The author looks at critical dialogue surrounding the causes for the alarming high numbers of high school dropouts in states that use high stakes standardized testing mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act, and investigates the perceived correlations between high stakes testing and high numbers of high school dropouts of minority students.
America's leading expert in educational testing and measurement openly names the failures caused by today's testing policies and provides a blueprint for doing better. 6 x 9.
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is designed to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged and disadvantaged children through its Title I program. This book explores models to achieve equity in Title I schools; and defines what is required of states in Title I schools. It examines how each state implements NCLB accountability standards.
Signed into law in 2002, the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) promised to revolutionize American public education. Originally supported by a bipartisan coalition, it purports to improve public schools by enforcing a system of standards and accountability through high-stakes testing. Many people supported it originally, despite doubts, because of its promise especially to improve the way schools serve poor children. By making federal funding contingent on accepting a system of tests and sanctions, it is radically affecting the life of schools around the country. But, argue the authors of this citizen's guide to the most important political issue in education, far from improving public schools and increasing the ability of the system to serve poor and minority children, the law is doing exactly the opposite. Here some of our most prominent, respected voices in education-including school innovator Deborah Meier, education activist Alfie Kohn, and founder of the Coalition of Essential Schools Theodore R. Sizer-come together to show us how, point by point, NCLB undermines the things it claims to improve: * How NCLB punishes rather than helps poor and minority kids and their schools * How NCLB helps further an agenda of privatization and an attack on public schools * How the focus on testing and test preparation dumbs down classrooms * And they put forward a richly articulated vision of alternatives. Educators and parents around the country are feeling the harshly counterproductive effects of NCLB. This book is an essential guide to understanding what's wrong and where we should go from here.
"From applied behavior analysis to vicarious reinforcement, overviews of theories outline concepts basic to the field of educational psychology. Each of the 275 scholarly articles give sample suggestions for further research. All told, the set provides a useful introduction to a bourgeoning area of study and is highly recommended for academic libraries." —John R. M. Lawrence "This comprehensive, informative, cross-disciplinary, and authoritative encyclopedia supports a holistic approach to preschool to adult education and would make a welcome addition to any undergraduate collection." —Library Journal Educational Psychology is a special field of endeavor since it strives to apply what we know about many different disciplines to the broad process of education. In the most general terms, you can expect to find topics in this area that fall into the categories of human learning and development (across the life span), motivation, measurement and statistics, and curriculum and teaching. There are few comprehensive overviews of the field of educational psychology, and the purpose of this two-volume Encyclopedia is to share this information in a way that is, above all, informative without being overly technical or intimidating. With more than 275 contributions, the Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology opens up the broad discipline of educational psychology to a wide and general audience. Written by experts in each area, the entries in this far-reaching resource provide an overview and an explanation of the major topics in the field of human development. While the Encyclopedia includes some technical topics related to educational psychology, for the most part, it focuses on those topics that evoke the interest of the everyday reader. Key Features Addresses topics that are of particular interest to the general public such as vouchers, Head Start, divorce, learning communities and charter schools Shares subjects that are rich, diverse, and deserving of closer inspection with an educated reader who may be uninformed about educational psychology Draws from a variety of disciplines including psychology, anthropology, education, sociology, public health, school psychology, counseling, history, and philosophy Presents many different topics all tied together by the theme of how the individual can best function in an educational setting, from pre-school through adult education Key Themes Classroom Achievement Classroom Management Cognitive Development Ethnicity, Race, and Culture Families Gender and Gender Development Health and Well-Being Human Development Intelligence and Intellectual Development Language Development Learning and Memory Organizations Peers and Peer Influences Public Policy Research Methods and Statistics Social Development Teaching Testing, Measurement, and Evaluation Theory This practical Encyclopedia brings the field of educational psychology to the everyday person making it a welcome addition to any academic or public library.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is the latest in more than two decades of federal efforts to raise educational standards and an even longer stream of initiatives to improve education for poor children. What lessons can we draw from these earlier efforts to help NCLB achieve its goals? In Standards-Based Reform and the Poverty Gap, leading scholars in sociology, economics, psychology, and education policy take on this critical question. Armed with the latest data and up-to-date research syntheses, the authors show that standards-based reform has had some positive effects, particularly in the area of teacher quality. Moreover, some of the critics' greatest fears have not been realized: for example, retention rates have not shot upward. Yet the overall pace of improvement has been slow, owing in part to poor implementation. Based on these findings, the contributors offer recommendations for the implementation and impending reauthorization of NCLB. These proposals, such as national testing and a rethinking of achievement targets, are sure to be at the center of the upcoming debate. Contributors include Thomas Dee, Laura Desimone, George Farkas, Barbara Foorman, Brian Jacob, Robert M. Hauser, Paul Hill, Tom Loveless, Meredith Phillips, Andrew C. Porter, and Thomas Smith.
WINNER 2017 O.L. Davis, Jr. AATC Outstanding Book in Education Award WINNER 2017 American Educational Studies Association Critics Choice Award Through rich ethnographic detail, Urban Educational Identity captures the complexities of urban education by documenting the everyday practices of teaching and learning at a high-achieving, high-poverty school. Drawing on over two years of intensive fieldwork and analysis, author Sara M. Childers shows how students, teachers, and parents work both within and against traditional deficit discourses to demonstrate the challenges and paradoxes of urban schooling. It offers an up-close description of how macro-government policies are interpreted, applied, and even subverted for better or worse by students as active agents in their own education. The book moves on to develop and analyze the concept of "urban cachet," tracing how conceptions of race and class were deeply entwined with the very practices for success that propelled students towards graduation and college entrance. A poignant, insightful, and practical analysis, Urban Educational Identity is a timely exploration of how race and class continue to matter in schools.
Distinguished multiculturalist Sonia Nieto speaks directly to current and future teachers in this thoughtful integration of a selection of her key writings with creative pedagogical features. Offering information, insights, and motivation to teach students of diverse cultural, racial, and linguistic backgrounds, this text is intended for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level students and professional development courses. Examples are included throughout to illustrate real-life dilemmas about diversity that teachers face in their own classrooms; ideas about how language, culture, and teaching are linked; and ways to engage with these ideas through reflection and collaborative inquiry. Each chapter includes critical questions; classroom activities; and community activities suggesting projects beyond the classroom context. Over half of the chapters are new to this edition, bringing it up-to-date in terms of recent educational policy issues and demographic changes in our society.
This volume gathers together twenty major chapters that tackle a variety of issues associated with equity in mathematics education along the dimensions of gender, culture, curriculum diversity, and matters of a biological nature. The pursuit of equity in mathematics education is an important concern in the history of the present. Since there is no doubt about the significant role of mathematics in almost every aspect of life, it means that all individuals regardless of sex, in any age range, and in whatever context need to be provided with an opportunity to become mathematically able. The publication of this Springer volume on equity in mathematics education is situated at a time when there is strong and sustained research evidence indicating the persistence of an equity gap in mathematics, which has now enabled the mathematics education community to engage in a discourse of access for all. The research studies that are reported and discussed in the volume have been drawn from an international group of distinguished scholars whose impressive, forward-looking, and thought-provoking perspectives on relevant issues incite, broaden, and expand complicated conversations on how we might effectively achieve equity in mathematics education at the local, institutional, and systemic levels. Further, the up-to-date research knowledge in the field that is reflected in this volume provides conceptual and practical outlines for mechanisms of change, including models, examples, and usable theories that can inform the development of powerful equitable practices and the mobilization of meaningful equity interventions in different contexts of mathematics education.
