The Excellent Education System
The Excellent Education System

Author: Daniel Bloom

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-12-12

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1351356240

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The Excellent Education System:Using Six Sigma to Transform Schools helps you discover and understand the technique of evidence-based learning and operations through which the modern school satisfies the need to increase the flow of successful students through the educational system from Kindergarten through Grade 12. This book explains, in clear terms, what educational excellence means and the principles of process improvement. In addition, it gives your an introduction to the Six Sigma methodology. Included in the discussion are case studies of educational professionals who have found a new world centered in the evidence-based educational processes. These processes lead to many examples of dramatic turnarounds in some failing schools. The author presents strategies and actions that you can use to improve schools such as those presented in the case studies. The Appendices provide a wide variety of tactical resources for implementation.

The Death and Life of the Great American School System
The Death and Life of the Great American School System

Author: Diane Ravitch

Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)

Published: 2010-03-02

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 0465014917

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Discusses how school choice, misapplied standards of accountability, the No Child Left Behind mandate, and the use of a corporate model have all led to a decline in public education and presents arguments for a return to strong neighborhood schools and quality teaching.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?

Author: Yong Zhao

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1118487133

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The secrets behind China's extraordinary educational system – good, bad, and ugly Chinese students' consistently stunning performance on the international PISA exams— where they outscore students of all other nations in math, reading, and science—have positioned China as a world education leader. American educators and pundits have declared this a "Sputnik Moment," saying that we must learn from China's education system in order to maintain our status as an education leader and global superpower. Indeed, many of the reforms taking hold in United States schools, such as a greater emphasis on standardized testing and the increasing importance of core subjects like reading and math, echo the Chinese system. We're following in China's footsteps—but is this the direction we should take? Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon? by award-winning writer Yong Zhao offers an entertaining, provocative insider's account of the Chinese school system, revealing the secrets that make it both "the best and worst" in the world. Born and raised in China's Sichuan province and a teacher in China for many years, Zhao has a unique perspective on Chinese culture and education. He explains in vivid detail how China turns out the world's highest-achieving students in reading, math, and science—yet by all accounts Chinese educators, parents, and political leaders hate the system and long to send their kids to western schools. Filled with fascinating stories and compelling data, Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon? offers a nuanced and sobering tour of education in China. Learn how China is able to turn out the world's highest achieving students in math, science, and reading Discover why, despite these amazing test scores, Chinese parents, teachers, and political leaders are desperate to leave behind their educational system Discover how current reforms in the U.S. parallel the classic Chinese system, and how this could help (or hurt) our students' prospects

The Case against Education
The Case against Education

Author: Bryan Caplan

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2019-08-20

Total Pages: 518

ISBN-13: 0691201439

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Why we need to stop wasting public funds on education Despite being immensely popular—and immensely lucrative—education is grossly overrated. Now with a new afterword by Bryan Caplan, this explosive book argues that the primary function of education is not to enhance students' skills but to signal the qualities of a good employee. Learn why students hunt for easy As only to forget most of what they learn after the final exam, why decades of growing access to education have not resulted in better jobs for average workers, how employers reward workers for costly schooling they rarely ever use, and why cutting education spending is the best remedy. Romantic notions about education being "good for the soul" must yield to careful research and common sense—The Case against Education points the way.

What's the Good of Education?
What's the Good of Education?

Author: Stephen Machin

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2005-05-08

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 9780691117348

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Volumes have been written about the value of more and better education. But is there sufficient evidence to support the commonly held belief that we, as individuals and as a community, should be investing more in education? This book explores that question in unprecedented detail, drawing on empirical evidence from an impressive array of sources. While much of the focus is on the educational system in the United Kingdom, the book offers lessons of international applicability. A state-of-the-art compendium on education policy and its impact on educational attainment, the book examines numerous large-scale data sources on individual pupils and schools. The questions the book considers are far-ranging: How much do teachers matter for children's educational attainment? What payoff do people get from acquiring more education when they enter the labor market? How well do education systems function to provide employers with the skills they want? The book concludes by issuing some strong policy recommendations and offering an evaluation of what does and does not work in improving educational attainment. The recommendations address such issues as school effectiveness, education financing, individual investment in education, government education initiatives, higher education, labor market rewards, and lifelong learning.

Leading High-Performance School Systems
Leading High-Performance School Systems

Author: Marc Tucker

Publisher: ASCD

Published: 2019-01-15

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 1416627022

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WITH A FOREWORD BY LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND Did you know that close to half of today's jobs in the U.S. could be done by robots and that proportion is rapidly increasing? It is quite possible that about half of today's high school graduates will not have the knowledge or skills needed to get a decent job when they graduate. Tomorrow's high school graduates will be able to thrive in this environment, but only if school superintendents, central office executives, and principals use the strategies employed by the world's top-performing education systems to build the high-performance education systems today's students will need to succeed tomorrow. In Leading High-Performance School Systems: Lessons from the World's Best, Marc Tucker, a leading expert on top-performing school systems with more than 30 years of experience studying the global economy and education systems worldwide, details how top-performing school systems have met head-on the challenges facing school leaders today. You'll learn why our current system is obsolete, explore the knowledge and skills needed to design and build first-rate education systems, and gain a solid understanding of the key elements of high-performance school systems, including the following: A powerful, coherent instructional system with school-leaving certifications that mean much more than today's high school diploma. Partnerships with first-rate universities to ensure a steady supply of highly capable, well-educated, and well-trained teachers. Schools reorganized around highly qualified professional teachers with a career ladder they can climb. High expectations and personalized support to ensure that children arrive at each grade level ready to learn. An equitable system that closes the gaps in student performance. Vocational education for talented youth seeking an applied, academically rigorous education. Leading High-Performance School Systems is an invaluable resource for school leaders preparing today's students for tomorrow's world. This book is a copublication of ASCD and NCEE.

Wasting Minds
Wasting Minds

Author: Ronald A. Wolk

Publisher: ASCD

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1416611312

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This book offers a smart and tightly reasoned critique of the educational status quo.

Finnish Lessons
Finnish Lessons

Author: Pasi Sahlberg

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0807770884

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“It is now time to break down the ideology of exceptionalism in the United States and other Anglo-American nations if we are to develop reforms that will truly inspire our teachers to improve learning for all our students—especially those who struggle the most. In that essential quest, Pasi Sahlberg is undoubtedly one of the very best teachers of all.” —From the Foreword by Andy Hargreaves, Lynch School of Education, Boston College Finnish Lessons is a first-hand, comprehensive account of how Finland built a world-class education system during the past three decades. The author traces the evolution of education policies in Finland and highlights how they differ from the United States and other industrialized countries. He shows how rather than relying on competition, choice, and external testing of students, education reforms in Finland focus on professionalizing teachers’ work, developing instructional leadership in schools, and enhancing trust in teachers and schools. This book details the complexity of educational change and encourages educators and policymakers to develop effective solutions for their own districts and schools.

Excellent Sheep
Excellent Sheep

Author: William Deresiewicz

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-08-19

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 147670273X

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A groundbreaking manifesto about what our nation’s top schools should be—but aren’t—providing: “The ex-Yale professor effectively skewers elite colleges, their brainy but soulless students (those ‘sheep’), pushy parents, and admissions mayhem” (People). As a professor at Yale, William Deresiewicz saw something that troubled him deeply. His students, some of the nation’s brightest minds, were adrift when it came to the big questions: how to think critically and creatively and how to find a sense of purpose. Now he argues that elite colleges are turning out conformists without a compass. Excellent Sheep takes a sharp look at the high-pressure conveyor belt that begins with parents and counselors who demand perfect grades and culminates in the skewed applications Deresiewicz saw firsthand as a member of Yale’s admissions committee. As schools shift focus from the humanities to “practical” subjects like economics, students are losing the ability to think independently. It is essential, says Deresiewicz, that college be a time for self-discovery when students can establish their own values and measures of success in order to forge their own paths. He features quotes from real students and graduates he has corresponded with over the years, candidly exposing where the system is broken and offering clear solutions on how to fix it. “Excellent Sheep is likely to make…a lasting mark….He takes aim at just about the entirety of upper-middle-class life in America….Mr. Deresiewicz’s book is packed full of what he wants more of in American life: passionate weirdness” (The New York Times).

Class Warfare
Class Warfare

Author: Steven Brill

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-08-14

Total Pages: 477

ISBN-13: 145161201X

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This work looks at why many of America's schools are failing and relates how parents, activists, and education reformers are joining together to fix a system that works for adults but consistently fails the children it is meant to educate. In it the author takes a look at the adults who are fighting over America's failure to educate its children, and points the way to reversing that failure.