Because everyone from policymakers to classroom teachers has a role in achieving greater equity for children from poverty, this book provides a sweeping chronicle of the historical turning points-judicial, legislative, and regulatory-on the road to greater equity, as background to the situation today. It provides succinct policy recommendations for states and districts, as well as practical curricular and instructional strategies for districts, schools, and teachers. This comprehensive approach-from the statehouse to the classroom-for providing children who come to school from impoverished environments with the education in which they thrive, not merely one that is comparable to others, truly enlists everyone in the quest for opportunity and performance. The next step toward equity may be taken by a governor, but it may also be taken by a teacher. One need not wait for the other.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities around the globe have taken numerous extraordinary measures and implemented many changes to their strategic, operational, and academic activities. Currently, there is a transformation taking place from the emergency decision-making in the early stages of the pandemic towards reflection and resolution on how the past months can shape governance and strategy. Higher education institutions have been facing challenges with the alignment of their university governance for their strategic and operational plans. Presently, university leaders have prioritized risk management and financial management over all else. Unfortunately, due to these priorities, university responses to the pandemic took the top-down approach of management, rejecting the shared governance structures and collegial practices of the institutions. The pandemic has accelerated the openness to change by creating an emergency or steering response team led by university presidents and provosts, with sub-teams focusing on operations and other academic advisory groups working together to deal with the fast-rising scenarios. The consequence is a clear flow of information and strong communication across the institution, which sequentially builds on mechanisms to respond to the secondary effects of the pandemic. Moreover, higher education institutions are continuously facing challenges with their strategic alignment of business objectives in order to have a diverse educational system in response to the pandemic. Assessing University Governance and Policies in Relation to the COVID-19 Pandemic presents the latest research and studies investigating information on university governance and adapting previous, existing, and proposed models for the current pandemic. This book is comprised of chapters contributed by various leading international authors to discuss and analyze all aspects of university governance in relation to their impact on strategies in finance, sustainability, academic issues, research, faculty and students, leadership, campus, employment and recruitments, and more. This is an essential text for university presidents, strategic planning authorities in universities, college deans and academic department chairpersons, government authorities and policymakers, researchers, students, and academicians.

The benefits of collaborative learning are well documented-and yet, almost every teacher knows how group work can go wrong: restless students, unequal workloads, lack of accountability, and too little learning for all the effort involved. In this book, educators Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Sandi Everlove show you how to make all group work productive group work: with all students engaged in the academic content and with each other, building valuable social skills, consolidating and extending their knowledge, and increasing their readiness for independent learning. The key to getting the most out of group work is to match research-based principles of group work with practical action. Classroom examples across grade levels and disciplines illustrate how to: Create interdependence and positive interaction. Model and guide group work. Design challenging and engaging group tasks. Ensure group and individual accountability. Assess and monitor students' developing understanding (and show them how to do the same). Foster essential interpersonal skills, such as thinking with clarity, listening, giving useful feedback, and considering different points of view. The authors also address the most frequently asked questions about group work, including the best ways to form groups, accommodate mixed readiness levels, and introduce collaborative learning routines into the classroom. Throughout, they build a case that productive group work is both an essential part of a gradual release of responsibility instructional model and a necessary part of good teaching practice.