Education Reform and the Limits of Policy

Education Reform and the Limits of Policy

Author: Michael Addonizio

Publisher: W.E. Upjohn Institute

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 0880993871

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While there is no doubt that an abundance of newly enacted education policies abounds across the state and across the nation, more fundamental questions remain. What is the nature of these reforms? What do they hope to accomplish? How successful have they been? In this book, we attempt to provide some answers to these questions by examining a major set of education policy reforms undertaken in Michigan and across the country over the past 20 or more years. These innovations include finance reform, state assessment of student performance, a series of school accountability measures, charter schools, schools of choice, and, for Detroit, a bevy of oft-conflicting policies and reform efforts that have belabored but seldom helped its public schools. In the pages that follow, we examine the decidedly mixed outcomes and effects of this large array of reform policies and programs. Each chapter addresses a specific policy area, outlining reform activity across the nation with an emphasis on Michigan's efforts as well as on one or two states that led these changes.


A Michigan School Money Primer for Policymakers, School Officials, Media and Residents

A Michigan School Money Primer for Policymakers, School Officials, Media and Residents

Author: Ryan S. Olson

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13:

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The system that finances Michigan's schools from kindergarten through 12th grade is a perennial topic of conversation among policymakers, parents, taxpayers and voters. A constructive discussion of this issue, however, requires a sound knowledge of the financial workings of Michigan's elementary and secondary school system. This knowledge is precisely what the authors have attempted to provide. While the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has developed numerous policy recommendations over the years, this primer is exclusively informational. This primer addresses the following: (1) how revenues are raised for Michigan's elementary and secondary public school system; (2) how money is distributed to education programs and school districts once it is collected by various taxing authorities; and (3) how districts budget monies to be spent on the various activities involved in operating schools and other educational programming. This book is arranged in four sections. The first--and the shortest--is "A Brief Overview of the Structure of Michigan's Public School System," which defines a few basic terms and sketches the main local, state and federal agencies involved in financing Michigan's public school system. This overview should help readers unfamiliar with Michigan's public school structure navigate the remainder of the book. The second, third and fourth sections are considerably longer than the first and cover the three areas: tax revenues, distribution of revenues and financial management of those revenues by school districts. Appended are: (1) U.S. Department of Education Spending in Michigan; (2) Summary of "Durant" Court Decisions; and (3) Guide to a New School Finance Electronic Module. An index is included. (Contains 29 graphs, 238 footnotes, and 410 endnotes, footnotes.) [This paper was written with the assistance of Glenda Rader, Darcy Marusich, Alison Taylor, Steve Zakem, John Schwartz, Thomas Moline, Charles Pisoni, Gary Start, Paul Soma, Tim Yeadon, Mary Ann Cleary, Douglas Newcombe, Vicki Duso, Clark Volz, Howard Heideman, Paul Brown, Phil Boone, Patrick Dillon, Jayne Klein, and Dianne Easterling.].


Infectious Disease Surveillance

Infectious Disease Surveillance

Author: Nkuchia M. M'ikanatha

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-03-11

Total Pages: 1139

ISBN-13: 1118543521

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This fully updated edition of Infectious Disease Surveillance is for frontline public health practitioners, epidemiologists, and clinical microbiologists who are engaged in communicable disease control. It is also a foundational text for trainees in public health, applied epidemiology, postgraduate medicine and nursing programs. The second edition portrays both the conceptual framework and practical aspects of infectious disease surveillance. It is a comprehensive resource designed to improve the tracking of infectious diseases and to serve as a starting point in the development of new surveillance systems. Infectious Disease Surveillance includes over 45 chapters from over 100 contributors, and topics organized into six sections based on major themes. Section One highlights the critical role surveillance plays in public health and it provides an overview of the current International Health Regulations (2005) in addition to successes and challenges in infectious disease eradication. Section Two describes surveillance systems based on logical program areas such as foodborne illnesses, vector-borne diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, viral hepatitis healthcare and transplantation associated infections. Attention is devoted to programs for monitoring unexplained deaths, agents of bioterrorism, mass gatherings, and disease associated with international travel. Sections Three and Four explore the uses of the Internet and wireless technologies to advance infectious disease surveillance in various settings with emphasis on best practices based on deployed systems. They also address molecular laboratory methods, and statistical and geospatial analysis, and evaluation of systems for early epidemic detection. Sections Five and Six discuss legal and ethical considerations, communication strategies and applied epidemiology-training programs. The rest of the chapters offer public-private partnerships, as well lessons from the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic and future directions for infectious disease surveillance.


Developing Standards-Based Report Cards

Developing Standards-Based Report Cards

Author: Thomas R. Guskey

Publisher: Corwin Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 1412940869

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Providing a clear framework, this volume helps school leaders align assessment and reporting practices with standards-based education and develop more detailed reports of children's learning and progress.


Stuck in the Shallow End, updated edition

Stuck in the Shallow End, updated edition

Author: Jane Margolis

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2017-03-03

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 0262533464

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Why so few African American and Latino/a students study computer science: updated edition of a book that reveals the dynamics of inequality in American schools. The number of African Americans and Latino/as receiving undergraduate and advanced degrees in computer science is disproportionately low. And relatively few African American and Latino/a high school students receive the kind of institutional encouragement, educational opportunities, and preparation needed for them to choose computer science as a field of study and profession. In Stuck in the Shallow End, Jane Margolis and coauthors look at the daily experiences of students and teachers in three Los Angeles public high schools: an overcrowded urban high school, a math and science magnet school, and a well-funded school in an affluent neighborhood. They find an insidious “virtual segregation” that maintains inequality. The race gap in computer science, Margolis discovers, is one example of the way students of color are denied a wide range of occupational and educational futures. Stuck in the Shallow End is a story of how inequality is reproduced in America—and how students and teachers, given the necessary tools, can change the system. Since the 2008 publication of Stuck in the Shallow End, the book has found an eager audience among teachers, school administrators, and academics. This updated edition offers a new preface detailing the progress in making computer science accessible to all, a new postscript, and discussion questions (coauthored by Jane Margolis and Joanna Goode).


The Bravest Man in the World

The Bravest Man in the World

Author: Patricia Polacco

Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

Published: 2019-09-24

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 1481494619

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From master storyteller Patricia Polacco comes the tragic and beautiful story inspired by Wallace Hartley—the musician who played with his band to calm the passengers of the Titanic as the ship sank. One afternoon, Jonathan Harker Weeks didn’t feel like practicing the piano. So his grandfather decided to tell him a story to show how much of an impact music can have. When he was a child growing up poor in Ireland, his mother made sure he learned to play the fiddle, despite their challenges. After his mother passed away and he was on his own, Jonathan’s grandfather fell asleep hiding in a mail sack and was taken to a ship. When he woke up, he realized he was on the Titanic on its maiden voyage, and it was there that he met Wallace Hartley and Mrs. Weeks, a kind man and woman who took him in. Then one night, the majestic ship hit an iceberg. He and Mrs. Weeks were put on a lifeboat—and Mr. Hartley and his band bravely continued to play to calm the crew and passengers. The story of Wallace Hartley is true and he is known throughout the world as a hero. The New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of The Keeping Quilt Patricia Polacco offers this stunning and heartbreaking picture book to celebrate the memory and bravery of a single man who used the power of music to comfort thousands of people during a catastrophic situation.


Static Electricity

Static Electricity

Author: Günter Lüttgens

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-12-04

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 3527341285

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Dieses Buch, geschrieben von Autoren mit langjähriger Forschungs- und Beratungserfahrung, bietet den Leserinnen und Lesern einen Überblick über Gefahren - und Nutzen - statischer Elektrizität im industriellen Umfeld. Nach einer Diskussion der Grundlagen zum Verständnis insbesondere von Zündungen infolge elektrostatischer Entladungen untersucht das Buch die Ursachen derartiger Entladungen in der Industrie, wie sie etwa beim Transport von Schüttgütern, Flüssigkeiten oder Kunststoffbahnen auftreten. Der größte Teil des Buches behandelt die Messung statischer Elektrizität, die Vermeidung unerwünschter Entladungen und Gefahrenabwehr unter verschiedenen Bedingungen. Fallstudien aus der Praxis untermauern die Darlegungen, und zusätzliche Videos, erhältlich unter www.wiley-vch.de/ISBN9783527341283, illustrieren die teils drastischen Effekte statischer Entladungen. Die Interessenten: - Studenten aller Fachrichtungen, in denen Elektrostatik zu beachten ist - Konstrukteure und Betreiber von Anlagen im Bereich der Chemie und der Mineralölverarbeitung - Hersteller und Anwender von Kunststoffen - Alle, die mit empfindlichen elektronischen Geräten umgehen - Präsumtive Erfinder, die elektrostatische Möglichkeiten nutzen wollen - Lehrkräfte an Schulen und Hochschulen - Prüfstellen, aufsichtsführende Behörden, Berufsgenossenschaften, Sachversicherer