This book extends our understanding of the attitudes and behaviors of teachers who improve their schools consistently and considerably. It sets out to critically analyze and examine organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) in schools from a contextual perspective and to display the uniqueness of the concept in the context of school, its dimensions, boundaries, antecedents and consequences from a multi-level perspective.

Chapters consider:

• understandings of teachers' OCB, its nature, components, and salience in schools
• personal, organizational, and cultural factors which might facilitate or inhibit teachers' OCB
• contributions and the drawbacks of OCB for the improvement of educational systems, schools, and educators
• a new conceptualization of teachers' OCB based on the unique characteristics of school and the teaching profession, and consequences for theory and practice
• practical tools for guiding educational policy-makers, principals, and teacher educators on how to assimilate and enhance teachers' OCB.

"

Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Schools "will appeal to scholars and researchers in educational administration, educational policy, school leadership and teacher education. It will also be of interest to supervisors, policy makers and postgraduate students in the field of education.

Data metrics in schools are becoming increasingly complex, but despite their best efforts, teachers and academics generally find them something of a 'black-box'. This book lifts the lid on that box, exploring the provenance and problematization of existing techniques and developing new algorithms for measuring the more oblique aspects of in-school performance. Using contextual value-added measures in England as a foundation - they have become the template of choice for policy-makers around the world and a basis for some excellent school effectiveness research - the book explores the potential of performance and progress data to guide student and teacher self-evaluation, to set targets and allocate resources, to evaluate initiatives and identify good practice, to assess and reward staff responsibility, and to inform policy in relation to emerging issues like school choice, equality of opportunity and post-compulsory progression. Chapters are sectioned in three parts - 'Past', 'Present' and 'Future' - and cover: the historical journey from raw-threshold to refined-contextual measures of school effectiveness research and policy on pupil attainment and value-added data the leading UK government and Fischer Family Trust models issues relating to differential effectiveness and the interpretation of data how best to blend data from different sources new non-cognitive metrics for assessing social and emotional aspects of learning (SEAL) and staff responsibility managing data for school improvement and understanding professional attitudes to it. Using Effectiveness Data for School Improvement brings together for the first time in one place the various metrics and models, and their basis in research. A full technical specification is included so that both 'data experts' and 'data novices', academics and practitioners, can use the book to understand and maximize what is potentially a hugely transforming, but under-utilized, resource and an increasingly important aspect to school and curriculum management.

International education has an ever-increasing profile. This is not only reflected in the growth in the number of international schools around the world; it is also highlighted by the reform of national education systems; by interest in educational models such as the International Baccalaureate programmes; and by the development of international dimensions within national schools and curricula. Perhaps most pertinently of all, world events have repeatedly focused attention on the importance of developing understanding in an international context as a central dimension of any education system.;This book is about the state and future of international education in relation to national schools and education systems as well as those that are classed as "international schools". As a survey and introduction to education in an international context in practice, the book is an introduction for any educator. It should also help those with more experience in the field to develop their understanding of the possibilities and realities of international education. It tackles a wide range of issues, including: the history and nature of international education; translating concepts into formal curriculum frameworks; supporting and developing teaching in an international context; organizing and managing schools and their communities for effective international education.;With its scope, authoritative contributions and practical emphasis, the book is intended as an important resource and guide for many teachers and school leaders, curriculum developers, educational administrators, politicians and students of education.

Curriculum and the Culture Wars offers a fresh perspective on perennial debates about the role of religion in public schools, focusing on the intersection of religion and curriculum. This debate has been renewed in part due to the growth of elective Bible courses in public schools in many parts of the country. The first half of the book presents new scholarship on the use of the Bible in schools, including a historical analysis of what the Founders had to say about the use of the Bible in public education, a more current assessment of the politics behind the elective Bible class movement in the early twenty-first century, and a critique of such educational programs from constitutional and pedagogical perspectives. This edited volume also offers new insights into long-standing battles that pit religious and secular advocates against one another in the areas of evolution and sex education and considers whether school choice programs that would allow parents the right to send their children to sectarian schools are an affront to promoting the goals of a liberal democracy.

Discussions of physical activity in schools often focus on health-related outcomes, but there is also evidence for its integral role in academic achievement, cognition, and psychological adjustment. Written by a scientist-practitioner, Physical Activity and Student Learning explores the effects of physical activity within the broader context of educational psychology research and theory and brings the topic to a wider audience. With chapters on positive school behavior, executive function, and interventions, this concise volume is designed for any educational psychology or general education course that includes physical activity in the curriculum. This book establishes physical activity as an important part of all learning-not just physical education and recess-and will be indispensable for student researchers and both pre- and in-service teachers alike.

In 2008, the Canadian government established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to review the history of the residential school system, a brutal colonial project that killed and injured many Indigenous children and left a legacy of trauma and pain. In Fragments of Truth Naomi Angel analyzes the visual culture of reconciliation and memory in relation to this complex and painful history. In her analyses of archival photographs from the residential school system, representations of the schools in popular media and literature, and testimonies from TRC proceedings, Angel traces how the TRC served as a mechanism through which memory, trauma, and visuality became apparent. She shows how many Indigenous communities were able to use the TRC process as a way to claim agency over their memories of the schools. Bringing to light the ongoing costs of transforming settler states into modern nations, Angel demonstrates how the TRC offers a unique optic through which to survey the long history of colonial oppression of Canada's Indigenous populations.

Are students coming to your class lacking focus, having difficulty connecting with you and their peers, falling behind, or acting out when you instinctively feel they could do better? Do you sometimes feel like you don't have the capacity as a teacher or school leader to give students the support they need to learn and thrive? This book makes the case that societal realities-such as poverty, racism, and social marginalization--result in depleted cognitive resources for students and for those who are trying to help them succeed. Each of us has a finite amount of mental bandwidth, the cognitive resources that are available for learning, development, work, taking care of ourselves and our families, and everything else we have to do. These "attentional resources" are not about how smart we are but about how much of our brain power is available to us for the task at hand. When bandwidth is taken up by the stress of persistent economic insecurity or the negative experiences of racism, classism, homophobia, religious intolerance, sexism, ableism, etc., there is less available for learning and growth. This is as true for young children and youth as for their parents and teachers. The first half of the book makes the case that poverty and these "differentisms" deplete the bandwidth of students, parents, and teachers. The second sets out concepts and strategies that help people recover the bandwidth they need to learn and thrive. Cia Verschelden describes strategies that can help students recover bandwidth, including acknowledging the "funds of knowledge" of students and their families, promoting growth mindsets, using reflective practices to build a sense of belonging for all students, fostering peer collaboration, and implementing restorative practices in lieu of punitive measures to deal with problematic behavior, as well as a rich selection of Ideas in Practice contributed by experienced teachers and school leaders. Cia recognizes that many teachers are working in schools with inadequate support systems and facilities and with scarce materials, and may be spending their often inadequate pay on school supplies for their classrooms and food for their hungry students. She offers practical ideas for creating more teacher-supportive systems and addresses how principals and administrators can harness teachers' ideas and energies to create inclusive and successful learning environments for all students. The book includes a case study of Rochester, New York - where the economy has been decimated with the closure of major employers - and how its financially strapped school system worked with colleagues at the University of Rochester to use the distributed leadership of its teachers, with the active support of principals and superintendents, to revitalize its schools to better serve its diverse and low-income student population. This book is for teachers, parents, school leaders, and members of communities who are interested in the well-being of children and youth and the education of all our children. All of us have a stake in a public school system from which students emerge as fully-formed learners and thinkers and who believe in their ability to affect what happens to them and their communities.

This volume is designed to assist university faculty and students studying and teaching about antisemitism, racism, and other forms of prejudice. In contrast with similar volumes, it is organized around specific concepts instead of chronology or geography. It promotes conversation about antisemitism across disciplinary, geographic, and thematic lines rather than privileging a single methodological paradigm, a specific academic field, or an overarching narrative. Its twenty-one chapters by leading scholars in diverse fields address the relationship to antisemitism of concepts ranging from Anti-Judaism to Zionism. Each chapter not only traces the history and major scholarly debates around a key concept; it also presents an original argument, points to avenues for further research, and exemplifies a method of investigation.

This book presents the views of leading scholars, academics, and educators on the renewal of Islamic schools in the Western context. The book argues that as Islamic schools in Western contexts have negotiated the establishment phase they must next embrace a period of renewal. Renewal relates to a purposeful synthesis of the tradition with contemporary educational practice and greater emphasis on empirical research substantiating best practices in Islamic schools. This renewal must reflect teaching and learning practices consistent with an Islamic worldview and pedagogy. It should also inform, among other aspects, classroom management models, and relevant and contextual Islamic and Arabic studies. This book acquaints the reader with contemporary challenges and opportunities in Islamic schools in the Western context with a focus on Australia.

Praise for From High School to College

"From High School to College reports on research findings that are changing the national policy conversation about higher education accessibility and quality. Michael Kirst, Andrea Venezia and their colleagues examine the disjunctures between schools and colleges and the corrosive consequences for student learning and educational attainment. This study offers a critical examination of current policies and practices and a challenging but achievable agenda for change."
-Patrick Callan, President, National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education

"This book offers valuable insights for those contemplating or engaged in K--16 reform. The strategies for aligning higher education and secondary schools have proven successful in bringing about positive outcomes in the six project states. The compendium of research findings from multiple projects provides relevant and proven data that will assist others in designing and implementing successful K--16 reforms."
-Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director, National Association of Secondary School Principals

"Using six years of national research and a focus on the colleges that serve 800f all undergraduates, this talented group of scholars informs and propels us to take action on the policies, perceptions, and practices of college admissions, college course placement, and state-level policies. This book is required reading for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars concerned with improving college access, college retention, and educational efficacy."
-Patricia M. McDonough, associate professor, Higher Education & Organizational Change, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California at Los Angeles

"This impressively researched and readable volume is a singularly important and timely contribution to understanding the growing significance of efforts to bridge the chasm that exists between K--12 and postsecondary education. It is a must read for all concerned with the development of more coherent and effective educational policy."
-Michael D. Usdan, senior fellow, The Institute for Educational Leadership

Ability Profiling and School Failure, Second Edition explores the social and contextual forces that shape the appearance of academic ability and disability and how these forces influence the perception of academic underachievement of minority students. At the book’s core is the powerful case study of a competent fifth grader named Jay, an African American boy growing up in a predominantly white, rural community, who was excluded from participating in science and literacy discourses within his classroom community.

In this new edition, researcher and teacher-educator Kathleen Collins situates the story of Jay’s struggle to be seen as competent within current scholarly conversations about the contextualized nature of dis/ability. In particular, she connects her work to recent research into the overrepresentation of minority students in special education, exploring the roles of situated literacies, classroom interactions, and social stereotypes in determining how some students come to be identified as "disabled." Ability Profiling and School Failure, Second Edition comprises a thorough investigation into the socially constructed nature of ability, identity, and achievement, illustrating the role of educational and social exclusion in positioning students within particular identities.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: Sociocultural Perspectives on dis/Ability and Positioning Chapter 2 The boy who had something to say Chapter 3

“He’s what I would call out there.” Chapter 4 “He was immediate. He was like immediate.” Chapter 5 “Where’s the evidence?” Chapter 6 “Jay just amazes me during this, he really does.” Chapter 7 “It will be very, very difficult for him to learn how to function in the class.” Chapter 8 “It’s like a burst, a burst of fire.” Chapter 9 “You got to hear this!” Chapter 10 “So who wrote it?” Chapter 11 “Jay, we gotta find you a group.”

Chapter 12 “I’m the boy who likes bugs.” Chapter 13 “Do you think I’m proper?” Chapter 14 “This ain’t easy!” Chapter 15 “Church is not a game!” Chapter 16 “I think that’s why we became very good friends.” Chapter 17 "If you stick out, you get squashed:" Ability profiling as response to difference Epilogue Appendix Approaches to Inquiry, Analysis and Representation

In the 1880s, through an amendment to the Indian Act of 1876, the government of Canada began to require all Aboriginal children to attend schools administered by churches. Separating these children from their families, removing them from their communities and destroying Aboriginal culture by denying them the right to speak Indigenous languages and perform native spiritual ceremonies, these residential schools were explicitly developed to assimilate Aboriginal peoples into Canadian culture and erase their existence as a people. Daring to break the code of silence imposed on Aboriginal students, residential school survivor Isabelle Knockwood offers the firsthand experiences of forty-two survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School. In their own words, these former students remember their first day of residential schooling, when they were outwardly transformed through hair cuts and striped uniforms marked with numbers. Then followed years of inner transformation from a strict and regimented life of education and manual training, as well as harsh punishments for speaking their own language or engaging in Indigenous customs. The survivors also speak of being released from their school and having to decide between living in a racist and unwelcoming dominant society or returning to reserves where the Aboriginal culture had evolved. In this newly updated fourth edition, Knockwood speaks to twenty-one survivors of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School about their reaction to the apology by the Canadian government in 2008. Is it now possible to move forward?"

This exciting book explores how leaders have implemented, sustained, and pushed innovative, deeper learning opportunities in their school settings.

Across the United States and around the world, the concept of a school is growing more action-oriented, performance-focused, digitally relevant, and democratically infused. In this book, you’ll hear from real schools and leaders about practices that are changing schools and leading to deeper learning experiences across seven categories of innovative practice—including vision, agency in learning, trust in teachers, openness to new ideas, over-communicating change, equity mindedness, and courage to live outside norms.

Leadership for Deeper Learning looks at how school leaders change the status quo and create different learning environments for students and teachers. Rich in stories and strategies, this book will provide you with the ideas and tools to rethink and reignite learning for the future.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. Establishing and Conveying the Vision 3. Facilitating High-Quality Learning Experiences for Students 4. Building Professional Capacity 5. Creating a Supportive Organization for Learning 6. Connecting with External Partners 7. Closing Thoughts

Equipment developed for wartime is now being seen more often in everyday institutions, and even our schools have become sites of high-tech security and, some would say, paranoia. The justification for the presence of this network of surveillance, screening, detection and tracking systems is that it is the only sensible reaction to the fears for personal safety brought about by the school shootings and terrorist attacks of recent years - we must protect our children, perhaps even from their school friends. Casella here questions this assumption, shining an investigative light on the political and commercial forces that have led to the present climate of fear. He shows how expensive security equipment is sold in the same slick business-like way as any other commodity, and highlights the trend of turning schools into corporatized and militarized zones that prepare young people for a life spent accepting limitations of certain freedoms in return for an ill-defined and problematic concept of safety.

This practical guide for educational leaders explores how you can transform your school or district into a vibrant center of learning and socio-ecological responsibility with only three manageable actions: taking students outside, bringing nature inside, and cultivating a mindset of awareness, responsibility, and empathy. This book is rich in practical, attainable approaches and stories of real actions taken by leaders, teachers, parents, and community partners to design, lead, and manage a vibrant, flourishing, sustainable learning community. Authors Uline and Kensler take you on an inspirational journey through nine key leadership strategies for you to begin or expand your work towards whole school sustainability.

Table of Contents

Action 1: BRING NATURE INSIDE 1. LEAD: Cultivate Living Systems-Minded Leadership 2. DESIGN: Choose Sustainable Building Systems and Design Features 3. MAINTAIN AND OPERATE: Operate and Maintain Healthy, Safe, Sustainable Learning Environments ACTION 2: TAKE STUDENTS OUTSIDE 4. TEACH: Prepare Teachers to Teach in Nature 5. LEARN:Invite Students and Teachers to Learn in Nature 6. PLAY:Restore Nature Play into the School Day ACTION 3: CARE 7. MODEL: Cultivate and Model Care, Awareness, Responsibility, and Empathy 8. PARTNERS: Build Caring Partnerships 9. START SMALL: Start Small and Stay Anchored in a Vision of Vibrant, Flourishing, Sustainable Schools

Ideal for pre-service and new teachers, this book shows what it's really like to step before a classroom of grade six to 12 students and make English language arts approachable and real. Presenting a constructivist approach that asks, "How can my students best learn?" and emphasizing reflective practice as the means to make the concepts clear, "Teaching English in Middle and Secondary Schools, 5/e" is filled with actual sample lessons plus classroom ideas and instructional strategies that give readers opportunities to explore what they are learning and see how theory and research relate to practice.

Opened only nine years after the Catholic academy in Boston was destroyed by nativists, the College of the Holy Cross was a pet project of Boston's second bishop, Benedict Fenwick--a Jesuit college in the midst of Yankee New England. At first an isolated, exclusively Catholic operation offering a seven-year humanities program, the College failed to obtain a charter by the Massachusetts General Court until 1865. After 1900, Holy Cross became a four-year college in the American pattern and advanced to its present level by integrating important principles of Jesuit liberal arts education with the academic traditions of the strongest educational region in the nation. Utilizing the universal Jesuit Plan of Studies, the college's leaders at first stressed connections with other Jesuit institutions in a program that emphasized classical languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and natural sciences. About 1900, a second era began when the curriculum was altered to bring Holy Cross into conformity with the modern educational pattern: college offerings were amplified and the prep school was dropped. During the 1960s, a third era opened. It was characterized by coeducation, a more open curriculum, growing involvement of non-Jesuit faculty and administrators, the transition to a board of lay trustees, and rising academic standards as Holy Cross took its place as the foremost Jesuit school among four-year liberal arts colleges. Thy Honored Name highlights the confluence of two strong educational traditions--Puritan and Jesuit--and the growing appreciation of their compatibility. It is also an account of efforts to promote academic excellence without losing an authentically Jesuit identity in a region where many formerly religious schools have become secular. The book will hold interest for persons who study educational and religious history, for individuals interested in the development of New England and Worcester, and for friends of Holy Cross. Anthony J. Kuzniewski, S.J., is professor of history and rector of the Jesuit Community at the College of the Holy Cross. "Anthony Kuzniewski, SJ, professor of history in the College of Holy Cross, can tell a good story. Others have written histories of Holy Cross, but none has matched his literary skill and historical acumen. This is genuine history, not a celebratory essay. The author's thoroughness and attention to detail persuade one that no relevant document illuminating the college's history has been overlooked. . . . It is a handsome, almost flawless volume, that scholars and others interested in American higher education are sure to welcome."--Catholic Historical Review "Kuzniewski has ultimately crafted an ample, widely encompassing institutional biography that is balanced, fair and interesting. An in so doing, he reminds us that an academic institution can achieve excellence and relevance even as it remains proud of its antique beginnings."--Connection

This text draws on data from a five-year longitudinal study focusing on gifted education programs in high poverty rural areas in the US. It provides a framework for the use of place-based interventions to effectively serve gifted students, reduce opportunity gaps, and address stereotype threat. Recognizing that gifted learners are often underrepresented in rural contexts, the text adopts a social justice lens to outline the unique challenges of fostering advanced education in rural school districts. Using opportunities to learn and best practices in gifted education to inform interventions and practice, the text offers in-depth explanation of how place-based approaches can be used to identify gifted students and ensure that curricula are designed to respect the setting, students, and teachers. The text is structured into three parts, providing the reader with a logical and comprehensive progression through theoretical foundations, the practicalities of implementation, and the process and outcomes of measuring and validating outcomes. Given its unique approach to gifted education programs, this book will prove to be an indispensable and timely resource for scholars working to develop gifted education and educational interventions with and for rural schools.

Education leadership has been subject to a period of turmoil with rapid social change, political demands for excellence, economic pressures for austerity and the influence of technology impacting on leadership roles in multiple ways. This book draws on real examples of practice to identify the key challenges facing educational leadership and how these might be overcome drawing on recent research and interventions that have impacted positively on learner outcomes and teacher retention.

Covering all aspects of leadership including school improvement, vision and values, working with partners and leading change, the book launches the concept of atomic leadership, advocating small steps to change for maximum momentum and large-scale impact. It reveals how leaders can cooperate to trial new ways of learning and disseminate their successes and failures with a new honesty and openness about what works in our schools.

With reflective tasks in every chapter, this text will inspire debate and inform discussion at staff meetings and is essential reading for all school leaders as well as those undertaking master-level courses in educational leadership and or pursuing the National Professional Qualifications in leadership.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Section 1 Leadership as Influence

Chapter 1 What is Educational Leadership?

Chapter 2 What Leaders Think

Chapter 3 The Place of Vision, Mission and Culture in a Changing World

Section 2 Leadership with Purpose

Chapter 4 Leading a Self-improving Educational System

Chapter 5 Emerging School Associations: The English Story

Chapter 6 Achieving Teaching and Curriculum Excellence

Section 3 Leadership in Context

Chapter 7 Influencing Student Learning

Chapter 8 Knowledge Mobilization and Followership

Chapter 9 Working with Diversity

Chapter 10 Leading Continuing Professional Development

Section 4 Leadership with Responsibility

Chapter 11 Global Challenges, School Attendance, Teacher and Leader Supply

Chapter 12 Leveraging Technology

Chapter 13 Managing Resources and Risk

Chapter 14 The Final Word

Bridge the achievement gap with proven strategies for student success Breakthrough Principals debunks the myth of the 'superhero' principal by detailing the common actions and practices of leaders at our nation's fastest-gaining public schools. Based on the authors' Transformational Leadership Framework, which they developed through in-depth study of more than 100 high-gaining, high-poverty schools, the book distills findings into a practical, action-focused plan for diagnosing school needs and implementing structures, systems and practices that accelerate student achievement. Brought to life by case studies of principals who have led dramatic gains in student achievement, the book is a how-to guide for increasing the quality of teaching and learning; improving school culture; attracting and supporting high-performing teachers; and involving parents and community to help students achieve. You'll learn how breakthrough principals make the school's mission a real part of both strategy and practice, and set up sustainable systems that support consistent, ongoing improvement. High-impact practices are organized into five broad categories: learning and teaching, school-wide culture, aligned staff, operations and systems, and personal leadership. The primary job of school leadership is to help students succeed. It begins with first recognizing and prioritizing areas of need, then finding and implementing the most effective solutions. Whether you work in a turn around environment, or want to make a good school better, this book will give you a set of concrete practices illustrated through examples of real principals in real schools that have been proven to work. * Discover the primary drivers of student achievement * Work toward the school's vision in staffing, operations, and systems * Set the tone for all relationships and practices with good leadership Closing the achievement gap is a major goal of educational leadership, and principals are forever searching for viable methods that help them better serve their students. Breakthrough Principals unveils the details behind the success stories from across the nation to provide a roadmap to transformative gains.

Learning to Teach, third edition, offers a unique perspective by positioning the reader as a pre-service teacher embarking on their new career. The reader is introduced to three fictional pre-service teachers whose narratives flow throughout the text. These characters share how their personal and professional life experiences have exposed them to new ways of thinking about young people, teaching, and learning. This book explores how educators are working to transform their practices in like-minded communities for radically changing times. It examines current government initiatives and regulations while developing the reader's ability to analyse scenarios, critically reflect on their own assumptions, and develop best teaching practices.

Those who manage in schools, middle managers in particular, face a challenging array of issues for which they are required to develop first-class management skills. "Professional Leadership in Schools" is written to help develop these skills. It reflects the reality of teaching today, with reference to the requirements of the Teacher Training Agency, National Standards for Subject Leaders, Ofsted and the Department for Education and Skills. It should be valuable reading not only for those presently in middle management posts, but also for those who are developing their skills or considering further responsibilities, such as entry to the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers (NPQH).;Written to promote high standards of professional competence, the book deals with a range of core issues that contribute to strong, firm and successful management, including: practical and pragmatic advice on successful management; strategies for motivation and team building; time management; managing change; and dealing with conflict. More than simply a collection of management tips, the book is based on Brunel University's TTA-sponsored Master's-level course on effective middle management in schools, and its practical emphasis is reinforced by a theoretical framework linking theory and practice with real results.

The ideal resource for school counseling field experiences, the updated and expanded third edition of A Guide to Practicum and Internship for School Counselors-in-Training covers all aspects of the practicum and internship experience from the initial contact with supervisors to detailed descriptions of students' different roles. Readers will gain an awareness of school culture and the understanding needed to develop an individualized philosophy of school counseling. Each chapter contains activities, case studies, worksheets, and images to facilitate understanding, and all material is consistent with both the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) 2016 Common Core and School Counselor Entry-Level Specialty Areas and the school counselor standards identified by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). Specific focus is given to strategies for implementing the ASCA National Model (4th edition) as a part of clinical experiences. This text can be used by faculty, students, and supervisors alike to support and enhance the school counseling knowledge base used to meet the needs of all students.

As public schools in low income areas fell into disrepair and failed to meet the needs of disadvantaged and minority students, charter schools offered an alternative. These schools were born out of the idea that low income families should be allowed to choose where their children went to school, just the same as high income families. If the public school in the community was unsatisfactory, shouldn't they be allowed to seek out an alternative? The alternatives are surprisingly effective. Charter schools located in low income black and Latinx communities achieve results surpassing both traditional public schools in their areas, and also, in many cases, public schools in more affluent neighbourhoods. In Charter Schools and Their Enemies, celebrated conservative intellectual Thomas Sowell explores the surprising success of this model and the surprising backlash that threatens to dismantle it. Instead of being celebrated for their successes, charter schools are caught in political crosscurrents. In addition to uncovering the success of the charter school movement, Sowell pays careful attention to its adversaries to understand how these schools became such a contentious issue and why the controversy rages on. Teachers' unions, fearful of their hold over government-funded education, fund political candidates to oppose the charter school movement. Liberal educators also oppose charter schools, Sowell argues, because they believe that the school system should indoctrinate the young in progressive politics. Deeply researched and amply documented, Charter Schools and Their Enemies is essential reading for anyone concerned with debates over education in America.