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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Communication studies > Decision theory > General
When making decisions, people naturally face uncertainty about the
potential consequences of their actions due in part to limits in
their capacity to represent, evaluate or deliberate. Nonetheless,
they aim to make the best decisions possible. In Decision Theory
with a Human Face, Richard Bradley develops new theories of agency
and rational decision-making, offering guidance on how 'real'
agents who are aware of their bounds should represent the
uncertainty they face, how they should revise their opinions as a
result of experience and how they should make decisions when
lacking full awareness of, or precise opinions on relevant
contingencies. He engages with the strengths and flaws of Bayesian
reasoning, and presents clear and comprehensive explorations of key
issues in decision theory, from belief and desire to semantics and
learning. His book draws on philosophy, economics, decision science
and psychology, and will appeal to readers in all of these
disciplines.
For years, students in the United States have lagged behind
students in many other countries on such measures of achievement as
the PISA and TIMSS assessments. In an increasingly globalized
world, such a gap is worrisome. Armed with statistics, examples,
and cautionary tales from Scandinavia to Japan, James H. Stronge
and Xianxuan Xu have written a book that can help educators better
prepare students and close that gap. In What Makes a World-Class
School and How We Can Get There, you will find: Careful analysis of
recent international assessment results-what they mean and what can
be done to improve them. In-depth profiles of high-achieving
education systems around the globe-their histories, their lessons
learned, and what they can teach educators and policymakers in the
United States. Strategies for aligning successful educational
approaches from international systems to U.S. schools-which
strategies to use, in which subjects, and with which students.
Transformative ideas for cultivating a truly world-class system of
schooling-both simple and complex ways to raise the bar for all
students, no matter what their background. Educators in every
country must ensure that their students are as prepared as possible
to lead a future generation of citizens. This thought-provoking and
copiously researched book provides educators with a blueprint for
radical improvement based on the hard-learned experiences of their
peers around the world.
The concept of school turnaround-rapidly improving schools and
increasing student achievement outcomes in a short period of
time-has become politicized despite the relative newness of the
idea. Unprecedented funding levels for school improvement combined
with few examples of schools substantially increasing student
achievement outcomes has resulted in doubt about whether or not
turnaround is achievable. Skeptics have enumerated a number of
reasons to abandon school turnaround at this early juncture. This
book is the first in a new series on school turnaround and reform
intended to spur ongoing dialogue among and between researchers,
policymakers, and practitioners on improving the lowestperforming
schools and the systems in which they operate. The "turnaround
challenge" remains salient regardless of what we call it. We must
improve the nation's lowest-performing schools for many moral,
social, and economic reasons. In this first book, education
researchers and scholars have identified a number of myths that
have inhibited our ability to successfully turn schools around. Our
intention is not to suggest that if these myths are addressed
school turnaround will always be achieved. Business and other
literatures outside of education make it clear that turnaround is,
at best, difficult work. However, for a number of reasons, we in
education have developed policies and practices that are often
antithetical to turnaround. Indeed, we are making already
challenging work harder. The myths identified in this book suggest
that we still struggle to define or understand what we mean by
turnaround or how best, or even adequately, measure whether it has
been achieved. Moreover, it is clear that there are a number of
factors limiting how effectively we structure and support
low-performing schools both systemically and locally. And we have
done a rather poor job of effectively leveraging human resources to
raise student achievement and improve organizational outcomes. We
anticipate this book having wide appeal for researchers,
policymakers, and practitioners in consideration of how to support
these schools taking into account context, root causes of
lowperformance, and the complex work to ensure their opportunity to
be successful. Too frequently we have expected these schools to
turn themselves around while failing to assist them with the vision
and supports to realize meaningful, lasting organizational change.
The myths identified and debunked in this book potentially
illustrate a way forward.
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