Educational administration and organization Books

Book SynopsisWhen parents are warm, responsive, encouraging, and communicative - the key elements of developmental parenting - they lay the foundation for young children's school readiness, social competence, and mental health. That's why every early childhood professional needs this comprehensive, practical guide to building a developmental parenting program for the families they serve. Unlike other approaches that limit parents to a 'student' role, the proven, the parenting-focused model in this book shows home visitors how to put parents and other caregivers confidently in charge of guiding and supporting their young children's development.This work helps home visitors and other early childhood professionals to learn the ABCs of facilitating developmental parenting: Attitudes - be responsive, supportive, flexible, and culturally sensitive while looking for the family's strengths and building on them; Behaviors - actively encourage positive parent-child interaction, support developmental parenting behaviors, establish a collaborative partnership with parents, use family activities as learning opportunities, and involve other family members; and, Content - provide parents with clear and relevant information on child development, determine the best curricula for selecting and adapting parent-child activities, and learn to use assessments skillfully to evaluate child progress and parenting behaviors. This how-to guidebook includes all the support early childhood professionals need to facilitate developmental parenting effectively. Program directors will get step-by-step guidance on supervising and evaluating the program, and professionals who work directly with parents will get easy-to-implement strategies, case studies of successful interactions, and tips and advice from other practitioners. With this research-based and reader-friendly book, early childhood professionals will learn to put parents in charge of guiding their child's development - resulting in strong parent-child bonds, healthy families, and improved school readiness.

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Book Synopsis"Distributed Leadership: School Improvement through Collaboration", Volume 4 of the series published in 1995, focuses on defining leadership and questioning the relationships among leaders and followers through a series of case studies. From data collected at two elementary, one middle, and one high school located in Texas, Missouri, and Illinois, researchers offer in-depth analyses of a variety of leadership styles in schools working toward structural and academic reform. These case studies reflect themes that include shifts in leadership roles through participative decision making, connections of leadership processes with instruction and curriculum development processes, and change efforts motivated by student success. Commentary addressing these themes focuses on re-examination of traditional assumptions about the organization of schooling, and on the advantages of school-based decision making through distributed leadership.Trade ReviewMost readers, particularly principals and teachers in schools in indigent locations, will gain insights that are of value and, in some cases no doubt, they will gain inspiration as well. Journal of Educational AdministrationTable of ContentsLeadership and change (R. Clift et al.). Roger L. Sullivan High School: success by exhibition (L. Grant). Dr. Charles E. Gavin School: a case study (I. Diedrich-Rielly). Cross Keys Middle School (asking the right question (M.M. Polite). Hollibrook Elementary School: a case study (M. Johnson). From hierarchical to distributed leadership: operationalizing the shift (B. Merchant). Exploring leadership (P.W. Thurston et al.).

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Book SynopsisThis collection brings together discussions related to educational technology and critical and reflective thought and practices. Chapters raise questions concerning the social, political, and economic implications of technology on schooling, teacher education and educational reform.

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Book SynopsisIn his new book Step Up and Lead, Frank Viscuso—author, speaker, and career deputy chief—shares the secrets of effective fire service leadership, introduces the traits and skills essential for successful fire service leaders, and discusses the importance of customer service. Designed to help you reach the top of your profession, this new book is considered must-read material for anyone who is ready to step up and lead!Contents: Foreword by Vincent Dunn; Acknowledgments; A leader of one; Leadership traits; Leadership skills; Customer service; Call to action; Index.Features and Benefits: Utilise the talents, skills & abilities of others Effectively delegate tasks Deal with subordinate problems Critique others Prevent freelancing Create a mentorship programme Improve workplace morale Provide praise and recognition Conduct effective meetings Tackle administrative tasks Create programmes Communicate and present Lead on the fireground Set and achieve goals Provide exceptional customer service Make high pressure decisions Gain a competitive advantage with promotions

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Book SynopsisFor all K-12 students and staff to benefit from positive behaviour interventions and supports (PBIS), effective, evidence-based practices need to be in place schoolwide. Now there’s a valid and reliable tool that checks the effectiveness of your whole school’s PBIS efforts—without any need for an outside evaluator. SAPR™-PBIS is the most efficient, comprehensive way to compare your current PBIS efforts with evidence-based practices and benchmarks. Six to ten team members from your school fill out individual self-assessments, rating themselves on key building blocks of successful PBIS. Then your whole team comes together to discuss results, set clear goals for improvement, and assess progress. Proven in pilot studies to improve students’ social outcomes and staff satisfaction, SAPR™-PBIS gives your team the critical information you need to Strengthen all three tiers of schoolwide PBIS Link assessment results with step-by-step, evidence-based action items Boost teamwork and build consensus Track progress toward your PBIS goals Troubleshoot stalled progress toward goals Reduce time spent managing behaviour issues With this highly reliable, easy-to-use tool, you can be confident that your school is implementing evidence-based PBIS practices that help improve all students’ social and academic outcomes.

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Book SynopsisNew possibilities for graduate study and careers in the humanities.While the humanities remain as necessary as ever, the shrinking academic job market has led scholars to rethink the nature and purpose of graduate school in these fields. Highlighting examples of innovative approaches, this volume aims to provide resources and inspiration for a sustainable, thriving, and even joyful future for the humanities.The essays in this collection offer a framework for doctoral education and postdoctoral careers rooted in concepts of abundance, collaboration, community engagement, and personal well-being. They emphasize the role of the humanities in helping people analyze texts, imagine others' perspectives, make ethical decisions, and sit with ambiguity. They propose graduate programs that respond to student and community needs and lead to a variety of career paths. Finally, they envision opportunities for meaningful, fulfilling work in the service of a larger purpose.

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Book SynopsisA primary mission of universities is promoting student success and well-being. Many college and university personnel have implemented initiatives that offer students the documented benefits of positive human-animal interaction (HAI). Accumulating evidence suggests that assistance dogs, therapy dogs, and shelter dogs can support student wellness and learning. The best programs balance the welfare of humans and canines while assessing students' needs and complying with all laws and regulations. Contributors to this edited volume have drawn upon research across many disciplines as well as their extensive practical experiences to produce a timely and valuable resource - for administrators and students. Whether readers are just getting started or striving to improve well-established programs, The Canine-Campus Connection provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance on bringing college students and canines together in reciprocally beneficial ways. Part one examines the interactions between postsecondary students and canines by reviewing the literature on the human-canine bond. It establishes what necessarily must be the top priority in canine-assisted activities and therapy: the health and safety of both. Part two highlights four major categories of dogs that students are likely to interact with on and off campus: service dogs, emotional support animals (ESAs), therapy dogs, and homeless dogs. Part three emphasizes ways in which dogs can influence student learning during classes and across aspects of their professional development. Part four considers future directions. Authors take the stance that enriching and enlarging interactions between college students and canines will require university personnel who plan and evaluate events, projects, and programs. The book concludes with the recommendation that colleges and universities move toward more dog-friendly campus cultures.Table of Contents PART ONE: DOGS ON CAMPUS Introduction: Letting the Dogs In, by Mary Renck Jalongo 1. Transitioning to College Life: Research Evidence of Dogs' Effects on Humans, by Mary-Ann Sontag Bowman and Mary Renck Jalongo 2. Bringing Postsecondary Students Together with Dogs: Dog Welfare, Health, Safety, and Liability Considerations, by Laura Bruneau and Amy Johnson PART TWO: TYPES OF DOGS 3. Service Dogs: Performing Helpful Tasks for People With Disabilities, by Mary Renck Jalongo 4. Emotional Support Animals: Therapeutic Companions for Students with Disabilities in Campus Housing, by Janet Hoy-Gerlach, Enjie Hall, and Bradley J. Menard 5. Therapy Dogs and Facility Dogs: Supporting Well-Being, by Mary Renck Jalongo and Lorraine J. Guth 6. Shelter Dogs: Service-Learning Projects with Animal Welfare Organizations by Mary Renck Jalongo and Tunde Szecsi PART THREE: INVOLVING CANINES ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES 7. Increasing Student Engagement: Roles for Dogs in College Courses, by Mary Renck Jalongo and Lorraine J. Guth 8. Meeting Professional Expectations: Practica, Internships, Volunteerism, and Collaborative Research with Faculty, by Jean P. Kirnan and Taylor Scott PART FOUR: FUTURE DIRECTIONS 9. Evaluating Outcomes: Events, Projects, and Programs Involving Dogs, by Mary Renck Jalongo and Theresa McDevitt 10. Possible Futures: Moving Toward a More Dog-Friendly Campus Culture, by Mary Renck Jalongo Afterword Index

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Book SynopsisA primary mission of universities is promoting student success and well-being. Many college and university personnel have implemented initiatives that offer students the documented benefits of positive human-animal interaction (HAI). Accumulating evidence suggests that assistance dogs, therapy dogs, and shelter dogs can support student wellness and learning. The best programs balance the welfare of humans and canines while assessing students' needs and complying with all laws and regulations. Contributors to this edited volume have drawn upon research across many disciplines as well as their extensive practical experiences to produce a timely and valuable resource - for administrators and students. Whether readers are just getting started or striving to improve well-established programs, The Canine-Campus Connection provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance on bringing college students and canines together in reciprocally beneficial ways. Part one examines the interactions between postsecondary students and canines by reviewing the literature on the human-canine bond. It establishes what necessarily must be the top priority in canine-assisted activities and therapy: the health and safety of both. Part two highlights four major categories of dogs that students are likely to interact with on and off campus: service dogs, emotional support animals (ESAs), therapy dogs, and homeless dogs. Part three emphasizes ways in which dogs can influence student learning during classes and across aspects of their professional development. Part four considers future directions. Authors take the stance that enriching and enlarging interactions between college students and canines will require university personnel who plan and evaluate events, projects, and programs. The book concludes with the recommendation that colleges and universities move toward more dog-friendly campus cultures.Table of Contents PART ONE: DOGS ON CAMPUS Introduction: Letting the Dogs In, by Mary Renck Jalongo 1. Transitioning to College Life: Research Evidence of Dogs' Effects on Humans, by Mary-Ann Sontag Bowman and Mary Renck Jalongo 2. Bringing Postsecondary Students Together with Dogs: Dog Welfare, Health, Safety, and Liability Considerations, by Laura Bruneau and Amy Johnson PART TWO: TYPES OF DOGS 3. Service Dogs: Performing Helpful Tasks for People With Disabilities, by Mary Renck Jalongo 4. Emotional Support Animals: Therapeutic Companions for Students with Disabilities in Campus Housing, by Janet Hoy-Gerlach, Enjie Hall, and Bradley J. Menard 5. Therapy Dogs and Facility Dogs: Supporting Well-Being, by Mary Renck Jalongo and Lorraine J. Guth 6. Shelter Dogs: Service-Learning Projects with Animal Welfare Organizations by Mary Renck Jalongo and Tunde Szecsi PART THREE: INVOLVING CANINES ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES 7. Increasing Student Engagement: Roles for Dogs in College Courses, by Mary Renck Jalongo and Lorraine J. Guth 8. Meeting Professional Expectations: Practica, Internships, Volunteerism, and Collaborative Research with Faculty, by Jean P. Kirnan and Taylor Scott PART FOUR: FUTURE DIRECTIONS 9. Evaluating Outcomes: Events, Projects, and Programs Involving Dogs, by Mary Renck Jalongo and Theresa McDevitt 10. Possible Futures: Moving Toward a More Dog-Friendly Campus Culture, by Mary Renck Jalongo Afterword Index

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Book SynopsisPledge and Promise documents the important historical significance of fraternity, sorority, and cooperative life at Purdue University. Featuring more than 250 photos, this pictorial volume tells the fascinating stories of how Greek and cooperative organizations have evolved, while honoring their core values since 1875. Pledge and Promise also highlights a sampling of the people who have contributed and benefited from their associations with these student groups. Featuring heartfelt, inspiring, humorous, and even disheartening accounts, this narrative reveals successes and setbacks.Greek and cooperative organizations have always offered valuable, life-affirming opportunities and powerful traditions that foster personal growth and lasting career skills. With this attractive, richly illustrated book, Boilermakers who once called a fraternity, sorority, or cooperative "home" will be reminded of the spirit of fun and the enduring bonds nurtured throughout their formative years at Purdue University.Table of Contents Foreword Preface 1 Greek Beginnings 2 Cooperative House Beginnings 3 The National Pan-Hellenic Council 4 Multicultural Greek Life 5 Purdue's First Fraternity 6 Fraternity Stories through the Decades 7 Purdue's First Sorority 8 Sorority Stories through the Decades 9 Rush for Women 10 Rush for Men 11 The Interfraternity Council 12 The Divine Nine 13 Cooperative House Stories through the Decades 14 The Panhellenic Association 15 Pomp and Fun Circumstances 16 Athletics 17 Special-Focus Chapters: A Sampling 18 Turning Hazing into Helping 19 Alcohol 20 Civic Engagement 21 Scholarships and Trophies 22 Publications 23 Historic Structures and Tower Acres 24 Tragedies 25 Housemothers 26 Distinguished Alumni Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

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Book SynopsisDismantling Institutional Whiteness: Emerging Forms of Leadership in Higher Education focuses on the experiences of women of color in leadership roles in higher education. Top roles historically have gone to white men, and leadership has not reflected the range of identities and people who make up higher education. Why? And why does this problem continue to this day? Most importantly, what can be done to bring about meaningful change?Dismantling Institutional Whiteness gathers a range of first-person narratives from women of color and examines the challenges they face not only at a systemic level, but also at a deeply personal level. Their experiences combined with research and statistics paint a sobering portrait of higher education's problems when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Interspersed throughout their stories are practical suggestions for how to address inequity in higher education, and to give a voice to people who have been silenced and excluded. Whether a trustee, university executive, or faculty member at any level, this is essential reading for those interested in diversifying higher education leadership to ensure decisions reflect the priorities of all.Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Gendering and Racializing Contemporary Leadership in Higher Education, by M. Cristina Alcalde and Mangala Subramaniam 1. "As a Campus Community, We Stand With . . .": Leadership Responsibility in Addressing Racism on University Campuses, by Mangala Subramaniam And Zeba Kokan 2. Making Noise and Good, Necessary Trouble: Dilemmas of "Deaning While Black", by Carolyn R. Hodges and Olga M. Welch 3. Aligning Narratives, Aligning Priorities: Untangling the Emotional and Administrative Labor of Advising in Liberal Arts Colleges, by Jennifer Santos Esperanza 4. On the Perils and Opportunities of Institutionalizing Diversity: A Collaborative Perspective from Academic Unit-Based Diversity Officers, by M. Cristina Alcalde and Carmen Henne-Ochoa 5. Vale la pena: Faculty Leadership and Social Justice in Troubling Times, by Tanya González 6. Disruptive and Transformational Leadership in the Ivory Tower: Opportunities for Inclusion, Equity, and Institutional Success, by Pamela M. Leggett-Robinson and Pamela E. Scott-Johnson Afterword: Strategies and Lessons for Changing the Leadership Landscape in Higher Education, by Mangala Subramaniam and M. Cristina Alcalde Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisDismantling Institutional Whiteness: Emerging Forms of Leadership in Higher Education focuses on the experiences of women of color in leadership roles in higher education. Top roles historically have gone to white men, and leadership has not reflected the range of identities and people who make up higher education. Why? And why does this problem continue to this day? Most importantly, what can be done to bring about meaningful change?Dismantling Institutional Whiteness gathers a range of first-person narratives from women of color and examines the challenges they face not only at a systemic level, but also at a deeply personal level. Their experiences combined with research and statistics paint a sobering portrait of higher education's problems when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Interspersed throughout their stories are practical suggestions for how to address inequity in higher education, and to give a voice to people who have been silenced and excluded. Whether a trustee, university executive, or faculty member at any level, this is essential reading for those interested in diversifying higher education leadership to ensure decisions reflect the priorities of all.Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Gendering and Racializing Contemporary Leadership in Higher Education, by M. Cristina Alcalde and Mangala Subramaniam 1. "As a Campus Community, We Stand With . . .": Leadership Responsibility in Addressing Racism on University Campuses, by Mangala Subramaniam And Zeba Kokan 2. Making Noise and Good, Necessary Trouble: Dilemmas of "Deaning While Black", by Carolyn R. Hodges and Olga M. Welch 3. Aligning Narratives, Aligning Priorities: Untangling the Emotional and Administrative Labor of Advising in Liberal Arts Colleges, by Jennifer Santos Esperanza 4. On the Perils and Opportunities of Institutionalizing Diversity: A Collaborative Perspective from Academic Unit-Based Diversity Officers, by M. Cristina Alcalde and Carmen Henne-Ochoa 5. Vale la pena: Faculty Leadership and Social Justice in Troubling Times, by Tanya González 6. Disruptive and Transformational Leadership in the Ivory Tower: Opportunities for Inclusion, Equity, and Institutional Success, by Pamela M. Leggett-Robinson and Pamela E. Scott-Johnson Afterword: Strategies and Lessons for Changing the Leadership Landscape in Higher Education, by Mangala Subramaniam and M. Cristina Alcalde Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisTransforming Leadership Pathways for Humanities Professionals in Higher Education includes thirteen essays from a variety of contributors investigating how humanities professionals grapple with the opportunities and challenges of leadership positions. Written by insiders sharing their lived experience, this collection provides an authentic look at the multiple roles humanities specialists play, as well as offering strategies for professional growth, sustenance, and satisfaction. The collection also considers the relationship between disciplinary areas of study, academic training, and the valuable skill sets and habits of mind that serve higher education leaders.While Transforming Leadership Pathways emphasizes that a leadership route in higher education can be a welcome and positive professional move for many humanities scholars, the volume also acknowledges the issues that arise when faculty take on administrative positions while otherwise marginalized on campus because of faculty status, rank, or personal identity. This collection demystifies the path into higher education administration and argues that humanities scholars are uniquely qualified for such roles. Empathetic, deeply analytical, attuned to historical context, and trained in communication, teachers and scholars who hail from humanities disciplines often find themselves well-suited to the demands of complex academic leadership in today's colleges and universities.

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Book SynopsisThe Challenges of Minoritized Faculty in Higher Education offers a probing and unvarnished look at the employment challenges of these faculty members in four-year institutions. With dramatic shifts in the faculty workforce and nearly three-quarters of instructional positions in United States institutions now off the tenure track, contingent faculty have become the essential, frontline workers of higher education. Remarkably little research attention has focused on the experiences of minoritized contingent faculty in this new academic underclass. Based on in-depth interviews coupled with extensive research, the book highlights the double marginalization that can occur due to secondary employment status in the academic hierarchy, and the exclusion resulting from the intersectionality of nondominant social identities including race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. As the first-person narratives reveal, these faculty often struggle for acceptance, recognition, and rewards in the day-to-day academic environment, and they can face devaluation of their contributions. As a pragmatic and concrete resource, this book offers proactive workforce strategies and key structural and policy recommendations that will assist academic and administrative leaders, including presidents, provosts, department chairs, and chief diversity officers, in building more inclusive working conditions for contingent faculty.

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Book SynopsisThe Challenges of Minoritized Faculty in Higher Education offers a probing and unvarnished look at the employment challenges of these faculty members in four-year institutions. With dramatic shifts in the faculty workforce and nearly three-quarters of instructional positions in United States institutions now off the tenure track, contingent faculty have become the essential, frontline workers of higher education. Remarkably little research attention has focused on the experiences of minoritized contingent faculty in this new academic underclass. Based on in-depth interviews coupled with extensive research, the book highlights the double marginalization that can occur due to secondary employment status in the academic hierarchy, and the exclusion resulting from the intersectionality of nondominant social identities including race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. As the first-person narratives reveal, these faculty often struggle for acceptance, recognition, and rewards in the day-to-day academic environment, and they can face devaluation of their contributions. As a pragmatic and concrete resource, this book offers proactive workforce strategies and key structural and policy recommendations that will assist academic and administrative leaders, including presidents, provosts, department chairs, and chief diversity officers, in building more inclusive working conditions for contingent faculty.

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Book SynopsisIn Value-Added Measures in Education, economist and education researcher Douglas N. Harris takes on one of the most hotly debated topics in education. Drawing on his extensive work with schools and districts, he sets out to help educators and policy makers understand this innovative approach to assessment. Written in straightforward language and illustrated with actual student achievement data, this essential volume shows how value-added measurement can help schools make better use of their data and discusses the strengths and limitations of this approach.

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Book SynopsisThis book answers a simple question: How would one redesign the American education system if the aim was to take advantage of everything that has been learned by countries with the world’s best education systems?With a growing number of countries outperforming the United States on the most respected comparisons of student achievement—and spending less on education per student—this question is critical.Surpassing Shanghai looks in depth at the education systems that are leading the world in student performance to find out what strategies are working and how they might apply to the United States. Developed from the work of the National Center on Education and the Economy, which has been researching the education systems of countries with the highest student performance for more than twenty years, this book provides a series of answers to the question of how the United States can compete with the world’s best.

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Book SynopsisWhich non-American education systems best prepare young people for fulfilling jobs and successful adult lives? And what can the United States—where far too many young people currently enter adulthood without adequate preparation for the twenty-first-century job market—learn, adopt, and adapt from these other systems?In Schooling in the Workplace, Nancy Hoffman addresses these questions head on, arguing that “the smartest and quickest route to a wide variety of occupations for the majority of young people in the successful countries—not a default for failing students—is a vocational program that integrates work and learning.” As she notes, the programs that successfully integrate work and learning all share a fundamental commitment to helping young people find successful careers: “The purpose is not ‘college for all,’ as in the United States today, but rather to provide the education and training young people need to prepare for a career or calling.”Schooling in the Workplace explores the vocational education programs in a wide range of countries, focusing in rich and useful detail on six in particular: Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland. Framing these discussions, however, is a persistent focus on American circumstances and challenges. Far more than a survey of six “foreign” programs, this is a book prompted by and organized around the policy and practical challenges facing the United States.

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Book SynopsisWhich non-American education systems best prepare young people for fulfilling jobs and successful adult lives? And what can the United States—where far too many young people currently enter adulthood without adequate preparation for the twenty-first-century job market—learn, adopt, and adapt from these other systems?In Schooling in the Workplace, Nancy Hoffman addresses these questions head on, arguing that “the smartest and quickest route to a wide variety of occupations for the majority of young people in the successful countries—not a default for failing students—is a vocational program that integrates work and learning.” As she notes, the programs that successfully integrate work and learning all share a fundamental commitment to helping young people find successful careers: “The purpose is not ‘college for all,’ as in the United States today, but rather to provide the education and training young people need to prepare for a career or calling.”Schooling in the Workplace explores the vocational education programs in a wide range of countries, focusing in rich and useful detail on six in particular: Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland. Framing these discussions, however, is a persistent focus on American circumstances and challenges. Far more than a survey of six “foreign” programs, this is a book prompted by and organized around the policy and practical challenges facing the United States.

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Book SynopsisThis timely book brings together a remarkable group of authors who examine the federal role in education policy and reform during the past fifty years. As Frederick M. Hess and Andrew P. Kelly note in their introduction, the book represents a determined effort to move beyond familiar and predictable debates and instead to focus on a number of questions that deserve careful and sustained attention: “What have we learned from the last half-century of federal involvement, especially the last decade or two of significant federal activity? What have we learned about which goals Uncle Sam is well-suited to pursue? What have we learned about how federal efforts play out and about the limits of what federal activity can effectively accomplish?” These questions are of heightened importance at a time when the federal role in education has expanded so dramatically—and when federal education policy is being so vigourously debated. This book—with a diverse and dynamic lineup of leading figures in education research, policy, politics, and innovation—is an indispensable contribution to our current reconsideration of education policy.

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Book SynopsisIn High Schools, Race, and America’s Future, Lawrence Blum offers a lively account of a rigourous high school course on race and racism. Set in a racially, ethnically, and economically diverse high school, the book chronicles students’ engagement with one another, with a rich and challenging academic curriculum, and with questions that relate powerfully to their daily lives. Blum, an acclaimed moral philosopher whose work focuses on issues of race, reflects with candour, insight, and humour on the challenges and surprises encountered in teaching—the unexpected turns in conversation, the refreshing directness of students’ questions, the “aha” moments and the awkward ones, and the paradoxes of his own role as a white college professor teaching in a multiracial high school classroom. High Schools, Race, and America’s Future provides an invaluable resource for those who want to teach students to think deeply and talk productively about race.

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Book SynopsisOver the past fifty years, the ""special"" status of education decision-making has been eroded. Once the province of local and state school boards, decisions about schools and schooling have begun to emerge in every level and branch of government. In The End of Exceptionalism in American Education, Jeffrey R. Henig traces the roots of this tectonic shift in school governance.Carefully reasoned, astutely observed, and thoughtfully presented, this volume promises to become a classic work in our understanding of education policy and an invaluable resource for those seeking to influence its future trajectory.

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Book SynopsisBy 2040, more than 30 percent of students in the United States will be immigrants or the children of immigrants. What factors can help these young people thrive in school, despite the many obstacles they face? And how can school staff best support immigrant students' academic and personal success? In Portraits of Promise, educators hear from the ultimate experts--successful newcomer students who have been in the United States for five years or less.Drawing on the students' own stories, the book highlights the kinds of support and resources that help students engage positively with school culture, establish supportive peer networks, form strong bonds with teachers, manage competing expectations from home and school, and navigate the challenges of high-stakes testing and the college application process.

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Book SynopsisThe Infrastructure of Accountability brings together leading and emerging scholars who set forth an ambitious conceptual framework for understanding the full impact of large-scale, performance-based accountability systems on education.Over the past 20 years, schools and school systems have been utterly reshaped by the demands of test-based accountability. Interest in large-scale performance data has reached an unprecedented high point. Yet most education researchers focus primarily on questions of data quality and the effectiveness of data use. In this bold and thought-provoking volume, the contributors look beneath the surface of all this activity to uncover the hidden infrastructure that supports the production, flow, and use of data in education, and explore the impact of these large-scale information systems on American schooling. These systems, the editors note, “sit at the juncture of technical networks, work practices, knowledge production, and moral order.”

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Book SynopsisAs charter schools enter their third decade, research in this key sector remains overwhelmingly contradictory and confused. Many studies are narrowly focused; some do not meet the standards for high-quality academic research. In this definitive work, Wohlstetter and her colleagues isolate and distil the high-quality research on charter schools to identify the contextual and operational factors that influence these schools' performances.The authors examine the track record of the charter sector in light of the wide range of goals set for these schools in state authorising legislation--at the classroom level, the level of the school community, and system-wide. In particular, they show how the evolution of the charter movement has shaped research questions and findings.By highlighting what we know about the conditions for success in charter schools, the authors make a significant contribution to current debates in policy and practice, both within the charter sector and in the larger landscape of public education.

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Book SynopsisA book that explores the problematic connection between education policy and practice while pointing in the direction of a more fruitful relationship, Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice is a provocative culminating statement from one of America's most insightful education scholars and leaders.Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice takes as its starting point a strikingly blunt question: ""With so many major structural changes in U.S. public schools over the past century, why have classroom practices been largely stable, with a modest blending of new and old teaching practices, leaving contemporary classroom lessons familiar to earlier generations of school-goers?""It is a question that ought to be of paramount interest to all who are interested in school reform in the United States. It is also a question that comes naturally to Larry Cuban, whose much-admired books have focused on various aspects of school reform--their promises, wrong turns, partial successes, and troubling failures. In this book, he returns to this territory, but trains his focus on the still baffling fact that policy reforms--no matter how ambitious or determined--have generally had little effect on classroom conduct and practice.Cuban explores this problem from a variety of angles. Several chapters look at how teachers, in responding to major policy initiatives, persistently adopt changes and alter particular routine practices while leaving dominant ways of teaching largely undisturbed. Other chapters contrast recent changes in clinical medical practice with those in classroom teaching, comparing the practical effects of varying medical and education policies. The book's concluding chapter distils important insights from these various explorations, taking us inside the ""black box"" of the book's title: those workings that have repeatedly transformed dramatic policy initiatives into familiar--and largely unchanged--classroom practices.

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Book SynopsisIn this landmark volume, Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane lay out a meticulously researched case showing how - in a time of spiraling inequality - strategically targeted interventions and supports can help schools significantly improve the life chances of low-income children.The authors offer a brilliant synthesis of recent research on inequality and its effects on families, children, and schools. They describe the interplay of social and economic factors that has made it increasingly hard for schools to counteract the effects of inequality and that has created a widening wedge between low- and high-income students.Restoring Opportunity provides detailed portraits of proven initiatives that are transforming the lives of low-income children from prekindergarten through high school. All of these programmes are research-tested and have demonstrated sustained effectiveness over time and at significant scale. Together, they offer a powerful vision of what good instruction in effective schools can look like. The authors conclude by outlining the elements of a new agenda for education reform.Restoring Opportunity is a crowning contribution from these two leading economists in the field of education and a passionate call to action on behalf of the young people on whom our nation’s future depends.Trade ReviewDuncan and Murnane provide a no-nonsense view of the growing educational gap between the haves and the have-nots in America. They also scour the landscape to find promising solutions that provide hope for better outcomes in the future. This is a thoughtful book that should be read with the care it merits." Joel Klein, CEO of Amplify, and former chancellor, New York City Department of Education"This thorough examination of our public school system provides a clear picture of some of the toughest challenges - particularly those facing low-income students - and the directions in which we need to go to fix them. This book should be on the desk of every educator and policy maker in America so we can begin to change the odds for all of America’s children." Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO, Harlem Children’s ZoneTable of ContentsCONTENTS 1 A Fading Dream 1 2 DivergingDestinies 7 3 Family Income and School Success 23 4 Challenges in the Classroom 35 5 Promising Prekindergarten Programs 53 6 Elementary Schools That Work 71 7 High Schools That Improve Life Chances 85 8 Programs That Support Families 109 9 Restoring Opportunity 123Notes 145Acknowledgments 173About the Authors 177Index 179

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Book SynopsisIn The Quest for Mastery, Sam M. Intrator and Don Siegel investigate an emerging trend: the growth of out-of-school programmes dedicated to helping underserved youth develop the personal qualities and capacities that will help them succeed in school, college, and beyond. Intensive programmes from rowing to youth radio, from lacrosse to studio art, aim to create "communities of practice" that capture young people's interest and support them as they strive to excel. Through richly detailed accounts, the authors describe the unconventional ways these programmes have evolved and articulate the formidable challenges they face in operationalising their aspirations.By documenting the powerful effect out-of-school programmes like these can have in transforming lives, the authors show how young people can become engaged in meaningful and productive learning experiences and highlight the poignant contrast between what these students experience inside and outside of school.Trade Review“ This terrific book is proof of hope made real in the lives of the kids who need it most.” — Neil Nicoll, president and CEO, YMCA of the USA“ With intelligence and compassion, The Quest for Mastery documents how a well-run afterschool program can turn around the life of an at-risk child and help kids who are struggling discover the focus, self-discipline, and sense of community they need to succeed.” —Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO, Harlem Children’s ZoneTable of ContentsCONTENTSPREFACE ixINTRODUCTION “Everything and the Kitchen Sink” 1CHAPTER ONE The Promise of Out-of-School Programs 19CHAPTER TWO The Framework for Getting Good at Anything 39CHAPTER THREE Communities of Practice 51Absorbed in AchievingCHAPTER FOUR Learning a Mastery Mindset 69The Will to ExcelCHAPTER FIVE Intrinsic Motivation 93Energized from WithinCHAPTER SIX Acquiring Social Capital 115New Connections, New ContextsCHAPTER SEVEN The Transfer of Supercognitives 141Deploying Skills Across SettingsCHAPTER EIGHT What Schools Don’t Do 157APPENDIX A About Project Coach 177APPENDIX B Program Descriptions 181APPENDIX C Interviews and Conversations 189APPENDIX D Notes for New Staff Members 193 NOTES 205 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 217 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 221 INDEX 223

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Book SynopsisThe United States has about $10.5 trillion tied up in aging school facilities. School districts throughout the country spend about $30 billion every year keeping this infrastructure going. Yet almost all of the new money we pour into school facilities reinforces an existing - and obsolete - model of schooling.In Blueprint for Tomorrow, Prakash Nair - one of the world’s leading school designers - explores the hidden messages that our school facilities and classrooms convey and advocates for the “alignment” of the design of places in which we teach and learn with twenty-first-century learning goals.Blueprint for Tomorrow provides simple, affordable, and versatile ideas for adapting or redesigning school spaces to support student-centered learning. In particular, the author focuses on ways to use current spending to modify existing spaces, and explains which kinds of adaptations offer the biggest return in terms of student learning. The book is organized by area - from classrooms to cafeterias - and is richly illustrated throughout, including “before and after” features, “smart idea” sidebars, and “do now” suggestions for practical first steps. It outlines key principles for designing spaces that support today’s learning needs and includes tools to help educators evaluate the educational effectiveness of their own spaces.Blueprint for Tomorrow will open educators’ eyes to the ways that architecture and learning are entwined and will challenge them to rethink the ways they teach and work together.Table of ContentsCONTENTS INTRODUCTIONThe $2 Trillion Mistake 1How Traditional School Design Fails Our Kids CHAPTER 1“Reading” School Buildings 25A Visual Literacy Primer CHAPTER 2A Welcoming Message 45Entries and Common Areas CHAPTER 3Capturing More Space for Learning 61Reconfiguring Classrooms and Hallways CHAPTER 4Integrated Learning Areas 83Labs, Studios, and Do-It-Yourself Spaces CHAPTER 5Making Room for Collaboration 105Professional Space for Teachers CHAPTER 6Putting People and Ideas Together 115The Changing Role of the School Library CHAPTER 7Beyond the Classroom Window 129Bringing Learning Outdoors CHAPTER 8From Cafeterias to Cafe´s 145Celebrating Community CONCLUSIONPutting Theory into Practice 159Where Should Schools Begin? APPENDIX AEducational Effectiveness Survey 175Elementary School Facilities APPENDIX BEducational Effectiveness Survey 179Middle and High School FacilitiesNotes 185Acknowledgments 197About the Author 199Index 201

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Book SynopsisThe United States has about $10.5 trillion tied up in aging school facilities. School districts throughout the country spend about $30 billion every year keeping this infrastructure going. Yet almost all of the new money we pour into school facilities reinforces an existing - and obsolete - model of schooling.In Blueprint for Tomorrow, Prakash Nair - one of the world’s leading school designers - explores the hidden messages that our school facilities and classrooms convey and advocates for the “alignment” of the design of places in which we teach and learn with twenty-first-century learning goals.Blueprint for Tomorrow provides simple, affordable, and versatile ideas for adapting or redesigning school spaces to support student-centered learning. In particular, the author focuses on ways to use current spending to modify existing spaces, and explains which kinds of adaptations offer the biggest return in terms of student learning. The book is organized by area - from classrooms to cafeterias - and is richly illustrated throughout, including “before and after” features, “smart idea” sidebars, and “do now” suggestions for practical first steps. It outlines key principles for designing spaces that support today’s learning needs and includes tools to help educators evaluate the educational effectiveness of their own spaces.Blueprint for Tomorrow will open educators’ eyes to the ways that architecture and learning are entwined and will challenge them to rethink the ways they teach and work together.Table of ContentsCONTENTS INTRODUCTIONThe $2 Trillion Mistake 1How Traditional School Design Fails Our Kids CHAPTER 1“Reading” School Buildings 25A Visual Literacy Primer CHAPTER 2A Welcoming Message 45Entries and Common Areas CHAPTER 3Capturing More Space for Learning 61Reconfiguring Classrooms and Hallways CHAPTER 4Integrated Learning Areas 83Labs, Studios, and Do-It-Yourself Spaces CHAPTER 5Making Room for Collaboration 105Professional Space for Teachers CHAPTER 6Putting People and Ideas Together 115The Changing Role of the School Library CHAPTER 7Beyond the Classroom Window 129Bringing Learning Outdoors CHAPTER 8From Cafeterias to Cafe´s 145Celebrating Community CONCLUSIONPutting Theory into Practice 159Where Should Schools Begin? APPENDIX AEducational Effectiveness Survey 175Elementary School Facilities APPENDIX BEducational Effectiveness Survey 179Middle and High School FacilitiesNotes 185Acknowledgments 197About the Author 199Index 201

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Book SynopsisAs a field, education has largely failed to learn from experience. Time after time, promising education reforms fall short of their goals and are abandoned as other promising ideas take their place. In Learning to Improve, the authors argue for a new approach. Rather than “implementing fast and learning slow,” they believe educators should adopt a more rigorous approach to improvement that allows the field to “learn fast to implement well.”Using ideas borrowed from improvement science, the authors show how a process of disciplined inquiry can be combined with the use of networks to identify, adapt, and successfully scale up promising interventions in education. Organized around six core principles, the book shows how “networked improvement communities” can bring together researchers and practitioners to accelerate learning in key areas of education. Examples include efforts to address the high rate of failure among students in community college remedial math courses and strategies forimproving feedback to novice teachers.Learning to Improve offers a new paradigm for research and development in education that promises to be a powerful driver of improvement for the nation’s schools and colleges.Table of ContentsContentsPreface ixIntroduction 1 A Better Way Make the Work Problem-Specific and User-Centered 21 Focus on Variation in Performance 35 See the System That Produces the Current Outcomes 57 We Cannot Improve at Scale What We Cannot Measure 87 Use Disciplined Inquiry to Drive Improvement 113 Accelerate Learning Through Networked Communities 141 Living Improvement 171 Glossary 195Appendix 203 Responses to Some Frequently Asked QuestionsNotes 211Acknowledgments 243About the Authors 247Index 251

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Book SynopsisApril 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the landmark legislation that has provided the foundation of federal education policy in the United States. In Presidents, Congress, and the Public Schools, longtime policy analyst Jack Jennings examines the evolution of federal education policy and outlines a bold and controversial vision for its future.Jennings brings an insider’s knowledge to this account, off ering a vivid analysis of federal efforts in the education arena and revealing some of the factors that shaped their enactment. His rich descriptions and lively anecdotes provide pointed lessons about the partisan climate that stymies much federal policy making today. After assessing the impact of Title I and NCLB, and exploring the variety of ways that the federal government has intervened in education, Jennings sets forth an ambitious agenda for reframing education as a federal civil right and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn.Table of ContentsCONTENTSForeward by Michael Feuer ixIntroduction 1PART 1 EQUITY AND THE ORIGINS OF ESEA CHAPTER 1 The Road to ESEA 15 CHAPTER 2 The Evolution of Title I, 1965-1978 29 CHAPTER 3 Regulatory Burdens Lead to Change, 1978-2015 43 CHAPTER 4 Was Title I Effective? 55PART II STANDARDS, TESTING, AND ACCOUNTABILITY CHAPTER 5 Standards, Testing, and Accountability Under Four Presidents 65 CHAPTER 6 Has the Standards, Testing, and Accountability Movement Been Effective? 81PART III OTHER FEDERAL POLICIES, AND A SUMMARY CHAPTER 7 IDEA and Bilingual Education 105 CHAPTER 8 School Busing, Title IX, and Free Speech in Schools 119 CHAPTER 9 Lessons Learned from Federal Involvement in Schooling 141PART IV FRESH THINKING ABOUT THE FEDERAL ROLE IN EDUCATION CHAPTER 10 The Greatest Problems in Schooling 159 CHAPTER 11 Federal Aid to Improve Teaching and Learning 185 CHAPTER 12 Constitutional and Legal Guarantees of a Good Education 205Conclusion 219Appendix: Chronology of Major Events, 1948-2013 223Notes 227Acknowledgments 241About the Author 243Index 245

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Book SynopsisA Better Way to Budget provides practical, innovative advice on how to overcome the political and social pushback that often prevents district and school leaders from shifting scarce resources to the most student-centered uses. Nathan Levenson shows how school leaders can uncover the sources of potential conflicts and create a budgeting process that normalizes change, minimizes pushback, and builds public buy-in for needed reforms.A Better Way to Budget: focuses on a strategic and process-oriented approach that anticipates roadblocks and challenges introduces eight effective strategies for shifting funds and winning support provides real-life examples of mistakes and successes includes joint fact-finding, simulations, and other exercises to help stakeholders agree on goals and identify the budgetary changes needed to reach those objectives. Filled with advice gathered over decades of work in schools, A Better Way to Budget provides timely insights and tools for leaders who are exploring ways to make their districts more inclusive and student-centered.

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Book SynopsisIn Tell Me So I Can Hear You, Eleanor Drago-Severson and Jessica Blum-DeStefano show how education leaders can learn to deliver feedback in a way that strengthens relationships as well as performance and builds the capacity for growth. Drawing on constructive-developmental theory, the authors describe four stages of adult growth and development and explain how to differentiate feedback for colleagues with different “ways of knowing,” which include: Instrumental knowers, who tend to see things in black and white (“Did I do it right or wrong?”) and may need to develop the capacity for reflection. Socializing knowers, who are concerned with maintaining relationships (“What do you want me to do?”) and may need support developing their own ideas. Self-authoring knowers, who have strong ideologies and values (“How does this fit with my goals and vision?”) and may need help with perspective taking. Self-transformative knowers, who are able to examine issues from multiple points of view (“How can I understand this more deeply?”) and may need guidance in resolving tensions and contradictions. The authors show how leaders can provide feedback in ways that “meet people where they are” while expanding the developmental capacities educators bring to their work. Drago-Severson and Blum-DeStefano provide real-life examples with practical strategies for creating a safe space for feedback, finding the right words, and bridging feedback and action. Tell Me So I Can Hear You offers invaluable guidance to help educators support a culture of learning in classrooms, schools, and districts.

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Book SynopsisPolicy Patrons offers a rare behind-the-scenes view of decision making inside four influential education philanthropies: the Ford Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. The outcome is an intriguing, thought-provoking look at the impact of current philanthropic efforts on education.Over a period of several years, Megan E. Tompkins-Stange gained the trust of key players and outside observers of these four organizations. Through a series of confidential interviews, she began to explore the values, ideas, and beliefs that inform these foundations’ strategies and practices. The picture that emerges reveals important differences in the strategies and values of the more established foundations vis-à-vis the newer, more activist foundations—differences that have a significant impact on education policy and practice, and have important implications for democratic decision making.In recent years, the philanthropic sector has played an increasing role in championing and financing education reform. Policy Patrons makes an original and invaluable contribution to contemporary discussions about the appropriate role of foundations in public policy and the future direction of education reform.Trade ReviewMegan Tompkins-Strange has succeeded in writing a concise and enlightening book...Her book is of value far beyond the US situation and makes for a reflective piece of literature embedding the case for strategic philanthropy - based on the search for leverage - in a context of foundation roles in democracy." Alliance Magazine, Volume 21, Number 4, December 2016

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Book SynopsisThis book describes how different nations have defined the core competencies and skills that young people will need in order to thrive in the twenty-first-century, and how those nations have fashioned educational policies and curricula meant to promote those skills. The book examines six countries—Chile, China, India, Mexico, Singapore, and the United States—exploring how each one defines, supports, and cultivates those competencies that students will need in order to succeed in the current century.Teaching and Learning for the Twenty-First Century appears at a time of heightened attention to comparative studies of national education systems, and to international student assessments such as those that have come out of PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment), led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This book’s crucial contribution to the burgeoning field of international education arises out of its special attention to first principles—and thus to first questions: As Reimers and Chung explain, “much can be gained by an explicit investigation of the intended purposes of education, in what they attempt to teach students, and in the related questions of why those purposes and how they are achieved.”These questions are crucial to education practice and reform at a time when educators (and the students they serve) face unique, pressing challenges. The book’s detailed attention to such questions signals its indispensable value for policy makers, scholars, and education leaders today.

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Book SynopsisIn Educational Entrepreneurship Today, Frederick M. Hess and Michael Q. McShane assemble a diverse lineup of high-profile contributors to examine the contexts in which new initiatives in education are taking shape. They inquire into the impact of entrepreneurship on the larger field—including the development and deployment of new technologies—and analyze the incentives, barriers, opportunities, and tensions that support or constrain innovation.Over the past decade, entrepreneurship has moved from the periphery to the center of education reform. Policy measures, philanthropic support, and venture capital increasingly promote initiatives that drive innovation within and outside the traditional education sector. These initiatives have included spectacular successes, like Khan Academy, Teach For America, and Wireless Generation, as well as highly visible failures, like the InBloom data warehouse.Educational Entrepreneurship Today offers critical perspectives on the impact of entrepreneurship and also includes lessons from leading entrepreneurs, in which they use case studies drawn from their own experience to illustrate the realities of leading disruptive change in education and pose guiding questions for the next generation of innovators.In a time of increasing polarization around education policy, this timely, frank, and insightful volume shows how we can begin to create systems in which entrepreneurial ideas and fresh thinking are welcomed, constructively employed, and held accountable for the public good.

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Book SynopsisEducators and policy makers confront challenging questions of ethics, justice, and equity on a regular basis. Should teachers retain a struggling student if it means she will most certainly drop out? Should an assignment plan favor middle-class families if it means strengthening the school system for all? These everyday dilemmas are both utterly ordinary and immensely challenging, yet there are few opportunities and resources to help educators think through the ethical issues at stake.Drawing on research and methods developed in the Justice in Schools project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Dilemmas of Educational Ethics introduces a new interdisciplinary approach to achieving practical wisdom in education, one that honors the complexities inherent in educational decision making and encourages open discussion of the values and principles we should collectively be trying to realize in educational policy and practice.At the heart of the book are six richly described, realistic accounts of ethical dilemmas that have arisen in education in recent years, paired with responses written by noted philosophers, empirical researchers, policy makers, and practitioners, including Pedro Noguera, Howard Gardner, Mary Pattillo, Andres A. Alonso, Jamie Ahlberg, Toby N. Romer, and Michael J. Petrilli.The editors illustrate how readers can use and adapt these cases and commentaries in schools and other settings in order to reach a difficult decision, deepen their own understanding, or to build teams around shared values.

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Book SynopsisDespite a plethora of opinions on how to improve US education, a remarkable consensus ""from both the left, right, and center"" has emerged that someone or something is to blame for the failures of the public school system, argues rhetoric scholar Mark Hlavacik in this new and insightful book examining the role of language and persuasion in the rise of the accountability movement.Analyzing five of the most prominent acts of public persuasion since the founding of the US Department of Education in 1979 - Milton Friedman's appeal for vouchers on national television; the National Commission on Excellence in Education's seminal Nation at Risk report; Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities; the No Child Left Behind Act; and also its repudiation by Diane Ravitch - Hlavacik concludes that ""blame has come to the fore as a chief means by which Americans dispute the future of their public schools"".Hlavacik explores the implications of using blame to achieve policy goals, sounding a cautionary note for reformers and educators alike: while blame can be an effective, even positive tool for change, overuse can breed cynicism and undermine faith in the very institution that advocates seek to change. Hlavacik urges policy makers, scholars, educators, and the public to reconsider its favorite rhetorical tactic for pursuing education reform and offers alternatives to the overreliance on blame.

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Book SynopsisIn Excellence Gaps in Education, Jonathan A. Plucker and Scott J. Peters shine a spotlight on “excellence gaps”—the achievement gaps among subgroups of students performing at the highest levels of achievement. Much of the focus of recent education reform has been on closing gaps in achievement between students from different racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic backgrounds by bringing all students up to minimum levels of proficiency. Yet issues related to excellence gaps have been largely absent from discussions about how to improve our schools and communities. Plucker and Peters argue that these significant gaps reflect the existence of a persistent talent underclass in the United States among African American, Hispanic, Native American, and poor students, resulting in an incalculable loss of potential among our fastest growing populations.Drawing on the latest research and a wide range of national and international data, the authors outline the scope of the problem and make the case that excellence gaps should be targeted for elimination. They identify promising interventions for talent development already underway in schools and provide a detailed review of potential strategies, including universal screening, flexible grouping, targeted programs, and psychosocial interventions. Excellence Gaps in Education has the potential for changing our national conversation about equity and excellence and bringing fresh attention to the needs of high-potential students from underrepresented backgrounds.

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Book SynopsisA volume in Research and Theory in Educational Administration Series Editors: Wayne K. Hoy, The Ohio State University and Michael DiPaola, The College of William and Mary Leading Research in Educational Administration: A Festschrift for Wayne K. Hoy is the tenth in a series on research and theory dedicated to advancing our understanding of schools through empirical study and theoretical analysis that was initiated by Wayne and Cecil G. Miskel. This tenth anniversary edition honors and celebrates the research leadership Wayne has provided in the field of educational administration through his distinguished career. The festschrift is organized around the analysis of school contexts and includes constructs Wayne and his proteges have studied and researched: climate, trust, efficacy, academic optimism, organizational citizenship, and mindfulness. It concludes with the work of colleagues on the salient contemporary issues of innovation, power, leadership succession, and several others focused on improving schools. Chapter authors all have close connections to Wayne - former students and their students, as well as colleagues and friends. This series on Theory and Research in Educational Administration is about understanding schools. We welcome articles and analyses that explain school organizations and administration. We are interested in the "why" questions about schools. To that end, case analyses, surveys, large data base analyses, experimental studies, and theoretical analyses are all welcome. We provide the space for authors to do comprehensive analyses where that is appropriate and useful. We believe that the Theory and Research in Educational Administration Series has the potential to make an important contribution to our field, but we will be successful only if our colleagues continue to join us in this mission. So join with us; let us hear from you if you have theory and research that will enlighten our understanding of schools.

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Book SynopsisThis book describes the struggles in which inclusive-minded administrators find themselves when they promote equity initiatives. Administrators routinely struggle when they attempt to include all members of their school communities - teachers, students, and parents - in the various aspects of schooling. Given the presence of a host of obstacles, setting right the injustices associated with racism, classism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and other exclusive practices is not an easy thing to do. Resistance from colleagues who fail to recognise exclusive practices when they see them, and from others who do recognise them but see no harm, too few resources, exclusive policies, personal uncertainties or insecurities, and conflicted priorities are just a few of the phenomena that get in the way of these efforts. This book explores these struggles. It looks at the contexts within which these encounters occur, the various challenges that inclusive-minded administrators encounter, and the strategies that they employ to meet these tests. Employing the results of original empirical studies, surveys of current research, recent theoretical literature and personal experiences, this book seeks to provide school leaders with a sense of what it is like to promote inclusion and equity in the contemporary neoliberal context. Among other things, it looks to provide educators of an understanding of the obstacles that stand in the way of inclusion, the nature of the struggles that await them, and ideas for what they might do. Among other things, the book concludes that in relation to the pursuit of inclusion: (1) exclusion continues to be part of contemporary schools and communities; (2) struggles for inclusion transcend individual educators, students and parents; (3) administrators are sometimes part of the problem of exclusion; (4) administrators struggle with issues of difference; (5) administrators struggle with circumstances they inherit, people with whom they work, and with themselves; and (6) administrators have resources to employ in their struggles for inclusion.Table of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Series Editors’ Preface 1 Struggling for Inclusion 2 The Exclusive Neoliberal Context of Education 3 Struggling for Diversity in the Teacher Workforce: Leaky Pipelines, Bottlenecks, and Glass Ceilings. 4 Dialogue, Identity and Inclusion: Administrators as Mediators in Diverse School Contexts 5 Hierarchies, Markets, and Inclusion: Administrative Communication in a Diverse School Context 6 Establishing Inclusion in a New School 7 Acumen and Inclusion: Principals’ Political Strategies 8 Struggling for Inclusion References.

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Book SynopsisLiving Faithfully is for anyone interested in education and education policy, whether parent, community member, teacher, student of leadership or policy maker. It looks at school leadership and reform in an alternative way, following the story of change at Washington School, a troubled grades 5-6 centre in a small town in Western Oklahoma. Not only does the book address a neglected population, the more than 1/3 of the nation’s children who go to school in small towns and rural areas, it uses the occasion to invert thinking about school reform. It argues that in today's policy climate where guaranteed, standard outcomes are touted as goals of education, leadership schemes, even those designed to challenge topdown, bureaucratic models, are quickly co-opted to produce the appearance of learning. Prevailing leadership theories beg the question of who is being transformed and to what end, failing to challenge assumptions and dominant ideas of contemporary education and leadership thinking. Drawing on Philip Phenix’s idea of the faithful life, the book proposes an alternative way forward. Phenix talks about connections between school and life. According to Phenix, the faithful life is concerned with the normative question of what is good, true, right, just, beautiful, and holy. This is not the vocabulary of current education policy. But it describes the kind of community created at Washington School despite its history of failure. And it describes what most families want for their children whether they live in the city or country, America or elsewhere: an education that matters.

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Book SynopsisLiving Faithfully is for anyone interested in education and education policy, whether parent, community member, teacher, student of leadership or policy maker. It looks at school leadership and reform in an alternative way, following the story of change at Washington School, a troubled grades 5-6 centre in a small town in Western Oklahoma. Not only does the book address a neglected population, the more than 1/3 of the nation’s children who go to school in small towns and rural areas, it uses the occasion to invert thinking about school reform. It argues that in today's policy climate where guaranteed, standard outcomes are touted as goals of education, leadership schemes, even those designed to challenge topdown, bureaucratic models, are quickly co-opted to produce the appearance of learning. Prevailing leadership theories beg the question of who is being transformed and to what end, failing to challenge assumptions and dominant ideas of contemporary education and leadership thinking. Drawing on Philip Phenix’s idea of the faithful life, the book proposes an alternative way forward. Phenix talks about connections between school and life. According to Phenix, the faithful life is concerned with the normative question of what is good, true, right, just, beautiful, and holy. This is not the vocabulary of current education policy. But it describes the kind of community created at Washington School despite its history of failure. And it describes what most families want for their children whether they live in the city or country, America or elsewhere: an education that matters.

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Book SynopsisThe focus of this book extends the discourse on student engagement beyond prescriptive definitions and includes substantive ethical and political issues relating to this concept. As such, this collection includes voices of educational theorists, practitioners, and students. It provides a counter discourse to the current dialogue on student engagement in educational theory and practice which equate it primarily with behavioural and attitudinal characteristics including student compliance and qualities of teaching or teachers. In this collection, engagement is not viewed simply as a matter of techniques, strategies or behaviours. Rather, the understandings of student engagement presented, while distinct from each other, are imbued with a common vision of education for democratic transformation or reconstruction as operational for and in democratic communities. Contributors to this volume examine issues of the purpose of student engagement, and the question of the criteria, standards, and norms which are used to determine the quality and degree of engagement, and ultimately whether or not all forms of student engagement are equally worthwhile. This collection is intended for use in teacher and administrator preparation programs as well as school and district professional development initiatives.

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Book SynopsisThis volume brings together an impressive array of respected scholars to examine the varied and complex ways in which peers influence adolescents’ beliefs and behaviours in the school context. The breadth of peer influence on academic and social adjustment is evident in the wide variety of topics covered in the present volume. Throughout the chapters, scholars provide unique insights regarding the complex ways that the academic and social spheres of adolescents’ lives are interconnected. Collectively, the chapters in this volume expand current knowledge and theory in peer relations research by (a) exploring different types of peer relations (e.g., close friendships, peer groups) and different peer dynamics (e.g., popularity, bullying) that emerge in the school context, (b) examining different processes that explain why and how peers influence each other in school, (c) considering developmental issues during adolescence that may be critical to understanding peers and adjustment at school and (d) providing information about how teacher practices or programs influence peer relations and school adjustment. Peer Relationships and Adjustment in School is an important volume for researchers and practitioners interested in social development, peer relationships and youth engagement and achievement in school.

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