There are few subjects these days that cause parents more stress than the education of their children. In his new book, Peter Hitchens describes the misjudgements made by politicians over the years that have led to the increase of class distinction and privilege in our education system. This is of course the opposite of what was intended, especially by former Minister of Education Shirley Williams and Margaret Thatcher, her successor in that role, who closed down many more Grammar Schools than Williams. Given that the cost of private secondary education is now in the region of GBP200,000 and the cream of Comprehensive Schools are now oversubscribed (William Ellis, Camden School for Girls, The Oratory, Cardinal Vaughan), parents are spending thousands on private tutoring and fee-paying prep schools in order to get their children into these academically excellent schools. Meanwhile hypocritical Labour politicians like Diane Abbott send their children to expensive private day schools. So, what alternatives - if any - are there? Peter Hitchens argues that in trying to bring about an educational system which is egalitarian, the politicians have created a system which is the exact opposite. And what's more, it is a system riddled with anomalies - Sixth Form Colleges select pupils on ability at the age of 15, which rules out any child who does not have major educational backing from home (heavy involvement by working parents or private tutors, for example) and academies also are selective, though they pretend not to be. This is an in-depth look at the British education system and what will happen if things don't change radically.

Geography matters to elite schools - to how they function and flourish, to how they locate themselves and their Others. Like their privileged clientele they use geography as a resource to elevate themselves. They mark, and market, place. This collection, as a whole, reads elite schools through a spatial lens. It offers fresh lines of inquiry to the 'new sociology of elite schools.' Collectively the authors examine elite schools and systems in different parts of the world. They highlight the ways that these schools, and their clients, operate within diverse local, national, regional, and global contexts in order to shape their own and their clients' privilege and prestige. The collection also points to the uses of the transnational as a resource via the International Baccalaureate, study tours, and the discourses of global citizenship. Building on research about social class, meritocracy, privilege, and power in education, it offers inventive critical lenses and insights particularly from the 'Global South.' As such it is an intervention in global power/knowledge geographies.

Geography matters to elite schools - to how they function and flourish, to how they locate themselves and their Others. Like their privileged clientele they use geography as a resource to elevate themselves. They mark, and market, place. This collection, as a whole, reads elite schools through a spatial lens. It offers fresh lines of inquiry to the 'new sociology of elite schools.' Collectively the authors examine elite schools and systems in different parts of the world. They highlight the ways that these schools, and their clients, operate within diverse local, national, regional, and global contexts in order to shape their own and their clients' privilege and prestige. The collection also points to the uses of the transnational as a resource via the International Baccalaureate, study tours, and the discourses of global citizenship. Building on research about social class, meritocracy, privilege, and power in education, it offers inventive critical lenses and insights particularly from the 'Global South.' As such it is an intervention in global power/knowledge geographies.

The European Convention on Human Rights guarantees freedom of education, including the opportunities to create and operate faith-based schools. However, as European societies become more religiously diverse and 'less religious' at the same time, the role of faith-based schools is increasingly being contested. Serious tensions have emerged between those who ardently support religious schools in their various forms, and those who oppose them. Given that faith-based schools enjoy basic constitutional guarantees in Europe, the controversy around them often surrounds issues of public financing, degrees of organisational and pedagogical autonomy, and educational practices and management. This volume is about the controversies surrounding religious schools in a number of Western European countries. The introductory chapter briefly analyses the structural pressures that affect the position of religious schools, outlining the relevant institutional arrangements in countries such as Denmark, Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Scotland. The following chapters provide a detailed analysis of the discussions and controversies surrounding faith-based schools in each country. Finally, the two concluding chapters aim to provide a bigger, comparative picture with regard to these debates about religious education in liberal democratic states and culturally pluralist societies. This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.

ILS-Innovative Learning Space is a Summer School organised in 2016 by the Ecourbanlab research facility, founded by Massimo Faiferri within the DADU (Department of Architecture, Design and Urbanism) at the University of Sassari. It was formed as a project activity SPIN-APP: Innovative Learning Spaces (Regional Law No. 7 Promotion of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation in Sardinia) in collaboration with the INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics) and with contributions from Sardegna Ricerche through the project Scientific School 2015. The general objective of the Scientific School is as an innovative project for learning environments which can serve as a reference and model for the new realisation or adaptation of school education. To intervene on the project of school space means to reflect responsibly on the role that space itself covers in the dynamics of learning processes as well as to think about the renewal of the didactic organisation. The prerequisite is the articulation of a modular and multi-functional space suited to the subjective needs of the individual pathways of pupil skills, and which incorporates principles and material linked to good sustainable practices as their constituent elements, which can accept new technological tools as a form of enhancement of real space.

"A superb, crucial, blistering expose of all the myths about our education system that are all too often used to attack it. Melissa Benn again proves why she is one of country's most formidable education campaigners - and why the powerful should fear her. Owen Jones, Guardian columnist and best-selling author Never has it been more urgent to publicise the truth about what works and doesn't work in our education system. Debunking the ideology of marketisation, and exposing the half-truths that pass for objective reporting, Benn and Downs meticulously lay out the evidence: that a national system of comprehensive schools delivers the best outcomes. This hugely important book should be required reading for each new Education Secretary. Caroline Lucas, MP Opinions about comprehensive education are often made into easy-to-swallow sound-bites by media and politicians alike and whilst the benefits of a genuinely comprehensive education for all pupils are obvious, untruths have unwittingly evolved into hard facts. Based on Melissa Benn and Janet Downs' work as part of the pioneering Local Schools Network, The Truth About Our Schools calls for us to urgently and articulately challenge unquestioned myths about state education. Benn and Downs have meticulously built an argument for its still enormously vital role, and rigorously challenge assumptions that: Comprehensive education has failed Local authorities control and hold back schools Choice, competition and markets are the route to educational success Choice will improve education in England: the free school model. Academies raise standards Teachers don't need qualifications Private schools have the magic DNA Progressive education lowers standards Anyone who thinks that comprehensive education cannot deliver, that local authorities are the chief block to improving our school system, that competition and markets are the route to educational success and that private schools hold the magic DNA that can simply be transferred to other state schools will have their beliefs shaken by this blisteringly incisive book. .

The focus of this book is the centrality of clinical experiences in preparing teachers to work with students from diverse cultural, economic, and experiential backgrounds. Organized around three themes-learning teaching through the approximation and representation of practice, learning teaching situated in context, and assessing and improving teacher preparation-Rethinking Field Experiences in Preservice Teacher Preparation provides detailed descriptions of theoretically grounded, research-based practices in programs that prepare preservice teachers to contextualize teaching practices in ways that result in a positive impact on learning for traditionally underserved students. These practices serve current demands for teacher accountability for student learning outcomes and model good practice for engaging teacher educators in meaningful, productive dialogue and analysis geared to developing local programs characterized by coherence, continuity, and consistency.

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.

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 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.

Inner-city schools suffered from far fewer problems a century ago, when black children in most northern cities attended school alongside white children. In "Schools Betrayed", Kathryn M. Neckerman tells the story of how and why these schools came to serve black children so poorly. Focusing on Chicago public schools between 1900 and 1960, Neckerman compares the circumstances of blacks and white immigrants, groups that had similarly little wealth and status yet ended up with vastly different educational outcomes. That difference, she argues, stemmed from officials' decision to deal with rising African American migration by segregating schools and denying black students equal resources - and it deepened because of techniques for managing failure that only reinforced inequality.

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

'[Gervase Phinn is] a worthy successor to James Herriott, and every bit as endearing.' - bestselling author Alan Titchmarsh Newly qualified teacher Tom Dwyer has been given his first post in Risingdale, a sleepy little village at the very top of the Yorkshire Dales. Unsure if he'll ever fit into this close-knit community, Tom joins a motley staff at the village school. With pupils who know more about sheep than they do arithmetic, Tom has his work cut out for him. Add to that an altercation with the beautiful but stand-offish Miss Janette Fairborn and an argument with the local squire's son, and Tom's first term proves a baptism of fire. But Tom soon finds himself growing fond of Risingdale, and with a class of lively and demanding pupils, an end-of-term show to put on, and a jewellery thief at large, he will find himself at the centre of drama, secrets revealed, and plenty of love, laughter and new friendships. Full of colourful characters, and laugh-out-loud moments, The School at the Top of the Dale is a warm and humorous portrayal of life in a small Yorkshire village. Readers are loving TROUBLE AT THE LITTLE VILLAGE SCHOOL: 'Well written and highly entertaining - exactly what I hope for from this author. ' - 5 STARS 'Another good read.' - 5 STARS 'A well written story about a small community full of interesting characters.' - 5 STARS 'Another gem.' - 5 STARS 'Again, a most enjoyable story. I cannot put the book down.' - 5 STARS

By drawing on observation and detailed discourse analysis from interviews with teachers in Lithuanian and North American schools, this text identifies individual, school-specific, and national factors which impact teachers' informal professional learning. Addressing multiple layers of teacher learning, this text illustrates how factors including socio-economic status, individual learning style, cultural attitudes to education, and political histories support or impede workplace learning. Drawing on three fields of research-teacher education, cultural anthropology, and comparative international-the book posits teacher learning as a multidimensional socio-cultural process. Finally combining a typology of informal learners with other policy-driven factors, the text indicates how practices at school, district, and national levels might stimulate workplace learning. Offering methodological innovations including unique research design and creative ways of using discourse analysis, this book will be of particular use to researchers and doctoral students in education, organizational and educational psychology, cultural anthropology, management, and beyond.

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 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

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 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

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.

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.