As an American educator with decades of experience, Dr. Deborah J. Rhea had a burning desire to know why Finland’s educational system was top ranked in the world, while the United States fell in the middle of the pack. She made it her mission to learn what she could. Rhea took a six-week trip to Finland, where she lived and learned from the best in their schools and government. During that period, her observations revealed that her generation experienced life and education very differently from children today. The philosophies and principles she saw reflected in the Finnish educational system helped open her eyes to the many wrong turns that the United States has made in education over the last thirty years. What’s more, Rhea presents the right moves needed to get the country back on track for a healthier, happier method of educating children. In this study, an experienced educator compares the educational approaches of Finland and the United States, considering ways that the latter might be adjusted and improved.
What counterintuitive lessons can we learn from the meteoric rise of Mindset Theory in education? Why have computers so overwhelmingly failed to become the academic panacea many expected them to be? How can the simple act of assigning grades drive student narcissism and damage teacher professionalism? In this book, brain and behavioural research is combined with respected philosophy in order to place ten widely accepted yet rarely examined aspects of education under the microscope. - Teacher Expertise - Evidence-Based Practice - Grading - Homework - Mindset - 21st Century Skills - Computers - Rewards - Daily Organization - Function This book aims to inspire teachers, leaders, and parents to question many commonly held beliefs and empower them to re-think the role of modern schooling.
The unforgettable true story of one man’s escape from the school-to-prison pipeline, how he reinvented himself as a pastor and education reform advocate, and what his journey can teach us about turning the collateral damage in the lives of our youth into hope. “A heart-wrenching and triumphant story that will change lives.”—Bishop T. D. Jakes Michael Phillips would never become anything. At least, that’s what he was told. It seemed like everyone was waiting for him to just fall through the cracks. After losing his father, suffering a life-altering car accident, and losing his college scholarship, Michael turned to selling drugs to make ends meet. But when his house was raided, he was arrested and thrown into a living nightmare. When it looked like he would be sentenced to spend years behind bars, the judge gave him a choice—go to a special college program for adjudicated youth or face the possibility of a thirty-year prison sentence. It wasn’t hard to pick. From that choice, a mission was born—to help change the system that shuffles so many young Black men like Michael straight from school to prison. Today, Michael is the pastor of a thriving church, a local leader in Baltimore, and a member of the Maryland State Board of Education. He discovered that education was the path to becoming who he was created to be. Armed with research, statistics, and his powerful story, Michael tackles the embedded privilege of the education system and introduces ideas for change that could level the playing field and reduce negative impacts on vulnerable youth. He explores ways in which the readers can help advocate and provide resources for students, and points us to the one thing anyone can start doing, no matter who we are or what our role is: speak into young kids’ lives. Tell them of their inherent worth and purpose. In this inspiring, thought-provoking, and energizing call to action, Michael’s practical steps provide a way forward to anyone wanting to help create space for collateral hope in the lives of for young people around them.
Teachers often will come to the conclusion that teacher talk and worksheets won’t cut it if getting students deeply engaged in their own learning is the goal. Indeed, students need to move beyond pretending to listen; they can—and should—develop essential competencies that include academic discourse with classmates, fielding and asking open-ended questions, seeking and providing peer feedback, identifying failure as a necessary accelerant to improvement, and finding joy in learning. Having coached and observed in hundreds of K-12 classrooms over three decades, Nash has met some incredible teachers whose students truly don’t want to miss anything. You’ll meet teachers like that in this book as you discover ways to work the room in a collaborative, engaging, and joyful environment.
From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, “whistle-blower extraordinaire” (The Wall Street Journal), author of the best-selling The Death and Life of the Great American School System (“Important and riveting”—Library Journal), The Language Police (“Impassioned . . . Fiercely argued . . . Every bit as alarming as it is illuminating”—The New York Times), and other notable books on education history and policy—an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools. In Reign of Error, Diane Ravitch argues that the crisis in American education is not a crisis of academic achievement but a concerted effort to destroy public schools in this country. She makes clear that, contrary to the claims being made, public school test scores and graduation rates are the highest they’ve ever been, and dropout rates are at their lowest point. She argues that federal programs such as George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind and Barack Obama’s Race to the Top set unreasonable targets for American students, punish schools, and result in teachers being fired if their students underperform, unfairly branding those educators as failures. She warns that major foundations, individual billionaires, and Wall Street hedge fund managers are encouraging the privatization of public education, some for idealistic reasons, others for profit. Many who work with equity funds are eyeing public education as an emerging market for investors. Reign of Error begins where The Death and Life of the Great American School System left off, providing a deeper argument against privatization and for public education, and in a chapter-by-chapter breakdown, putting forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve it. She makes clear what is right about U.S. education, how policy makers are failing to address the root causes of educational failure, and how we can fix it. For Ravitch, public school education is about knowledge, about learning, about developing character, and about creating citizens for our society. It’s about helping to inspire independent thinkers, not just honing job skills or preparing people for college. Public school education is essential to our democracy, and its aim, since the founding of this country, has been to educate citizens who will help carry democracy into the future.
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Arguing against the tougher standards rhetoric that marks the current education debate, the author of No Contest and Punished by Rewards writes that such tactics squeeze the pleasure out of learning. Reprint.
The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.
Being an outstanding classroom teacher does not always translate into being an outstanding senior leader – the skill set can be very different. A senior leader's focus must shift from delivering high-quality classroom teaching, towards leading staff rather than children. Experienced Deputy Headteacher, Jon Tait, sets out to help with this transition by teaching aspiring senior leaders how to lead staff and gain vital knowledge and experience in their new role. This easy-to-follow title in the Bloomsbury CPD Library specifically focuses on the next stage in a teacher's career: senior leadership. It includes a full set of helpful, ready-to-use training plans for 20 hours of CPD sessions with your school and senior leadership team. All hand-outs and presentations are provided in the book or available as a free download from the companion website.
