How interwoven are the lives of children, families, teachers and school leaders?
In this important new book seven authors bring together stories and questions about the lives of children, families, teachers and administrators. Lives are seen up close, in all their particularity, and explored in terms of the contexts that shape the experiences of students and staff. These stories provide an alternative view of what counts in schools, with a shift away from viewing the school as a business model towards an idea of schools as places to engage citizenship.
Building upon Jean Clandinin's 20 years of narrative inquiry where she worked and learned alongside school practitioners for extended periods of time, this book uses a narratively-constructed theoretical background of personal practical knowledge, professional knowledge landscapes, and stories to live by to provide both a language and a storied framework for understanding lives in school. In two urban multicultural schools in western Canada, the co-authors of this book engaged in narrative inquiries alongside children, teachers, families and principals. As these narrative inquiries were negotiated at each site the co-authors lived in the school, for the most part in particular classrooms alongside a teacher where, as relationships developed, children as well as some family members were invited to participate in the inquiry. Articulating the complex ethical dilemmas and issues that face people in schools every day, this fascinating study of school life and lives in school raises new questions about who and what education is for and provokes the re-imagining of schools as places to attend to the wholeness of people's lives.
Thecomplexities and possibilities of the meeting of diverse teachers', children's, families' and school leaders' lives in schools shape new insights about the interwoven lives of children and teachers, and raise important, lingering questions about the impact of these relationships on the unfolding lives ofchildren.

According to imperial edict in pre-modern China, an elementary school was to be established in every village in the empire for any boy to attend. This book looks at how the schools worked, how they changed over time, and who promoted them and why. Over the course of the Ming period (1368-1644), schools were sponsored first by the emperor, then by the central bureaucracy, then by local officials, and finally by the people themselves. The changing uses of schools helps us to understand how the Ming state related to society over the course of nearly 300 years, and what they can show us about community and political debates then and now.

In the past two decades in the United States, more than 1,600 Catholic elementary and secondary schools have closed, and more than 4,500 charter schools public schools that are often privately operated and freed from certain regulations have opened, many in urban areas. With a particular emphasis on Catholic school closures, Lost Classroom, Lost Community examines the implications of these dramatic shifts in the urban educational landscape. More than just educational institutions, Catholic schools promote the development of social capital the social networks and mutual trust that form the foundation of safe and cohesive communities. Drawing on data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods and crime reports collected at the police beat or census tract level in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, Margaret F. Brinig and Nicole Stelle Garnett demonstrate that the loss of Catholic schools triggers disorder, crime, and an overall decline in community cohesiveness, and suggest that new charter schools fail to fill the gaps left behind. This book shows that the closing of Catholic schools harms the very communities they were created to bring together and serve, and it will have vital implications for both education and policing policy debates.

This book explores the experiences of early career teachers in a profession that has become highly stratified by market processes. The author presents New South Wales, Australia as a case study: a state with a long history of academically selective and private sector schooling, which has become increasingly segregated under a series of neoliberalised policy reforms since the 1980s. The experiences of teachers in this book are rich and varied, from a variety of different contexts - ranging from public schools enrolling students experiencing significant educational disadvantage to elite independent schools serving much more advantaged student cohorts. Highlighting teachers' experiences in themselves rather than their impact on students, this timely book will be of interest and value to scholars of sociology of education, teachers' work and education policy.

Safe Passage: A Guide to Addressing School Violence offers expert perspectives and guidance in understanding, assessing, and addressing school violence. Although the book is designed for child and adolescent forensic psychiatrists and psychologists seeking proficiency in youth violence risk assessment, educators, school administrators, mental health clinicians, other health care professionals who work with children, and interested laypersons will also find the book both practical and illuminating. The editors' approach to school violence is informed by their educational, scholarly, clinical, and forensic work with children and adults who have been disenfranchised through the cumulative effects of poverty, trauma, untreated mental illness, and inadequate access to education. This background has fostered a sensitivity to and understanding of critically important developmental factors that can be passed on generationally, which are explored in depth in the volume. Case vignettes and follow-ups are used liberally to illustrate and illuminate the range of violent situations (e.g., bullying, cyberbullying, gang violence, sexual violence) likely to be encountered, as well as the advantages and disadvantages inherent in various interventions. The authors stress that threat assessment must take individual, school, and community variables into account, a complex but necessary task for mental health professionals and educators who wish to safeguard individuals and society from harm. This book provides a road map for understanding and addressing violence of all kinds in the school environment: * The subtyping of aggression is thoroughly explored, with special focus on reward-seeking behaviors and the development of impulse control in adolescents. * Identifying students at risk for violence or abuse at home is of critical importance. The chapter on danger at home teaches the reader to recognize trauma symptoms and examines the necessary steps toward establishing a trauma-informed or trauma-sensitive school environment.* In violence risk assessment, every student is evaluated in relation to static risk factors (historical variables that cannot be changed), dynamic risk factors (risk factors that are amenable to change) and protective factors. The authors emphasize that violence risk is characterized along a continuum rather than in binary fashion.* Case law is cited where relevant throughout the book, providing context for the evolution of school policies toward violence.* Key points and clinical pearls at the end of each chapter provide convenient summaries of information and help the reader focus on the most important ideas. Compassionate and comprehensive, Safe Passage: A Guide to Addressing School Violence introduces readers to important concepts pertaining to school violence and serves as a practical guide for mitigating and preventing violence in our schools.

The challenges and difficulties of being pregnant and a young parent in South African schools are brought to light in this valuable examination. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative research conducted in secondary schools in Durban and Cape Town, the book explores how teachers and principals respond to the presence of pregnant learners and young parents and surveys the attitudes of fellow learners towards them. Interviews with the young parents themselves yield rich narratives which, accompanied by a visual essay, delve into their lives as they confront the overwhelming demands of pregnancy, parenting, and education. Providing a finely textured analysis of these demands, this reference demonstrates the ongoing need to challenge the unequal and gendered load of pregnancy and parenting--both in schools and the broader social context.

With a key UN Sustainable Development Goal for 2030 being to make basic education available to all the world's children, Learning Spaces in Africa explores the architectural, socio-political and economic policy factors that have contributed to school design, the main spaces for education and learning in Africa. It traces the development of school building design, focusing on Western and Southern Africa, from its emergence in the 19th century to the present day. Uduku's analysis draws attention to the past historic links of schools to development processes, from their early 19th century missionary origins to their re-emergence as development hubs in the 21st century. Learning Spaces in Africa uses this research as a basis to suggest fundamental changes to basic education, which respond to new technological advances, and constituencies in learning. Illustrated case studies describe the use of tablets in refugee community schools, "hole-in-the wall" learning and shared school-community learning spaces. This book will be beneficial for students, academics and those interested in the history of educational architecture and its effect on social development, particularly in Africa and with relevance to countries elsewhere in the emerging world.

This volume explores how conservative Christian schools are shaping education in America and in turn, students' attitudes about diversity. Based on data collected as part of a year-long, ethnographic study of a K-12 conservative, Christian school in the South, this volume analyzes the way that diversity was thought about and acted upon in a school, and how these decisions affected students and teachers across racial differences. The book demonstrates that conservative Christian theology defined a school's diversity efforts. It also reveals the complexity of addressing diversity in a context that is largely wary of it, at least in its typical secular usage. The findings presented in the book raise important questions about school vouchers, the influence of religious beliefs on educators' decision-making in schools, the morality and existence of Christian schools, and diversity initiatives in white spaces. Faith, Diversity, and Education: An Ethnography of a Conservative Christian School will be of great interest to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of education, sociology and religion.

The SAGE Handbook of School Organization provides a substantial review of the history, current status and future prospects of the field of school organization. Bringing together chapters exploring key issues, important debates and points of tension, the Handbook highlights school and system organisational structure, processes and dynamics coupled with insights into important theoretical foundations from diverse perspectives. This volume is designed to provide a much-needed, critically informed and coherent account of the field, against a backdrop of increasing complexity in which schooling as an institution and schools as organisations operate.

Kids encounter problems at school that run the gamut from school violence, to complex systemic problems rooted in poverty or racism, to daily struggles with homework or making friends.Therapists who work with kids typically do not receive training about when and how to contact schools, or about how to work with them collaboratively. The School-Savvy Therapist by Dr. Mary Eno provides a framework, tools, and guidelines for doing just that. Drawing on research, illustrative case examples, and interviews, this practical resource describes what therapists need to know about schools and how they can effectively foster a supportive child-family-school dynamic. From reviewing test results, conducting school observations and attending family-school meetings, to helping parents advocate for their kids and more, this book will help therapists understand the critical role they play in supporting kids who struggle at school.Checklists, questions, and specific guidelines are provided so that both novice and experienced therapists can engage in this work with skill and confidence.

This book provides the busiest leaders with an accessible set of tools that can immediately be deployed to positively impact their school. Authors Ronald Williamson and Barbara R. Blackburn explore the COMPASS model-Culture; Ownership and Shared Vision; Managing Data; Professional Development; Advocacy; Shared Accountability; and Structures to Sustain Success-as an overall framework for school improvement. Chapters include in-depth discussions of easy-to-implement, useful strategies for improvement and address the most common concerns facing today's school leaders. Supplemented with templates, charts, and other adaptable tools for ongoing, practical use, 7 Strategies for Improving Your School is your key guide to school improvement.

This book provides the busiest leaders with an accessible set of tools that can immediately be deployed to positively impact their school. Authors Ronald Williamson and Barbara R. Blackburn explore the COMPASS model—Culture; Ownership and Shared Vision; Managing Data; Professional Development; Advocacy; Shared Accountability; and Structures to Sustain Success—as an overall framework for school improvement. Chapters include in-depth discussions of easy-to-implement, useful strategies for improvement and address the most common concerns facing today’s school leaders. Supplemented with templates, charts, and other adaptable tools for ongoing, practical use, 7 Strategies for Improving Your School is your key guide to school improvement.

Table of Contents

Meet the Authors

Introduction

Acknowledgments

eResources

Chapter 1 Overview and Introduction of the COMPASS Model for School Improvement

Chapter 2 A Positive and Supportive Culture

Chapter 3 Ownership and Shared Vision

Chapter 4 Managing Data

Chapter 5 Professional Development

Chapter 6 Advocacy

Chapter 7 Shared Accountability

Chapter 8 Structures to Support School Improvement

Chapter 9 Improving Your School: Making It Happen

Chapter 10 Common Concerns

References/

Explores Mississippi's school desegregation from the viewpoint of a white teacher A New Day in the Delta is a fresh and appealing memoir of the experience of a young white college graduate in need of a job as the Vietnam War reached its zenith. David Beckwith applied and was accepted for a teaching position in the Mississippi Delta in the summer of 1969. Although it seemed to him a bit strange that he was accepted so quickly for this job while his other applications went nowhere, he was grateful for the opportunity. Beckwith reported for work to learn that he was to be assigned to an all-black school as the first step in Mississippi's long-deferred school desegregation. The nation and Mississippi alike were being transformed by war and evolving racial relations, and Beckwith found himself on the cutting edge of the transformation of American education and society in one of the most resistant (and poor) corners of the country. Beckwith's revealing and often amusing story of the year of mutual incomprehension between an inexperienced white teacher and a classroom full of black children who had had minimal contact with any whites. This is history as it was experienced by those who were thrust into another sort of "front line."

Distance education services are an effective way to meet the needs of students with disabilities, but few special educators get the preparation they need to conduct high-quality instruction remotely. All the fundamentals are in this one-of-a-kind guide, the first dedicated book on distance learning for special educators. With contributions from more than 35 experienced educators, this guide covers all types of distance learning from Grades PreK through 12-both real-time and asynchronous, from higher-tech online teaching to instruction with prepared materials. Special educators will get foundational knowledge on the principles and recommended practices of virtual learning, and then discover specific strategies for delivering behavioral, academic, and social supports at a distance. Up-to-date research blends seamlessly with practical action steps, giving educators a reliable and immediately useful guide to the most successful virtual learning practices. Required reading for both pre- and in-service special education teachers, this timely book clarifies what effective and engaging distance education looks like from preschool through high school-and how to maximize its benefits for students with a wide range of disabilities. LEARN HOW TO: adapt your curriculum and instruction for virtual learning select and use technology to support learners and families make skillful adaptations for students with physical, sensory, and communication challenges teach both reading and STEM skills at a distance respond to challenging behavior and mental health needs in a virtual environment collect student data and monitor IEP objectives meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students plan smooth student transitions at a distance SPECIAL FEATURES: Reinforce and enhance your learning with chapter objectives, case studies, reflection questions, and lists of helpful tools, apps, and resources to explore.

The date, the gown, the tux, the theme, the corsage. For many teenagers the prom is the highlight of their high school career, seen as the rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood.
In Prom Night, Amy Best interview countless teens about their prom experiences, and looks at popular media to understand today's teens. She finds that with the rising purchasing power of youth culture, the prom is now an industry unto itself with its own magazines, films, clothing, accessories and services.

The Future of Publicly Funded Faith Schools addresses and critically examines the arguments both for and against the continued maintenance of faith-based schools within a publicly funded state system. Addressing the issue systemically, first grounding the discussion in the practical world of education before raising the central philosophical issues stemming from faith-based education, it provides a balanced synthesis of the different arguments surrounding faith schools. The book expounds upon the different threats facing faith-based schools, including their perceived potential to undermine social cohesion within a multi-cultural society, and the questioning of their right to receive public funding, and examines what these mean for their future. Examining these threats, it questions: What it means for a school to be 'faith-based'. The nature of religious education both within and without a faith-based school environment. The ethical, epistemological, and political issues arising from faith-based education. The concepts of the common good and social cohesion. Whether there is possible reconciliation between opposing parties. The Future of Publicly Funded Faith Schools makes a unique contribution to the literature in this area and is crucial reading for anyone interested in what the future holds for publicly funded faith schools including academics, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of education, religious studies, policy, and politics of education, sociology, and philosophy.

Principals and district administrators will learn ways to develop, sustain, monitor, and lead schools and districts striving for growth mindset learning environments. This book includes guidance in the areas of growth mindset hiring, feedback, systemic professional learning, and ways to evaluate present processes and protocols through a growth mindset lens. A mindset reflection tool allows education leaders to consider their own mindset thinking. Guidance and suggestions for embedding growth mindset learning through curriculum, instruction, and grading are also included in this valuable resource. Attributes of growth mindset leaders are presented in this guidebook for leading in a growth mindset district!

Schools and school systems are increasingly impacted by global disruptions and rapid changes that create unprecedented challenges and opportunities for their leaders and educators. School leaders need to prepare students for faster changes than ever before, to learn for jobs that have not yet been created and use pedagogically-informed technologies to transform the ways in which teachers, students. and parents relate and collaborate. Current and future technological transformations provide opportunities for transformative change through the potential for connectivity and networking for educators locally, nationally and internationally. This book provides an analysis of the impact of disruptive environments on education. It closely examines and synthesizes international literature on how educational systems in a number of countries are successfully transforming educational delivery processes to better prepare students for an increasingly disrupted world. This invaluable text will prove indispensable for educational professionals and researchers engaged in informing and transforming policy making, leadership training and development, and quality learning and pedagogy in schools.

Dissecting twenty years of educational politics in our nation's largest cities, American School Reform offers one of the clearest assessments of school reform as it has played out in our recent history. Joseph P. McDonald and his colleagues evaluate the half-billion-dollar Annenberg Challenge - launched in 1994 - alongside many other large-scale reform efforts that have taken place in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area. They look deeply at what school reform really is, how it works, how it fails, and what differences it can make nonetheless. McDonald and his colleagues lay out several interrelated ideas in what they call a theory of action space. Frequently education policy gets so ambitious that implementing it becomes a near impossibility. Action space, however, is what takes shape when talented educators, leaders, and reformers guide the social capital of civic leaders and the financial capital of governments, foundations, corporations, and other backers toward true results.

Originally published in 1990. The rapid decline in the birth rate in the 1970s and the resulting fall in school rolls had a dramatic effect on the curriculum, staffing, organization and management of schools. This book focuses on the national and local politics surrounding school closures, amalgamations and the replacement of sixth forms with tertiary colleges. The author illuminates the changing politics of education through an analysis based on research in LEAs including Birmingham and Manchester. He explores the roles of central government, local education authorities and the politics of increased parental choice. The book shows how spare capacity in schools captures the political struggle between those concerned to protect the post-war tradition of educational opportunity for all and the New Right who want to seize the chance to place schools in the market place, expanding consumer choice and public accountability.

School effectiveness and school improvement have different origins: School effectiveness is more directed to finding out "what works" in education and "why"; school improvement is practice and policy oriented and intended to change education in the desired direction. However, in their orientation to outcomes, input, processes, and context in education, they also have much in common. In the theoretical part, different orientations have been analysed and combined in a model for effective school improvement. Based on this analysis, an evaluation framework was developed for the analysis of the case studies of school improvement projects in the participating countries. The theoretical model and the results of the analyses of the case studies were combined in a framework of effective school improvement.

Teachers and administrators who understand the "politics" in schools can operate more successfully to facilitate change. This text teaches educators to identify and influence common social patterns that affect their work in school organizations. It combines literature from educational leadership and foundations of education to provide a comprehensive introduction to organizational theories related to schooling. A particularly notable feature is that in addition to traditional bureaucratic and political approaches, there is a substantial focus on recent critical and feminist theories. Extensive use of narrative vignettes makes the theories accessible for prospective and practicing teachers. Practice cases and exercises assist students in applying the theories to their own organization settings.
Assuming little prior knowledge of theories about school organizations, this volume is intended as a text for introductory graduate courses, as well as for advanced undergraduate courses, and groups such as site-based management teams and district professional development committees.

One of the great challenges now facing education reformers in the United States is how to devise a consistent and intelligent framework for instruction that will work across the nation's notoriously fragmented and politically conflicted school systems. Various programs have tried to do that, but only a few have succeeded. Improvement by Design looks at three different programs, seeking to understand why two of them - America's Choice and Success for All - worked, and why the third - Accelerated Schools Project - did not. The authors identify four critical puzzles that the successful programs were able to solve: design, implementation, improvement, and sustainability. Pinpointing the specific solutions that clearly improved instruction, they identify the key elements that all successful reform programs share. Offering urgently needed guidance for state and local school systems as they attempt to respond to future reform proposals, Improvement by Design gets America one step closer to truly successful education systems.

As economies across the world continue to struggle, there is growing evidence that the vulnerable in society, especially children, are paying the greatest cost in terms of reduced opportunities for access to equitable life chances, the most vital of these being education. Juxtaposing the ongoing failure of education systems to address disadvantage with the widespread belief in the vital importance of the training of teachers raises another issue, namely that remarkably little is known about the effective preparation of pre-service teachers to ameliorate educational disadvantage and, additionally, that little attention appears to be given to this in most teacher preparation programmes. This book attempts to redress this balance and is structured by three themes that focus on national policy, pre-service teacher preparation programmes and individual pre-service teachers. The book reveals a disheartening picture of complex patterns of inequality across and within individual countries, together with an incomplete understanding of the intersectional mechanisms - political, ideological, social and cultural - that link poverty and educational disadvantage. Contributions from five different countries, however, provide evidence of positive signs that interesting, innovative and intellectually sound developments are happening at a local level and offer a valuable contribution to the debate about how teacher education can create levers for change. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Education for Teaching.