Taking Charge of Curriculum
Taking Charge of Curriculum

Author: Jacob Adams

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 0807777927

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How do teachers adapt to the demands of curriculum change and new educational standards? How do they learn what is expected of them? In this pathbreaking work, Jacob Adams examines how a promising new professional structure, the teacher network, helped teachers implement a novel and challenging high school mathematics curriculum and how it fostered teachers’ determination and ability to get the job done, when traditional staff development supports did not. Beginning with an in-depth examination of the demands of policy on practice, the author concludes with a practice-based model for professional development and curriculum implementation. An important contribution to the discourse on standards, school improvement, and professional development, this volume covers timely topics that are crucial to the understanding of how teachers can work most effectively in this time of curricular change. “This important book engages us in many of the crucial educational issues of our day. Readers will find themselves asking, What is the relationship between policy and practice, and how does it get played out over time? How do teacher professional networks provide important alternatives to traditional staff development strategies? What are the connections among state, district, school, and teachers’ classrooms, and what forms do they take when curriculum implementation is the goal?” —From the Foreword by Ann Lieberman

Rising Above the Gathering Storm
Rising Above the Gathering Storm

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2007-03-08

Total Pages: 590

ISBN-13: 0309100399

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In a world where advanced knowledge is widespread and low-cost labor is readily available, U.S. advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode. A comprehensive and coordinated federal effort is urgently needed to bolster U.S. competitiveness and pre-eminence in these areas. This congressionally requested report by a pre-eminent committee makes four recommendations along with 20 implementation actions that federal policy-makers should take to create high-quality jobs and focus new science and technology efforts on meeting the nation's needs, especially in the area of clean, affordable energy: 1) Increase America's talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education; 2) Sustain and strengthen the nation's commitment to long-term basic research; 3) Develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers from both the U.S. and abroad; and 4) Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world for innovation. Some actions will involve changing existing laws, while others will require financial support that would come from reallocating existing budgets or increasing them. Rising Above the Gathering Storm will be of great interest to federal and state government agencies, educators and schools, public decision makers, research sponsors, regulatory analysts, and scholars.

Working Time and Workers' Preferences in Industrialized Countries
Working Time and Workers' Preferences in Industrialized Countries

Author: Jon C. Messenger

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-09-09

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1135993327

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

As we enter the new century, a common goal has emerged: the removal or liberalization of restrictions on unsocial hours and the variation of working hours. This book draws together an international team to examine the process.

The Fund's Financing Role - Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance
The Fund's Financing Role - Reform Proposals on Liquidity and Emergency Assistance

Author: International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2011-10-28

Total Pages: 21

ISBN-13: 149833833X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The possible global repercussions from the ongoing turmoil in the Euro Area and recent calls for enhanced emergency assistance in the Middle East and North African region are reminders of the urgent need for a more effective global financial safety net to deal with increased interconnectedness and volatility. Past work by staff identified gaps in the Fund’s lending toolkit to respond to liquidity needs of members with relatively strong fundamentals affected during systemic crises (the crisis bystanders), and to address urgent financing needs arising in a broader range of circumstances than natural disasters and post-conflict situations. The companion paper on the Review of the Flexible Credit Line (FCL) and Precautionary Credit Line (PCL) also identified gaps in the overall flexibility of the financing toolkit. This paper provides proposals to fill these gaps, while preserving the simplicity and coherence of the lending framework, and balancing members’ financing needs against the need for adequate safeguards for the use of Fund resources.

From Intercountry Adoption to Global Surrogacy
From Intercountry Adoption to Global Surrogacy

Author: Karen Smith Rotabi

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-12-12

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 131713219X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Intercountry adoption has undergone a radical decline since 2004 when it reached a peak of approximately 45,000 children adopted globally. Its practice had been linked to conflict, poverty, gender inequality, and claims of human trafficking, ultimately leading to the establishment of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption (HCIA). This international private law along with the Convention on the Rights of the Child affirm the best interests of the child as paramount in making decisions on behalf of children and families with obligations specifically oriented to safeguards in adoption practices. In 2004, as intercountry adoption peaked and then began a dramatic decline, commercial global surrogacy contracts began to take off in India. Global surrogacy gained in popularity owing, in part, to improved assisted reproductive technology methods, the ease with which people can make global surrogacy arrangements, and same-sex couples seeking the option to have their own genetically-related children. Yet regulation remains an issue, so much so that the Hague Conference on Private International Law has undertaken research and assessed the many dilemmas as an expert group considers drafting a new law, with some similarities to the HCIA and a strong emphasis on parentage. This ground-breaking book presents a detailed history and applies policy and human rights issues with an emphasis on the best interests of the child within intercountry adoption and the new conceptions of protection necessary in global surrogacy. To meet this end, voices of surrogate mothers in the US and India ground discourse as authors consider the human rights concerns and policy implications. For both intercountry adoption and global surrogacy, the complexity of the social context anchors the discourse inclusive of the intersections of poverty and privilege. This examination of the inevitable problems is presented at a time in which the pathways to global surrogacy appear to be shifting as the Supreme Court of India weighs in on the future of the industry there while Thailand, Cambodia and other countries have banned the practice all together. There is speculation that countries in Africa and possibly Central America appear poised to pick up the multi-million dollar industry as the demand for healthy infants continues on.