Educational strategies and policy Books

Book SynopsisFederalism has played a central role in charting educational progress in many countries. With an evolving balance between centralization and decentralization, federalism is designed to promote accountability standards without tempering regional and local preferences. Federalism facilitates negotiations both vertically between the central authority and local entities as well as horizontally among diverse interests. Innovative educational practices are often validated by a few local entities prior to scaling up to the national level. Because of the division of revenue sources between central authority and decentralized entities, federalism encourages a certain degree of fiscal competition at the local and regional level. The balance of centralization and decentralization also varies across institutional and policy domains, such as the legislative framework for education, drafting of curricula, benchmarking for accountability, accreditation, teacher training, and administrative responsibilities at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.Given these critical issues in federalism and education, this volume examines ongoing challenges and policy strategies in ten countries, namely Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. These chapters and the introductory overview aim to examine how countries with federal systems of government design, govern, finance, and assure quality in their educational systems spanning from early childhood to secondary school graduation. Particular attention is given to functional division between governmental layers of the federal system as well as mechanisms of intergovernmental cooperation both vertically and horizontally. The chapters aim to draw out comparative lessons and experiences in an area of great importance to not only federal countries but also countries that are emerging toward a federal system.Table of Contents Federalism and Education: Cross-National Lessons on Governance, Standards, and Accountability for the 21st Century, Kenneth K. Wong, Felix Knüpling, Mario Kölling, and Diana Chebenova. Schooling Policy in Australia: Concurrent, Complex, and Contested, Bronwyn Hinz. Federalism and Education in Austria, Peter Bußjäger. The Organization of Education Policies: A Mirror of Belgian Political History and Federalism, Peter Bursens, Petra Meier, and Peter Van Petegem. Federalism and Education: The Canadian Case, Jennifer Wallner. Educational Federalism in Germany: Tensions Between the States’ Autonomy and Cooperative Unitarization, Henrik Scheller. The Italian Education System: Constitutional Design, Organization and Policy-Making, Elisabeth Alber and Martina Trettel. Federalism and Education: Governance, Standards, and Innovation for the 21st Century in Spain, Mario Kölling and Xavier Rambla. The Pros and Cons of Horizontal Federalism: Primary and Secondary Education Governance in Switzerland, Béatrice Zielgler, Monika Waldis, Daniel Kübler, Andri Gustin and Andreas Glaser. Federalism and Education: The Case of the UK, Deborah Wilson and Llorenc O’Prey. Public Education as a Shared State-Federal Function in the United States: Institutional Changes and Policy Challenges, Kenneth K. Wong.

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Book SynopsisThe book Beyond Marginality: Understanding the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Difference in Educational Leadership Research promotes new theoretical and conceptual frameworks for the study of race and ethnicity in educational leadership. In this volume, new generations of scholars of color are moving beyond research that has not been necessarily focused or generated by diverse groups. The authors are purposeful in transcending systemic inequities and injustices in the stratified representation of practitioners and researchers by bringing in a new movement with innovative and impactful theoretical and conceptual frameworks in educational leadership.

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Book SynopsisThe book Beyond Marginality: Understanding the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Difference in Educational Leadership Research promotes new theoretical and conceptual frameworks for the study of race and ethnicity in educational leadership. In this volume, new generations of scholars of color are moving beyond research that has not been necessarily focused or generated by diverse groups. The authors are purposeful in transcending systemic inequities and injustices in the stratified representation of practitioners and researchers by bringing in a new movement with innovative and impactful theoretical and conceptual frameworks in educational leadership.

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Book SynopsisThis book, the second in the series, is a distinct exploration of how educational policy makers, curriculum developers, educators, learners and social activists can utilize the hitherto untapped rich resource of African traditional oral literature and visual cultures. These are epistemological reservoirs and invaluable pedagogical tools in the delivery of content in the classrooms of the present global village, most of whom contain diverse student populations from varying backgrounds. The content of the book is thus designed to help expand educators’ repertoire of understanding beyond the hitherto “conventional wisdom”, most of which are either outdated or are colonial impositions on former colonial entities. Our motivation for pulling together this anthology was due to the fact scholars, educators and educational policy makers have hitherto paid little attention to the epistemological and pedagogical value of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge systems (TIKS). Our objective has been largely achieved by this anthology in the sense that the research perspectives of the contributors to this effort have enhanced the hitherto limited exposure and knowledge about traditional oral literature and visual cultures in Africa. The torch that has been lighted from this endeavor heightens the epistemological and pedagogical implications of TIKS. In launching this book, we are extending a clarion call to researchers and disciples of Indigenous Knowledge systems in Africa and elsewhere to seize this opportunity and interest generated by this endeavor to undertake more studies in this area. Our current efforts were focused mainly on Africa TIKS systems, but we strongly believe that there are similar and equally powerful and important TIKS systems in other parts of the world, Asia, the Far East, Central and Southern America as well as the Caribbean that are longing for exploration and exposition. It is therefore our fervent hope that exploration and dissemination of knowledge in this field will continue with the flame lighted from this endeavor. We believe that these efforts will greatly enhance awareness an otherwise neglected and almost forgotten, but important aspects of knowledge creation and dissemination, especially about traditional and hitherto unwritten histories and knowledge systems around the world. These undertakings will help to broaden the conceptualization of what constitutes global knowledge within the current reality of globalization.Table of Contents Acknowledgements. Introduction. Voices, Insights and the future on African traditional oral literature and visual cultures Sankofa: Re-crafting African Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Culturally Conscious Classroom Contexts Recognizing and celebrating the cultural capital of cultural minority students in North American classrooms as empowering tools for academic success LIBATION: Pedagogical tool for Health and Social Education Rethinking traditional beliefs:Exploring ways to eradicate the stigma, segregation and violence against women accused of witchcraft in Ghana A case for African traditional literature in children’s education African Traditional Moonlight tales: A culturally relevant tool for discussing social issues with children African Music and Dance: Instructional Strategy for Global Education Cultural, ritualistic and pedagogical symbolism of the Morse Codes of ancient Africa in diverse learning environments: The Ikoro & Ekwe as typologies and agencies of non-verbal communication among the Igbo of Eastern Nigeria Examining the Roles of Modern Queen Mothers in Preserving the Cultural Heritage of the Akans of Ghana: Pedagogical Implications Adinkra Symbolism of Ghana: Pedagogical Implications for Schooling and Education Back to our roots: Using Puberty rites of the Akans of Ghana as Cultural Tools for promoting Traditional Ideals of Womanhood in Classroom Contexts Accentuating The Importance Of Traditional Festivals As Veritable Teaching Tools In Global Classroom Settings About the Contributors.

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Book SynopsisIn its totality, this book explores subjects that are rarely available in primary literature publications and brings diverging fields together that are generally addressed separately in specialty journals. The book argues that past school failures are instructive. The author identifies the structural and emotional triggers that make it difficult for educators’ to overcome the social constructs that control the progress of Black students, reproduce inequities, subvert the socio-economic progress of the nation, and threaten the legitimacy of the U.S. public school system.One failure is informative; successive school failures are chock-full of must avoid school policies and instructional practices. The book analyzes the lessons learned from a list of school-imposed policies that have molded and determined the academic progress of Black students. The author argues that much can be discerned from that which undermined the performance of schoolteachers’ and public school systems. The quantifiable outcomes of past school practices can better inform educators and future teachers and school leaders. The book carefully analyzes the organic evolution of educators’ social constructs that regenerated inequities to reveal the road map for rebuilding genuinely inclusive and equitable public school systems that serve the interests of students and society.The book also provides in-depth analysis of various disciplines that identify the best methodologies to improve the teaching and learning of Black students, homeless students, and all other students. The book aims to offer a unique perspective by carefully unfolding the built in school structures that obstruct the abilities of school administrators and teachers to bridge the student achievement gaps and meet the objectives of consecutive school reform initiatives.The author’s distinctive approach stimulates the thinking of the entire field of education, and challenges accepted propositions commonly assumed about African American students. In short, this book offers a perspective that is rarely shared or understood by educators and practitioners in the field of education.Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgment Chapter 1: Teaching Beyond the Limits of School Reforms Chapter 2: Teachers’ Expectations and Black Agency Chapter 3: District of Columbia Black Students After Brown v. Board of Education Chapter 4: Cognitive Dissonance: Breeding the Black Student Achievement Gap Chapter 5: Impartiality Protects the Quality and Performance of Schools Chapter 6: America’s Homeless Students: Perils and Potential Chapter 7: School: Homeless Students’ Precious Sanctuary Chapter 8: Reliable Homeless Student Counts are Vital Chapter 9: Caring Teachers: Transformative Agents Chapter 10: Final Thought

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Book SynopsisIn its totality, this book explores subjects that are rarely available in primary literature publications and brings diverging fields together that are generally addressed separately in specialty journals. The book argues that past school failures are instructive. The author identifies the structural and emotional triggers that make it difficult for educators’ to overcome the social constructs that control the progress of Black students, reproduce inequities, subvert the socio-economic progress of the nation, and threaten the legitimacy of the U.S. public school system.One failure is informative; successive school failures are chock-full of must avoid school policies and instructional practices. The book analyzes the lessons learned from a list of school-imposed policies that have molded and determined the academic progress of Black students. The author argues that much can be discerned from that which undermined the performance of schoolteachers’ and public school systems. The quantifiable outcomes of past school practices can better inform educators and future teachers and school leaders. The book carefully analyzes the organic evolution of educators’ social constructs that regenerated inequities to reveal the road map for rebuilding genuinely inclusive and equitable public school systems that serve the interests of students and society.The book also provides in-depth analysis of various disciplines that identify the best methodologies to improve the teaching and learning of Black students, homeless students, and all other students. The book aims to offer a unique perspective by carefully unfolding the built in school structures that obstruct the abilities of school administrators and teachers to bridge the student achievement gaps and meet the objectives of consecutive school reform initiatives.The author’s distinctive approach stimulates the thinking of the entire field of education, and challenges accepted propositions commonly assumed about African American students. In short, this book offers a perspective that is rarely shared or understood by educators and practitioners in the field of education.Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgment Chapter 1: Teaching Beyond the Limits of School Reforms Chapter 2: Teachers’ Expectations and Black Agency Chapter 3: District of Columbia Black Students After Brown v. Board of Education Chapter 4: Cognitive Dissonance: Breeding the Black Student Achievement Gap Chapter 5: Impartiality Protects the Quality and Performance of Schools Chapter 6: America’s Homeless Students: Perils and Potential Chapter 7: School: Homeless Students’ Precious Sanctuary Chapter 8: Reliable Homeless Student Counts are Vital Chapter 9: Caring Teachers: Transformative Agents Chapter 10: Final Thought

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Book SynopsisDrawing from over 20 years of teaching experience in the U.S., ranging from pre-kindergarten to post-graduate, Affolter illustrates personal, practical, and theoretical ways for teachers to grapple with the complexities of race and racism within their own schools and communities and develop as inclusive anti-racist teachers. The work aims to take into account the deeply human dimensions of inclusive anti- racist teaching, while drawing attention to the threat of burnout, inviting closer inspection of curricula development, and exploring tangible ways to sustain this important work for teaching.Resisting racism, agitating for change, and walking an inclusive anti-racist path requires commitment to unflinchingly look at one's failures and examine silences. It is work that must be done in all settings: rural, urban, suburban. This book offers all pre-teachers and in-service teachers some perspectives and reflections on engaging anti-racist inclusive practice. The questions raised here ask each of us to consider our own positioning and interrogate the stories we tell ourselves about ""the other."" The book seeks to call in white teachers in particular to carefully examine our own biases and the ways we may replicate white supremacist ideology within our pedagogy and curricula. The questions posed here and the work ahead is not easy. This is work best taken on with those that can challenge with love and help support one other as we imagine and work towards a more just world.

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Book SynopsisDrawing from over 20 years of teaching experience in the U.S., ranging from pre-kindergarten to post-graduate, Affolter illustrates personal, practical, and theoretical ways for teachers to grapple with the complexities of race and racism within their own schools and communities and develop as inclusive anti-racist teachers. The work aims to take into account the deeply human dimensions of inclusive anti- racist teaching, while drawing attention to the threat of burnout, inviting closer inspection of curricula development, and exploring tangible ways to sustain this important work for teaching.Resisting racism, agitating for change, and walking an inclusive anti-racist path requires commitment to unflinchingly look at one's failures and examine silences. It is work that must be done in all settings: rural, urban, suburban. This book offers all pre-teachers and in-service teachers some perspectives and reflections on engaging anti-racist inclusive practice. The questions raised here ask each of us to consider our own positioning and interrogate the stories we tell ourselves about ""the other."" The book seeks to call in white teachers in particular to carefully examine our own biases and the ways we may replicate white supremacist ideology within our pedagogy and curricula. The questions posed here and the work ahead is not easy. This is work best taken on with those that can challenge with love and help support one other as we imagine and work towards a more just world.

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Book SynopsisLiteracy practices have changed over the past several years to incorporate modes of representation much broader than language alone, in which the textual is also related to the visual, the audio, the spatial, etc. This book focuses on research and instructional practices necessary for integrating an expanded view of literacy in the classroom that offers multiple points of entry for all students. Projects highlighted in this book incorporate multiple modes of communication (e.g., visual, aural, textual) through various digital and print-based written formats. In addition, this book particularly focuses on the possibilities that this expanded view of literacy holds for emergent to advanced bilingual students and specific scaffolds necessary for supporting them. Our focus is specifically multilingual students as classrooms across the United States and other English-speaking countries around the world become more and more diverse. The book considers educators as active participants in social change and contributors to our overall goal of social justice for all. This book grew out of work conducted by doctoral students and former doctoral students, now faculty at various universities, from the Language and Literacy Learning in Multilingual Settings (LLLMS) specialization in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami, Florida. The most outstanding feature of this work is the breadth of examples for integrating literacy in the classroom, as well as the specific instructional strategies provided for supporting multilingual students. This volume is unique in tackling both literacy and specific scaffolding for multilingual students. Additionally, the chapters here collectively aim to go beyond describing research to also provide a variety of classroom connections for practitioners and implications for teacher education.Table of Contents Preface Teaching Multimodal Practices to Multilingual Elementary Students through Picture Books Exploring Multimodal Representations of Words in a Fourth-Grade English Language Arts Teacher Guide to Support Emergent Bilinguals’ Vocabulary Instruction Using Multimodal Practices to Support Students’ Access to Academic Language and Content in Spanishand English The Power of Working Together: Research on Collaborative Writing and Implications for Practice Translanguaging Writing Practices and Implications for Multilingual Students Scaffolding Multimodal Composing in the Multilingual Classroom Writing for Social Justice: A Promising Practice for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Adolescents Contributor Biographies.

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Book SynopsisLiteracy practices have changed over the past several years to incorporate modes of representation much broader than language alone, in which the textual is also related to the visual, the audio, the spatial, etc. This book focuses on research and instructional practices necessary for integrating an expanded view of literacy in the classroom that offers multiple points of entry for all students. Projects highlighted in this book incorporate multiple modes of communication (e.g., visual, aural, textual) through various digital and print-based written formats. In addition, this book particularly focuses on the possibilities that this expanded view of literacy holds for emergent to advanced bilingual students and specific scaffolds necessary for supporting them. Our focus is specifically multilingual students as classrooms across the United States and other English-speaking countries around the world become more and more diverse. The book considers educators as active participants in social change and contributors to our overall goal of social justice for all. This book grew out of work conducted by doctoral students and former doctoral students, now faculty at various universities, from the Language and Literacy Learning in Multilingual Settings (LLLMS) specialization in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Miami, Florida. The most outstanding feature of this work is the breadth of examples for integrating literacy in the classroom, as well as the specific instructional strategies provided for supporting multilingual students. This volume is unique in tackling both literacy and specific scaffolding for multilingual students. Additionally, the chapters here collectively aim to go beyond describing research to also provide a variety of classroom connections for practitioners and implications for teacher education.Table of Contents Preface Teaching Multimodal Practices to Multilingual Elementary Students through Picture Books Exploring Multimodal Representations of Words in a Fourth-Grade English Language Arts Teacher Guide to Support Emergent Bilinguals’ Vocabulary Instruction Using Multimodal Practices to Support Students’ Access to Academic Language and Content in Spanishand English The Power of Working Together: Research on Collaborative Writing and Implications for Practice Translanguaging Writing Practices and Implications for Multilingual Students Scaffolding Multimodal Composing in the Multilingual Classroom Writing for Social Justice: A Promising Practice for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Adolescents Contributor Biographies.

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Book SynopsisThe exploration of the intersection of leadership practices from the school principal and other educators, the school culture, and the school success across different high-need contexts and cultures make this volume unique. Chapters in this volume present original investigations or reanalysis of empirical research enhancing our understanding of the interrelationship between leadership, culture and success through descriptions of practice that can contribute to lessons in leadership for school improvement. When considering a culture of success, leadership that focuses on impacting schools in high-need areas bring about lessons on how to create sustainable environments for student learning in challenging contexts. High-need schools include not only socioeconomic challenges influencing the performance of students. It includes multiple external and internal factors impacting leaders, teachers, students, and their families, affecting the management of structures, processes, and most importantly, learning. In the quest to improve high-need schools, and understand strategies for principals dedicated to a variety of contexts, this volume brings lessons with application for researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners who want to join in the quest to improve the quality of education among worldwide communities.

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Book SynopsisThe exploration of the intersection of leadership practices from the school principal and other educators, the school culture, and the school success across different high-need contexts and cultures make this volume unique. Chapters in this volume present original investigations or reanalysis of empirical research enhancing our understanding of the interrelationship between leadership, culture and success through descriptions of practice that can contribute to lessons in leadership for school improvement. When considering a culture of success, leadership that focuses on impacting schools in high-need areas bring about lessons on how to create sustainable environments for student learning in challenging contexts. High-need schools include not only socioeconomic challenges influencing the performance of students. It includes multiple external and internal factors impacting leaders, teachers, students, and their families, affecting the management of structures, processes, and most importantly, learning. In the quest to improve high-need schools, and understand strategies for principals dedicated to a variety of contexts, this volume brings lessons with application for researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners who want to join in the quest to improve the quality of education among worldwide communities.

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Book SynopsisMultilingual students, multidialectal students, and students learning English as an additional language constitute a substantial and growing demographic in the United States. But these groups of students tend to receive unequal access to and inadequate instruction in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM), with their cultural and linguistic assets going largely unacknowledged and underutilized. The need for more information about quality STEAM education for culturally and linguistically diverse students is pressing. This book seeks to address this need, with chapters from asset-oriented researchers and practitioners whose work offers promising teaching and learning approaches in the STEAM subjects in K-16 education settings. Authors share innovative ways in which classroom teachers integrate disciplinary reading, writing, discussion, and language development with content knowledge development in STEAM subjects. Also shared are approaches for integrating indigenous epistemologies, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and students’ linguistic resources and life experiences into classroom teaching.The value of quality STEAM education for all students is an equity issue, a civics issue, and an economic issue. Our technologically-driven, scientifically-oriented, innovative society should be led by diverse people with diverse ways of approaching and being in the world. This book aims to make quality STEAM education a reality for all students, taking into account the many perspectives, bodies of knowledge, and skills they bring from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, with the ultimate goal of strengthening the fields that will drive our society towards the future. There are three primary audiences for this book: teachers (both in-service and pre-service teachers), teacher educators (both pre-service preparation and professional learning); and applied researchers. Whatever their current or evolving role, readers are encouraged to use this book and the inquiry questions provided at the end of each chapter as a launching point for their own important work in achieving equity in STEAM education.

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Book SynopsisMultilingual students, multidialectal students, and students learning English as an additional language constitute a substantial and growing demographic in the United States. But these groups of students tend to receive unequal access to and inadequate instruction in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM), with their cultural and linguistic assets going largely unacknowledged and underutilized. The need for more information about quality STEAM education for culturally and linguistically diverse students is pressing. This book seeks to address this need, with chapters from asset-oriented researchers and practitioners whose work offers promising teaching and learning approaches in the STEAM subjects in K-16 education settings. Authors share innovative ways in which classroom teachers integrate disciplinary reading, writing, discussion, and language development with content knowledge development in STEAM subjects. Also shared are approaches for integrating indigenous epistemologies, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and students’ linguistic resources and life experiences into classroom teaching.The value of quality STEAM education for all students is an equity issue, a civics issue, and an economic issue. Our technologically-driven, scientifically-oriented, innovative society should be led by diverse people with diverse ways of approaching and being in the world. This book aims to make quality STEAM education a reality for all students, taking into account the many perspectives, bodies of knowledge, and skills they bring from a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, with the ultimate goal of strengthening the fields that will drive our society towards the future. There are three primary audiences for this book: teachers (both in-service and pre-service teachers), teacher educators (both pre-service preparation and professional learning); and applied researchers. Whatever their current or evolving role, readers are encouraged to use this book and the inquiry questions provided at the end of each chapter as a launching point for their own important work in achieving equity in STEAM education.

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Book SynopsisMulticultural education has become its own discipline, developed on the shoulders of the work of giants who argued its merit during the attacks of opponents who believed assimilation was the purpose of state sponsored education. In an age of rising populism and nationalism throughout the Western world, again questioned is the merit of multicultural education. In the shadows of Brexit and an America First agenda, where migration patterns across the world have led to demographic shifts, it is evident even in the richest countries in the world that gaps in opportunity (and subsequently achievement) still exist. Disparities in achievement lead some to question whether multicultural education works and others to revert to old notions that ethnically and linguistically marginalized students are in fact deficient. The scholars here believe in the untapped potential of all children and illuminate how educational structures have muffled the cultivation of that potential. Contributors argue the goals of multicultural education have not been achieved in part due to the piecemeal application of its tenants.The scholarship in this volume illustrates the state of multicultural education and articulates what educators committed to equity, inclusion, and a more just society must do to ensure the goals of multicultural education survive in the current age. The authors of these chapters bridge foundational knowledge with contemporary understandings; making the work both accessible for novices and beneficial for the authorities on multicultural education. With the diverse cast of contributors and topics ranging from mathematics instruction to discipline practices, this volume provides thoughtful discourse on issues of access: access to curricular content, access to opportunities to learn, as well as impediments to access. Containing chapters that speak to discipline specific pedagogical practices, the structures of schooling, teacher education, and research methodologies, the collected work encourages scholars and practitioners to not be discouraged in the age of retrenchment.

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Book SynopsisMulticultural education has become its own discipline, developed on the shoulders of the work of giants who argued its merit during the attacks of opponents who believed assimilation was the purpose of state sponsored education. In an age of rising populism and nationalism throughout the Western world, again questioned is the merit of multicultural education. In the shadows of Brexit and an America First agenda, where migration patterns across the world have led to demographic shifts, it is evident even in the richest countries in the world that gaps in opportunity (and subsequently achievement) still exist. Disparities in achievement lead some to question whether multicultural education works and others to revert to old notions that ethnically and linguistically marginalized students are in fact deficient. The scholars here believe in the untapped potential of all children and illuminate how educational structures have muffled the cultivation of that potential. Contributors argue the goals of multicultural education have not been achieved in part due to the piecemeal application of its tenants.The scholarship in this volume illustrates the state of multicultural education and articulates what educators committed to equity, inclusion, and a more just society must do to ensure the goals of multicultural education survive in the current age. The authors of these chapters bridge foundational knowledge with contemporary understandings; making the work both accessible for novices and beneficial for the authorities on multicultural education. With the diverse cast of contributors and topics ranging from mathematics instruction to discipline practices, this volume provides thoughtful discourse on issues of access: access to curricular content, access to opportunities to learn, as well as impediments to access. Containing chapters that speak to discipline specific pedagogical practices, the structures of schooling, teacher education, and research methodologies, the collected work encourages scholars and practitioners to not be discouraged in the age of retrenchment.

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Book SynopsisThe currency of social capital serves as an important function given the capacity to generate external access (getting to) and internal accountability (getting through) for individuals and institutions alike. Pierre Bourdieu (1986) defines social capital as “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition or in other words, to membership in a group” (p. 251). Social capital contains embedded resources as a tool for manifesting opportunities and options among individuals and groups. Inevitably, the aforementioned opportunities and options become reflective of the depth and breadth of access and accountability experienced by the individual and institution. As educational stakeholders, we must consistently challenge ourselves with the question, “How do K-12 schools and colleges and universities accomplish shared, egalitarian goals of achieving access and accountability?” Such goals become fundamental toward ensuring students matriculating through K-12 and higher education, irrespective of background, are provided the caliber of education and schooling experience to prepare them for economic mobility and social stability.To that end, the volume, Contemporary Perspectives on Social Capital in Educational Contexts (2019), as part of the book series, Contemporary Perspectives on Capital in Educational Contexts, offers a unique opportunity to explore social capital as a currency conduit for creating external access and internal accountability for K-12 and higher education. The commonalities of social capital emerging within the 12 chapters of the volume include the following: 1) Social Capital as Human Connectedness; 2) Social Capital as Strategic Advocacy; 3) Social Capital as Intentional Engagement; and 4) Social Capital as Culturally-Responsive Leadership. Thus, it becomes important for institutions of education (i.e. secondary, postsecondary, continuing) and individuals to assume efforts with intentionality and deliberateness to promote access and accountability.

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Book SynopsisThe currency of social capital serves as an important function given the capacity to generate external access (getting to) and internal accountability (getting through) for individuals and institutions alike. Pierre Bourdieu (1986) defines social capital as “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition or in other words, to membership in a group” (p. 251). Social capital contains embedded resources as a tool for manifesting opportunities and options among individuals and groups. Inevitably, the aforementioned opportunities and options become reflective of the depth and breadth of access and accountability experienced by the individual and institution. As educational stakeholders, we must consistently challenge ourselves with the question, “How do K-12 schools and colleges and universities accomplish shared, egalitarian goals of achieving access and accountability?” Such goals become fundamental toward ensuring students matriculating through K-12 and higher education, irrespective of background, are provided the caliber of education and schooling experience to prepare them for economic mobility and social stability.To that end, the volume, Contemporary Perspectives on Social Capital in Educational Contexts (2019), as part of the book series, Contemporary Perspectives on Capital in Educational Contexts, offers a unique opportunity to explore social capital as a currency conduit for creating external access and internal accountability for K-12 and higher education. The commonalities of social capital emerging within the 12 chapters of the volume include the following: 1) Social Capital as Human Connectedness; 2) Social Capital as Strategic Advocacy; 3) Social Capital as Intentional Engagement; and 4) Social Capital as Culturally-Responsive Leadership. Thus, it becomes important for institutions of education (i.e. secondary, postsecondary, continuing) and individuals to assume efforts with intentionality and deliberateness to promote access and accountability.

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Book SynopsisIs the American public school doing what we want it to do? Or, is what we want it to do in conflict with what society allows it to do? This book takes on issues central to understanding the complexities of the American public school experience. Readers are simultaneously taken into the historical and contemporary context of these issues through an honest and provocative approach that engages them into the real world of school. Chapters revolve around key issues such as religion, democracy, teachers, race, reform, pedagogy, efficiency, freedom, segregation, social class, exceptionality, gender, technology, and accountability.Paradoxes of the Public School promises to foster a thoughtful dialogue on the complexity of school and how best to improve it for the future. Teacher educators may find it useful to help develop teacher candidates’ understanding of the nature of school. However, anyone interested in the nature of school will find this book insightful, clear, and easy to follow. All readers will find this book to be cutting edge as it creatively fills a dire need for a compelling tale of school that is both informative and thought provoking.

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Book SynopsisThe National Education Finance Academy (NEFA) has completed a project providing a one- of-a-kind practical book on funding P-12 education in the United States. The book, entitled Funding Public Schools in the United States and Indian Country is a single volume with a clear and short chapter about each state. Approximately 50% of chapters are authored by university faculty who are members of NEFA; approximately 25% of chapters are authored by state department of education officials and/or state school board association officials; and the remaining 25% of chapters are authored by ASBO affiliate states.Each chapter contains information about: Each state’s aid formula background; Basic support program description and operation (the state aid formula) including how school aid is apportioned (e.g., state appropriations, local tax contributions, cost share ratios, and more); Supplemental funding options relating to how school districts raise funds attached to or above the regular state aid scheme; Compensatory programs operated in school districts and how those are funded and aided; Categorical programs operated in school districts and how those are funded and aided; Any funding supports for transportation operations; Any funding supports for physical facilities and operations; and Other state aids not covered in the above list.

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Book SynopsisThe National Education Finance Academy (NEFA) has completed a project providing a one- of-a-kind practical book on funding P-12 education in the United States. The book, entitled Funding Public Schools in the United States and Indian Country is a single volume with a clear and short chapter about each state. Approximately 50% of chapters are authored by university faculty who are members of NEFA; approximately 25% of chapters are authored by state department of education officials and/or state school board association officials; and the remaining 25% of chapters are authored by ASBO affiliate states.Each chapter contains information about: Each state’s aid formula background; Basic support program description and operation (the state aid formula) including how school aid is apportioned (e.g., state appropriations, local tax contributions, cost share ratios, and more); Supplemental funding options relating to how school districts raise funds attached to or above the regular state aid scheme; Compensatory programs operated in school districts and how those are funded and aided; Categorical programs operated in school districts and how those are funded and aided; Any funding supports for transportation operations; Any funding supports for physical facilities and operations; and Other state aids not covered in the above list.

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Book SynopsisIn an era of constant connection, it can be challenging to prioritize time for reflection. Taking time to think can feel like a luxury or even a waste time. People facilitating complex leadership processes may feel the least able to pause and reflect. However, it is through intentional reflection that we make meaning of experiences, connect ideas, question assumptions, and generate innovative possibilities. By taking time to reflect, individually and with others, learners can see the full picture of an experience, understand their thought processes, and enhance their capacity for leadership. Beyond individual reflection, by engaging in reflection on social issues with others, leaders can be empowered and enabled to create positive changes. This book is a clarion call for educators and learners to make reflection a central priority.Reflection, the process of making meaning of experience, and leadership, a relational process for affecting change, are enhanced by one another. Together, they strengthen the potential for leadership learning through experience. This book addresses challenges for reflection in leadership learning while also connecting it to timely topics. It begins with connections between reflection and leadership and then introduces a framework for reflection in leadership learning. Reflection is a powerful strategy curricular and co -curricular learning; for instruction and assessment, reflection in leadership learning can benefit from both intentional framing and feedback. As socially constructed concepts, both reflection and leadership have historically lacked clarity; to add to the confusion, critical reflection is often interchanged with reflection. This book introduces a continuum of critical reflection in leadership learning. In order to facilitate reflection in leadership learning, educators must engage in the inner work of becoming reflective educators. Finally, in the face of complex social challenges, reflection, leadership, mindfulness, and resilience are juxtaposed in order to highlight how these concepts are reliant upon one another.Reflection in leadership learning is essential for anyone who wants to develop their capacity for leadership. When faced with complex social issues and challenges at a global scale, the only way to make progress is through collective action that results from critical reflection. To develop more resilient and mindful learners who can adapt to changing circumstances, educators must center reflection in leadership learning as a philosophy, pedagogy, outcome, and strategy. This book provides a balance of theory and practice to empower and enable educators to engage in reflective leadership learning.

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Book SynopsisThis book is written by a diverse cohort of both of American educators, including professors, teachers, school counselors, and school administrators from pre-K to college levels. Most of the contributors come from disciplinary areas of English as a second language and school administration. With the pressure of Common Core State Standards Initiative, American educators are now shifting their focus to standards-based instruction. Meanwhile, Chinese educators are moving away from national standards and developing state level curriculum and instruction to meet specific needs of the students in local provinces. There is also a debate about whether or not to use the National College Entrance Examination as the only test for college admission. Some provinces (e.g., Zhejiang and Hubei) are administering their own college entrance examinations. The book outlines the sociocultural roots of education in the three countries, linking the tradition and philosophical orientations to each country’s own history of education. Furthermore, the book compares and contrasts the curriculum, especially the teaching of English as a second/foreign language, in three countries.This book examines the stress of students, physical education, various pedagogical styles in foreign language education as well as instructional texts and cross-cultural dialogue between teachers. Additionally, the book explores factors that influence parent’s involvement and women’s educational and career aspirations. Lastly, the book presents modern technologies such as smart learning technologies and online learning platforms not only to facilitate future educational systems but also to promote international exchanges.The chapters of the book are thematically diverse, but they help to provide inspirations for educators both in American and Asian countries. The findings offer alternative practical lenses for educational community to seek for some “middle ground” between Chinese, South Korea and American education. The intended audience for this book is graduate students, teachers, administrators, and professionals in education.

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Book SynopsisCritical Perspectives on Education Policy and Schools, Families, and Communities offers scholars, students, and practitioners important new knowledge about how current policies impact families, schools, and community partnerships. The book’s authors share a critical orientation towards policy and policy research and invite readers to think differently about what policy is, who policymakers are, and what policy can achieve. Their chapters discuss findings from research grounded in diverse theories, including institutional ethnography, critical disability theory, and critical race theory. The authors encourage scholars of family, school, and community partnerships to ask who benefits from policies (and who loses) and how proposed reforms maintain or disrupt existing relations of power.The chapters present original research on a broad range of policies at the local, state/provincial, and national levels in Canada and the USA. Some authors look closely at the enactment of specific district policies, including a school district’s language translation policy and a policy to create local advisory bodies as part of decentralization efforts. Other chapters reveal the often unacknowledged yet necessary work parents do to meet their children’s needs and enable schools to operate. A few chapters focus on challenges and paradoxes of including families and community members in policymaking processes, including a case where parents demonstrated a preference for a policy that research demonstrates can be detrimental to their children’s future education opportunities. Another set of chapters emphasizes the centrality of policy texts and how language influences the educational experiences and engagement of students and their families. Each chapter concludes with a discussion of implications of the research for educators, families, and other community partners.

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Book SynopsisCritical Perspectives on Education Policy and Schools, Families, and Communities offers scholars, students, and practitioners important new knowledge about how current policies impact families, schools, and community partnerships. The book’s authors share a critical orientation towards policy and policy research and invite readers to think differently about what policy is, who policymakers are, and what policy can achieve. Their chapters discuss findings from research grounded in diverse theories, including institutional ethnography, critical disability theory, and critical race theory. The authors encourage scholars of family, school, and community partnerships to ask who benefits from policies (and who loses) and how proposed reforms maintain or disrupt existing relations of power.The chapters present original research on a broad range of policies at the local, state/provincial, and national levels in Canada and the USA. Some authors look closely at the enactment of specific district policies, including a school district’s language translation policy and a policy to create local advisory bodies as part of decentralization efforts. Other chapters reveal the often unacknowledged yet necessary work parents do to meet their children’s needs and enable schools to operate. A few chapters focus on challenges and paradoxes of including families and community members in policymaking processes, including a case where parents demonstrated a preference for a policy that research demonstrates can be detrimental to their children’s future education opportunities. Another set of chapters emphasizes the centrality of policy texts and how language influences the educational experiences and engagement of students and their families. Each chapter concludes with a discussion of implications of the research for educators, families, and other community partners.

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Book SynopsisReflecting on almost three decades of postsocialist transformations, the second edition of Globalization on the Margins explores continuities and changes in Central Asian education development since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, with a particular focus on the developments that took place since the production of the first edition in 2011. Rather than viewing these transformations in isolation, the authors place their analyses within the global context by reflecting on the interaction between Soviet legacies and global education reform pressures in the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. This new edition, in addition to a revised introduction and a newly added conclusion, consists of four thematic sections, each reflecting a key theme in the educational life of the Central Asian states. These thematic sections, introduction and conclusion collectively update our understanding of the recent developments and challenges in education of the five Central Asian states. They, however, go beyond mere information update, so as to complicate, re-engage, re-form and re-define the margins, taking up ‘margins’ a conceptual, geographic, cultural, and geo-political construct. Notwithstanding the diversity of local and international authors, variety of theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and conceptual lenses, the essays reveal the complexity and uncertainty of the post-socialist education transformations. Instead of portraying the transition process as the influx of Western ideas into the region, Globalization on the Margins provides new lenses to critically example education as a contested field of diverse perspectives, competing forces, and multidirectional flow of ideas, concepts, and reforms in Central Asia.

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Book SynopsisThrough courses, internships, community engagement, social organizations, and daily interactions with others, every day we accumulate experiences; however, learning does not happen through experience but from reflection on experiences. This manual provides guidance for facilitating reflection in leadership learning and features over 50 activities from 52 reflective leadership educators. Guided by a framework for reflection in leadership learning, we focus on six methods for reflection: contemplative, creative, digital, discussion, narrative, and written. Through prioritizing time, holding space, and asking questions that challenge assumptions, educators facilitate reflection in leadership learning. This intentional focus on making meaning of leadership processes enhances the capacity of learners to work collaboratively for change.

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Book SynopsisHow can we build an organization or institution that treats people equitably? How do we develop conscientious communities where people’s voices are heard and not silenced? How can we go from half-truths and alternative facts to real truths? How can we reduce or eliminate societal ills such as racism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, religious dogmatism, sexism, homophobia, tribalism, colonial mentality, slave mentality, Messiah Complex, and terrorism? How can we get into the mind’s eyes of others and “treat them as we would like to be treated?” How do we create environments that stimulate fearless or “hearty” conversations between peoples? How do we learn from history or other people’s experiences to make functional goal-directed decisions? And, how can we inspire people to value their differences and similarities as they think and talk in our global village? These are questions that deserve answers in our respective communities, states, nations, and world. This book, Valuing Other Voices: Discourses That Matter in Education, Social Justice, and Multiculturalism opens doors of communication for all people willing to create a community, state, nation, or world of harmony.

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Book SynopsisThis book answers two questions: What does the implementation of inclusive education require of a system of education and all parts of the system? How do various parts of the education system act on their commitment to inclusive educational practice? Decades after major legislation (i.e., the Civil Rights Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) made high-quality education a fundamental right for all children in the United States, the dream of diverse, inclusive, democratic schooling has yet to be realized. Nevertheless, some classrooms, schools, districts, states, and universities have made progress. Inclusive Education: A Systematic Perspective explores the theoretical implications of inclusive practice as well as illustrative case studies and evaluation findings from states, educator preparation programs, districts, and schools that have reframed their work around the principles of inclusive practice. Whether these organizations position the work as “social justice education,” “culturally responsive teaching,” or “inclusion,” their efforts lead in the same direction— toward higher quality and more equitable education for all. The chapters will be relevant to graduate students, faculty members, and education leaders, at all levels, who seek a comprehensive overview of the commitment and practice of “inclusive education”. Chapters vary in their approaches to the topic, some presenting theoretical underpinnings, others describing practices or programs at particular sites, others reporting findings from empirical studies, and edited interviews with state and district leaders of inclusive-education initiatives. The book explores why inclusion is important and how it can be accomplished.

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Book SynopsisThis book answers two questions: What does the implementation of inclusive education require of a system of education and all parts of the system? How do various parts of the education system act on their commitment to inclusive educational practice? Decades after major legislation (i.e., the Civil Rights Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) made high-quality education a fundamental right for all children in the United States, the dream of diverse, inclusive, democratic schooling has yet to be realized. Nevertheless, some classrooms, schools, districts, states, and universities have made progress. Inclusive Education: A Systematic Perspective explores the theoretical implications of inclusive practice as well as illustrative case studies and evaluation findings from states, educator preparation programs, districts, and schools that have reframed their work around the principles of inclusive practice. Whether these organizations position the work as “social justice education,” “culturally responsive teaching,” or “inclusion,” their efforts lead in the same direction— toward higher quality and more equitable education for all. The chapters will be relevant to graduate students, faculty members, and education leaders, at all levels, who seek a comprehensive overview of the commitment and practice of “inclusive education”. Chapters vary in their approaches to the topic, some presenting theoretical underpinnings, others describing practices or programs at particular sites, others reporting findings from empirical studies, and edited interviews with state and district leaders of inclusive-education initiatives. The book explores why inclusion is important and how it can be accomplished.

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Book SynopsisThe rash of bullying incidents within schools, universities, and workplaces has prompted a public outcry and a call to action. To address the growing problem of interpersonal violence, schools have engaged in anti -bullying rallies, businesses have enacted civility policies, states have passed legislation, and efforts have been made to educate individuals on what constitutes good behavior. Increasingly, institutions are realizing from a cost/benefit perspective that a hurtful environment can negatively impact their bottom line. Correspondingly, the rising number of climate surveys to address bullying at work is a testament to the importance of this topic and its potential negative impact.Colleges and universities confirm the need to create a more welcoming culture, as reflected in the current dialogue to promote civility. Publisher offerings in business ethics are inadequate to address this issue, as they focus on the importance of social responsibility and the fallout from moral turpitude. There is a pressing need for materials that will educate students on “civil” concepts and provide them with applied learning. Institutions of higher education would like to inform students about bullying, its ramifications, and how it can be avoided, but a compendium of related exercises is in most cases non-existent.To solidify student learning about positive citizenship, an established author (and anti-bullying activist) has proposed How to Transform Workplace Bullies into Allies. This unique groundbreaking text will provide hands-on, experiential exercises that will engage students with the material, and create a multi-dimensional focus to enable concept retention. Considered a hallmark of applied education, “learning by doing” will be this book’s primary emphasis. Exercises are designed to sharpen critical thinking, immerse students in real world dilemmas, and provide them with tools for conflict resolution. The emotional intelligence promoted by working through in-text scenarios is a soughtafter employee trait—one that is desired by classmates and career centers alike. Unfortunately, people skills at work have long been ignored in traditional college curricula. As a result, schools are creating graduates who possess technical know-how but not the skill set to effectively navigate personal encounters. The “soft skills” of people savvy, which have been deemed crucial to employee success, are in large part absent from college offerings.By navigating carefully constructed scenarios, web quests, learning modules, and “teachable moments,” readers will develop a keen awareness of what it takes to be a respectful person. Moreover, they will gain expertise in what The Society for Human Resource Management has deemed a critical skill set. Exercises to strengthen incivility awareness are designed not only to prevent potential conflict, but to create change agents within the business arena. Completion of this workbook will provide people with a competitive advantage—and their institution and workplace with a more courteous populace.

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Book SynopsisThe rash of bullying incidents within schools, universities, and workplaces has prompted a public outcry and a call to action. To address the growing problem of interpersonal violence, schools have engaged in anti -bullying rallies, businesses have enacted civility policies, states have passed legislation, and efforts have been made to educate individuals on what constitutes good behavior. Increasingly, institutions are realizing from a cost/benefit perspective that a hurtful environment can negatively impact their bottom line. Correspondingly, the rising number of climate surveys to address bullying at work is a testament to the importance of this topic and its potential negative impact.Colleges and universities confirm the need to create a more welcoming culture, as reflected in the current dialogue to promote civility. Publisher offerings in business ethics are inadequate to address this issue, as they focus on the importance of social responsibility and the fallout from moral turpitude. There is a pressing need for materials that will educate students on “civil” concepts and provide them with applied learning. Institutions of higher education would like to inform students about bullying, its ramifications, and how it can be avoided, but a compendium of related exercises is in most cases non-existent.To solidify student learning about positive citizenship, an established author (and anti-bullying activist) has proposed How to Transform Workplace Bullies into Allies. This unique groundbreaking text will provide hands-on, experiential exercises that will engage students with the material, and create a multi-dimensional focus to enable concept retention. Considered a hallmark of applied education, “learning by doing” will be this book’s primary emphasis. Exercises are designed to sharpen critical thinking, immerse students in real world dilemmas, and provide them with tools for conflict resolution. The emotional intelligence promoted by working through in-text scenarios is a soughtafter employee trait—one that is desired by classmates and career centers alike. Unfortunately, people skills at work have long been ignored in traditional college curricula. As a result, schools are creating graduates who possess technical know-how but not the skill set to effectively navigate personal encounters. The “soft skills” of people savvy, which have been deemed crucial to employee success, are in large part absent from college offerings.By navigating carefully constructed scenarios, web quests, learning modules, and “teachable moments,” readers will develop a keen awareness of what it takes to be a respectful person. Moreover, they will gain expertise in what The Society for Human Resource Management has deemed a critical skill set. Exercises to strengthen incivility awareness are designed not only to prevent potential conflict, but to create change agents within the business arena. Completion of this workbook will provide people with a competitive advantage—and their institution and workplace with a more courteous populace.

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Book SynopsisSubstantial research has been put forth calling for the field of social studies education to engage in work dealing with the influence of race and racism within education and society (Branch, 2003; Chandler, 2015; Chandler & Hawley, 2017; Husband, 2010; King & Chandler, 2016; Ladson-Billings, 2003; Ooka Pang, Rivera & Gillette, 1998). Previous contributions have examined the presence and influence of race/ism within the field of social studies teaching and research (e.g. Chandler, 2015, Chandler & Hawley, 2017; Ladson- Billings, 2003; Woyshner & Bohan, 2012). In order to challenge the presence of racism within social studies, research must attend to the control that whiteness and white supremacy maintain within the field. This edited volume builds from these previous works to take on whiteness and white supremacy directly in social studies education.In Marking the “Invisible”, editors assemble original contributions from scholars working to expose whiteness and disrupt white supremacy in the field of social studies education. We argue for an articulation of whiteness within the field of social studies education in pursuit of directly challenging its influences on teaching, learning, and research. Across 27 chapters, authors call out the strategies deployed by white supremacy and acknowledge the depths by which it is used to control, manipulate, confine, and define identities, communities, citizenships, and historical narratives. This edited volume promotes the reshaping of social studies education to: support the histories, experiences, and lives of Students and Teachers of Color, challenge settler colonialism and color-evasiveness, develop racial literacy, and promote justice-oriented teaching and learning.

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Book SynopsisSubstantial research has been put forth calling for the field of social studies education to engage in work dealing with the influence of race and racism within education and society (Branch, 2003; Chandler, 2015; Chandler & Hawley, 2017; Husband, 2010; King & Chandler, 2016; Ladson-Billings, 2003; Ooka Pang, Rivera & Gillette, 1998). Previous contributions have examined the presence and influence of race/ism within the field of social studies teaching and research (e.g. Chandler, 2015, Chandler & Hawley, 2017; Ladson- Billings, 2003; Woyshner & Bohan, 2012). In order to challenge the presence of racism within social studies, research must attend to the control that whiteness and white supremacy maintain within the field. This edited volume builds from these previous works to take on whiteness and white supremacy directly in social studies education.In Marking the “Invisible”, editors assemble original contributions from scholars working to expose whiteness and disrupt white supremacy in the field of social studies education. We argue for an articulation of whiteness within the field of social studies education in pursuit of directly challenging its influences on teaching, learning, and research. Across 27 chapters, authors call out the strategies deployed by white supremacy and acknowledge the depths by which it is used to control, manipulate, confine, and define identities, communities, citizenships, and historical narratives. This edited volume promotes the reshaping of social studies education to: support the histories, experiences, and lives of Students and Teachers of Color, challenge settler colonialism and color-evasiveness, develop racial literacy, and promote justice-oriented teaching and learning.

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Book SynopsisAMTE, in the Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics (SPTM), puts forward a national vision of initial preparation for all Pre-K–12 teachers who teach mathematics. SPTM contains critical messages for all who teach mathematics, including elementary school teachers teaching all disciplines, middle and high school mathematics teachers who may teach mathematics exclusively, special education teachers, teachers of emergent multilingual students, and other teaching professionals and administrators who have responsibility for students’ mathematical learning. SPTM has broad implications for teacher preparation programs, in which stakeholders include faculty and administrators in both education and mathematics at the university level; teachers, principals, and district leaders in the schools with which preparation programs partner; and the communities in which preparation programs and their school partners are situated.SPTM is intended as a national guide that articulates a vision for mathematics teacher preparation and supports the continuous improvement of teacher preparation programs. Such continuous improvement includes changes to preparation program courses and structures, partnerships involving schools and universities and their leaders, the ongoing accreditation of such programs regionally and nationally, and the shaping of state and national mathematics teacher preparation policy. SPTM is also designed to inform assessment practices for mathematics teacher preparation programs, to influence policies related to preparation of teachers of mathematics, and to promote national dialogue around preparing teachers of mathematics. The vision articulated in SPTM is aspirational in that it describes a set of high expectations for developing a well-prepared beginning teacher of mathematics who can support meaningful student learning. The vision is research-based and establishes a set of goals for the continued development and refinement of a mathematics teacher preparation program and a research agenda for the study of the effects of such a program. SPTM contains detailed depictions of what a well-prepared beginning teacher knows and is able to do related to content, pedagogy, and disposition, and what a strong preparation program entails with respect to learning experiences, assessments, and partnerships. Stakeholders in mathematics teacher preparation will find messages related to their roles.Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics includes standards and indicators for teacher candidates and for the design of teacher preparation programs. SPTM outlines assessment practices related to overall quality, program effectiveness, and candidate performance. SPTM describes specific focal practices by grade band and provides guidance to stakeholders regarding processes for productive change.

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Book SynopsisAMTE, in the Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics (SPTM), puts forward a national vision of initial preparation for all Pre-K–12 teachers who teach mathematics. SPTM contains critical messages for all who teach mathematics, including elementary school teachers teaching all disciplines, middle and high school mathematics teachers who may teach mathematics exclusively, special education teachers, teachers of emergent multilingual students, and other teaching professionals and administrators who have responsibility for students’ mathematical learning. SPTM has broad implications for teacher preparation programs, in which stakeholders include faculty and administrators in both education and mathematics at the university level; teachers, principals, and district leaders in the schools with which preparation programs partner; and the communities in which preparation programs and their school partners are situated.SPTM is intended as a national guide that articulates a vision for mathematics teacher preparation and supports the continuous improvement of teacher preparation programs. Such continuous improvement includes changes to preparation program courses and structures, partnerships involving schools and universities and their leaders, the ongoing accreditation of such programs regionally and nationally, and the shaping of state and national mathematics teacher preparation policy. SPTM is also designed to inform assessment practices for mathematics teacher preparation programs, to influence policies related to preparation of teachers of mathematics, and to promote national dialogue around preparing teachers of mathematics. The vision articulated in SPTM is aspirational in that it describes a set of high expectations for developing a well-prepared beginning teacher of mathematics who can support meaningful student learning. The vision is research-based and establishes a set of goals for the continued development and refinement of a mathematics teacher preparation program and a research agenda for the study of the effects of such a program. SPTM contains detailed depictions of what a well-prepared beginning teacher knows and is able to do related to content, pedagogy, and disposition, and what a strong preparation program entails with respect to learning experiences, assessments, and partnerships. Stakeholders in mathematics teacher preparation will find messages related to their roles.Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics includes standards and indicators for teacher candidates and for the design of teacher preparation programs. SPTM outlines assessment practices related to overall quality, program effectiveness, and candidate performance. SPTM describes specific focal practices by grade band and provides guidance to stakeholders regarding processes for productive change.

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Book SynopsisEducation has become synonymous with schooling, but it doesn’t have to be. As schooling becomes increasingly standardized and test driven, occupying more of childhood than ever before, parents and educators are questioning the role of schooling in society. Many are now exploring and creating alternatives. In a compelling narrative that introduces historical and contemporary research on self-directed education, Unschooled also spotlights how a diverse group of individuals and organizations are evolving an old schooling model of education. These innovators challenge the myth that children need to be taught in order to learn. They are parents who saw firsthand how schooling can dull children’s natural curiosity and exuberance and others who decided early on to enable their children to learn without school. Educators who left public school classrooms discuss launching self-directed learning centers to allow young people’s innate learning instincts to flourish, and entrepreneurs explore their disillusionment with the teach-and-test approach of traditional schooling.Trade Review"Kerry McDonald is leagues ahead of the rest of the education reform community. This book demonstrates why. McDonald's robust evidence of high-quality education without schooling forces us to consider something that makes everyone feel very uncomfortable: our system of compulsory schooling may do more harm than good." Corey DeAngelis, author of Doing More with Less and The School Choice Voucher"Kerry McDonald's Unschooled is a remarkable overview of the growing grassroots movement away from institutionalized education and toward self-directed learning in our homes and communities." Patrick Farenga, author of Teach Your Own and publisher of Growing Without Schooling magazine and www.HoltGWS.com"Whether you're currently unschooling, curious about unschooling, or simply know that something's not right with the institutionalized educational model, Kerry McDonald's Unschooled is an invaluable resource. To read it is to realize just how rich education can be." Ben Hewitt, author of Home Grown"This well-researched, inspiring book clearly demonstrates that self-directed education supports each person's innate curiosity and drive to learn. While the form it takes is unique to the individual, experience shows it typically fosters confidence, community engagement, and an abiding love of learning. Hope is right here in these pages." Laura Grace Weldon, author of Free Range Learning" Unschooled manages to offer everything: a coherent history lesson, fascinating profiles, an explanation of how self-directed learning works, and an overview of innovative programs, all delivered in a lively, encouraging voice." Grace Llewellyn, author of The Teenage Liberation Handbook and Guerrilla Learning"This book makes a compelling case for giving kids back their brains, time, curiosity, driveand joy!" Lenore Skenazy, president of Let Grow and founder of Free-Range Kids"Unschooled is a wonderful book, enviably balanced between rock-solid data and warm-hearted stories about real families and real young people who have flourished outside our country's factory-inspired school systems. It's not the first book to see how bright and interesting the world can be outside the soiledand, these days, often barredwindows of America's schools, but it's fresh, convincing, and clearly written." Robert Epstein, PhD, senior research psychologist, American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, and author of Teen 2.0: Saving Our Children and Families from the Torment of Adolescence

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Book Synopsis

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