Innovations in Education – serie

"What if teachers were owners, not employees?" Teacher-ownership is a revolutionary way to put excitement and meaning back into the teaching profession and to revitalize public education. This book demonstrates how being an owner rather than an employee can give teachers control of their professional activity, including full responsibility and accountability for creating and sustaining high performing learning communities. It presents examples of teacher-ownership in practice and provides practical models for those who would like to experience the professional satisfaction found in ownership. Like doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, teachers have the same opportunity to work for themselves through ownership of professional partnerships. In a professional partnership, the teachers are the leaders and decision-makers. They control their own work and their own relationships to students, including determining curriculum, setting the budget, choosing the level of technology available to students, determining their own salaries, selecting their colleagues, monitoring performance and hiring administrators to work for them, not vice versa.

The Minnesota New Country School's award-winning project-based model is capturing the attention of administrators and educators across the country. This book explains the theory and practice behind making a project-based system work. It covers learning theory, the role of teachers in such a system, what a school building and school day would look like, examples of student projects and how they are assessed, and a chapter on steps to take to create a school of this nature.Educators, parents, and students who feel oppressed by the system or are not satisfied with their present situation; people who are in danger of losing a school to consolidation; or small school movements in urban areas will want to read this book and discover a different outlook on what learning is, how learning takes place, and how to keep young people interested and excited about learning.

America’s educational system is in crisis. Test scores show us that students across America are performing at levels far below their peers overseas. In addition, graduation rates are shamefully low. There is no doubt that America’s students deserve better. In a rapidly changing world, our students are not being taught the basic knowledge and skills they need to succeed. It’s time for educators, representing the conscience of society, along with parents and community members to get to the root of the problem. By addressing the current issues that contemporary school systems face -- including teacher unions, school reforms, the U.S. Department of Education, technology, NCLB, teachers under scrutiny, teacher tenure, boosting parent engagement, failing schools, and the realities of what works and what doesn’t in the charter school realm -- Rebuilding Schools for Students: Let the Change Begin serves to promote change by taking risks and achieving results. Educators should address schools in crisis, develop strategies to go from failure to success, and find common ground. Our students deserve the best.

America’s educational system is in crisis. Test scores show us that students across America are performing at levels far below their peers overseas. In addition, graduation rates are shamefully low. There is no doubt that America’s students deserve better. In a rapidly changing world, our students are not being taught the basic knowledge and skills they need to succeed. It’s time for educators, representing the conscience of society, along with parents and community members to get to the root of the problem. By addressing the current issues that contemporary school systems face -- including teacher unions, school reforms, the U.S. Department of Education, technology, NCLB, teachers under scrutiny, teacher tenure, boosting parent engagement, failing schools, and the realities of what works and what doesn’t in the charter school realm -- Rebuilding Schools for Students: Let the Change Begin serves to promote change by taking risks and achieving results. Educators should address schools in crisis, develop strategies to go from failure to success, and find common ground. Our students deserve the best.

Here is a comprehensive model for school start-ups from the initial planning, to the opening of the school, and through its initial growth. It is written for educational leaders who are engaging in the current transformation of America's education system through the creation of charter schools, private schools, and other emerging educational entities. The most common cause of new school failure is not curricular in nature, but rather is due to financial and management shortcomings. Following well-established entrepreneurial processes and principles can dramatically reduce the failure rate of these new schools. The book presents specific tools and techniques to guide the school start-up. It includes examples from educational and traditional entrepreneurs. One important outcome of this book for school leaders is a comprehensive business plan that can be used to secure funding and to more effectively manage the start-up process.Written for founders, board members, and advisors of charter schools, parochial schools, private schools, and other educational start-ups. It is also recommended for public agencies, foundations and universities that provide funding, training, and other support for these schools.

If you are looking for a book that provides concrete advice for establishing group reflection, then Talking Teaching is the perfect choice. The work is the product of a three-year grant-supported induction year program. College faculty from an associated group of colleges joined staff developers from a growing suburban district in creating an entire year's curriculum for beginning teachers. One component included monthly meetings of reflective practice groups including new and experienced teachers, a college professor, and usually, one district administrator. The group soon became aware of the need for collegial conversation in supporting teachers both new and experienced. Teachers were eager to share advice and offer support, and the reflective group process became an educational vehicle for making theory-to-practice connections. Will be of interest to principals, faculty/staff development coordinators, and teacher preparation faculty.

Has your school survived a major initiative only to be ambushed by another theory that demands that you rush full speed in the opposite direction? Have you been told that the fate of education depends on "the search for excellence," "equality", or assessment? Is your dream of the day that the consultants will go away and let you get back to work? The irony is that some of the management ideas and prescriptions really can reverse or renovate your school. The key is to determine which ideas belong in your hot file and which in your circular file. In Managers Make the Difference , author Darlene Leiding acknowledges that enormous problems outside schools do not mean that educators inside schools cannot do a better job at managing the learning environment. She designed the book to inform and assist those who wish to redefine problems so they can be solved. You will learn how to use creative problem solving to move from a challenge to creative action. Management can help schools learn how to minimize duplication and increase accountability. With this book, Leiding delivers practical methods you can immediately apply to help you become more creative and to nurture the creativity in the people who work for you. Issues include: Energy savings, The new accountability, Good board/bad board, Standards for school leaders, Staying afloat, Angry parents, Who is teaching our children, and The monster media. In today's educational world we need to achieve significant results at a much faster pace than at any other time in history. Managers, as well as parents, teachers, and students must come together to make a difference.

The accelerating demographic and economic changes within our society, the deepening racial divide, and the elusive quest for equality and justice make multicultural education and understanding the culturally diverse student imperative in the 21st century. The gap between the rich and poor has widened, and visible signs of the racial crisis have become stark. Racial Bias in the Classroom: Can Teachers Reach All Children? includes a history of multicultural America and features discussions on the issues and perspectives of multicultural curriculum, language diversity, and proven teaching strategies invaluable for all teachers, parents, and students.

The accelerating demographic and economic changes within our society, the deepening racial divide, and the elusive quest for equality and justice make multicultural education and understanding the culturally diverse student imperative in the 21st century. The gap between the rich and poor has widened, and visible signs of the racial crisis have become stark. Racial Bias in the Classroom: Can Teachers Reach All Children? includes a history of multicultural America and features discussions on the issues and perspectives of multicultural curriculum, language diversity, and proven teaching strategies invaluable for all teachers, parents, and students.

UNSUSTAINABLE frames the problem of cost and effectiveness in America’s public schooling system, and provides a strategy to address it.It argues something that many education professionals and policy makers have come to believe but rarely mention: That this country’s system of K-12 schooling is not sustainable and is becoming a poorer value each year that goes by.It argues for improving the cost and effectiveness of public schooling through a strategy of innovation that targets productivity. Addressing the question how to do this, the book provides policy recommendations to the state, district, and federal levels. In a final chapter it outlines uncommon strategies for overcoming some of the most difficult political, practical, and structural roadblocks to improvement.