles has failed to attend to either the dynamism or complexity of these issues and has, instead, been carried out in a dualistic, good versus evil, fashion. In contrast, the scholarship collected in this important new volume is designed to move beyond the prevailing dualism and to push the discourse about accountability, testing, and educational equity in public schools usefully forward, and to provide a much-needed resource for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners.

Despite the intense political attention that has been focused on accountability, on standardized testing, and on the equity effects of both accountability and testing, the great majority of recent debate in education policy circles has failed to attend to either the dynamism or complexity of these issues and has, instead, been carried out in a dualistic, good versus evil, fashion. In contrast, the scholarship collected in this important new volume is designed to move beyond the prevailing dualism and to push the discourse about accountability, testing, and educational equity in public schools usefully forward, and to provide a much-needed resource for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners.

A critical reflection on the field of feminist research in educational leadership.Ten prominent feminist researchers from diverse backgrounds examine educational leadership by focusing on critical questions about the theories, methods, and epistemologies feminist researchers use. The contributors analyze the impact of research on participants and assess the ethical and political implications of researching across groups. They explore the types of strategies feminist researchers have developed to address the problems of the field and propose alternative epistemologies that provide for more sensitive research methods and more complex research results. The book provides a timely examination of how gender inequalities were created and structured within U.S. systems of school administration, how they are maintained and perpetuated, and how they might best be understood and dismantled.

Schools and districts are seeing unprecedented numbers of students and families living without residential stability. Although the McKinney-Vento Act has been around for over two decades, many district- and site-level practitioners have a difficult time interpreting and implementing the Act’s mandates within their local contexts. This book provides much-needed guidance to help educational leaders support students who are homeless and highly mobile students who face significant barriers related to access and academic success. The authors employ several different strategies to help translate complex state and federal policies into effective practices. They include policy analysis, examples of successful approaches, tools for training staff, youth experiences, and address the role of school districts in serving marginalized students. Serving Students Who Are Homeless can be used as a professional development tool at the local and district level, and as a textbook in higher education settings that prepare entry-level and advanced-credential administrators, counselors, school psychologists, and curriculum leaders.

This introductory text provides a clear, readable description of critical theory research and how to use it in educational settings. Critical theory has evolved since the early days of the Frankfurt School. It no longer addresses only issues of capitalism, culture, class, and ideology, but also challenges issues of race, sexual orientation, gender, ability, ethnicity, and more. In the zeitgeist of today, these issues are on the debate stage. This timely guide is divided into three main sections: Background of Critical Research in Education, Intersectional and Identity-Based Critical Research in Education, and Additional Types of Critical Research in Education. For each critical approach, the authors provide background, important terminology and concepts, notable researchers and theories, as well as how to design and conduct a study using examples of published articles. Doing Critical Research in Education is a must-have for anyone who wants to engage in critical research to assist them in understanding and addressing some of the most pressing issues in education today, as well as all areas in which there is oppression or marginalization of students and their communities.Book Features:Offers a thorough yet accessible overview on how to employ critical theory in research.Provides a rich explanation of difficult foundational knowledge with examples of how to apply the concepts in education settings.Includes a user-friendly format appropriate for students, professors, researchers, and practitioners.

This introductory text provides a clear, readable description of critical theory research and how to use it in educational settings. Critical theory has evolved since the early days of the Frankfurt School. It no longer addresses only issues of capitalism, culture, class, and ideology, but also challenges issues of race, sexual orientation, gender, ability, ethnicity, and more. In the zeitgeist of today, these issues are on the debate stage. This timely guide is divided into three main sections: Background of Critical Research in Education, Intersectional and Identity-Based Critical Research in Education, and Additional Types of Critical Research in Education. For each critical approach, the authors provide background, important terminology and concepts, notable researchers and theories, as well as how to design and conduct a study using examples of published articles. Doing Critical Research in Education is a must-have for anyone who wants to engage in critical research to assist them in understanding and addressing some of the most pressing issues in education today, as well as all areas in which there is oppression or marginalization of students and their communities.Book Features:Offers a thorough yet accessible overview on how to employ critical theory in research.Provides a rich explanation of difficult foundational knowledge with examples of how to apply the concepts in education settings.Includes a user-friendly format appropriate for students, professors, researchers, and practitioners.

"Hallett and Skrla have provided a well-timed guide that districts and schools can use to begin meeting these much-needed expectations and improve outcomes for this often-invisible population of students." —Journal of Children and Poverty (first edition)This popular book is an important professional development tool for practitioners and an essential textbook for teacher, administrator, and school counselor degree programs. This new edition of Serving Students Who Are Homeless provides updated guidance to help P–20 educators support students who face significant barriers affecting school access and success due to homelessness and housing insecurity. Taking a solutions-oriented approach, the authors include resources for educators and leaders working at school sites, as well as the district-, county-, and state-level educators that support the implementation of promising practices.For the second edition, the authors add resources and activities based on lessons learned from current research and feedback from schools and districts that use this book for professional development. Expanded applications-to-practice sections appear at the end of each chapter. Also new to this edition, author Ann Aviles brings deeper insights into how schools and districts can more effectively collaborate with community and social service organizations.Book Features:Guidance related to interpreting federal mandates and implementing promising practices within the local context.Resources and activities to run a professional learning community or book study.Additional support for leveraging community partnerships to support students and families.Case studies that include the voices of students, families, educators, and leaders.Exploration of how to engage with key social issues that are currently volatile within the political context that educators, schools, districts and boards navigate.New tools in the appendix to encourage educators to reflect on their practice and make better decisions about how to support students and families experiencing homelessness.

"Hallett and Skrla have provided a well-timed guide that districts and schools can use to begin meeting these much-needed expectations and improve outcomes for this often-invisible population of students." —Journal of Children and Poverty (first edition)This popular book is an important professional development tool for practitioners and an essential textbook for teacher, administrator, and school counselor degree programs. This new edition of Serving Students Who Are Homeless provides updated guidance to help P–20 educators support students who face significant barriers affecting school access and success due to homelessness and housing insecurity. Taking a solutions-oriented approach, the authors include resources for educators and leaders working at school sites, as well as the district-, county-, and state-level educators that support the implementation of promising practices.For the second edition, the authors add resources and activities based on lessons learned from current research and feedback from schools and districts that use this book for professional development. Expanded applications-to-practice sections appear at the end of each chapter. Also new to this edition, author Ann Aviles brings deeper insights into how schools and districts can more effectively collaborate with community and social service organizations.Book Features:Guidance related to interpreting federal mandates and implementing promising practices within the local context.Resources and activities to run a professional learning community or book study.Additional support for leveraging community partnerships to support students and families.Case studies that include the voices of students, families, educators, and leaders.Exploration of how to engage with key social issues that are currently volatile within the political context that educators, schools, districts and boards navigate.New tools in the appendix to encourage educators to reflect on their practice and make better decisions about how to support students and families experiencing homelessness.

This book makes a distinction between the "principal" - the man or woman who occupies the position - and the "principal ship", the entire leadership function which, although overseen and coordinated by the principal, also includes activities of assistant principals, teachers, counsellors, and others. It explains and applies the 21 domains recommended by the National Policy Board and demonstrates how they relate to the ISLLC standards.

Use the power of equity audits to help eliminate achievement gaps and educational bias!

If you've heard about equity audits but aren't really sure how to use them in your school, you are not alone. This resource, written by well-known authors and experts in the areas of equity and achievement, expands school leaders' understanding of how to interpret data in order to make equity audits work and provides practical, easy-to-implement strategies for using this school assessment approach to help ensure a high-quality education for all students, regardless of socio-economic class.

Grounded solidly in theory, this book demonstrates how audits can help not only in developing fair programs that provide all students with the opportunity to reach their potential but also for hiring, training, and retaining good teachers. Readers will discover how to remedy inequalities in student achievement by using:

A set of "inequity indicators" for evaluating schools, generating essential data, and identifying problem areas The NCLB Act in a positive way to create equityNine skill sets for improved equity-oriented teachingCharts, graphs, and support materials that can be customized for specific settings

Ideal for helping principals develop school-based equity audits with confidence, Using Equity Audits to Create Equitable and Excellent Schools can also be used by superintendents to increase equity awareness at the district level.