Nearly the whole of America's partisan politics centers on a single question: Can markets solve our social problems? And for years this question has played out ferociously in the debates about how we should educate our children. Policy makers have increasingly turned to market-based models to help improve our schools, believing that private institutions - because they are competitively driven - are better than public ones. With The Public School Advantage, Christopher A. and Sarah Theule Lubienski offer powerful evidence to undercut this belief, showing that public schools in fact outperform private ones. Decades of research have shown that students at private schools score, on average, at higher levels than students do at public schools. Drawing on two large-scale, nationally representative databases, the Lubienskis show, however, that this difference is more than explained by demographics-private school students largely come from more privileged backgrounds, offering greater educational support. After correcting for demographics, the authors go on to show that gains in student achievement at public schools are at least as great and often greater than those at private ones, and the very mechanism that market-based reformers champion-autonomy - may be the crucial factor that prevents private schools from performing better. Alternatively, those practices that these reformers castigate, such as teacher certification and professional reforms of curriculum and instruction, turn out to have a significant effect on school improvement. Offering facts, not ideologies, The Public School Advantage reveals that education is better off when provided for the public by the public.

The American Dream and the Public Schools examines issues that have excited and divided Americans for years, including desegregation, school funding, testing, vouchers, bilingual education, and ability grouping. While these are all separate problems, much of the contention over them comes down to the same thing--an apparent conflict between policies designed to promote each student's ability to succeed and those designed to insure the good of all students or the nation as a whole. The authors show how policies to promote individual success too often benefit only those already privileged by race or class, and often conflict with policies that are intended to benefit everyone. They propose a framework that builds on our nation's rapidly changing population in order to help Americans get past acrimonious debates about schooling. Their goal is to make public education work better so that all children can succeed.

As budgets tighten for school districts, a sound understanding of just how teaching and administration translate into student learning becomes increasingly important. Rebecca Barr, a researcher of classroom instruction and reading skill development, and Robert Dreeben, a sociologist of education who analyzes the structure of organizations, combine their expertise to explore the social organization of schools and classrooms, the division of labor, and the allocation of key resources.
Viewing schools as part of a social organization with a hierarchy of levels--district, school, classroom, instructional group, and students--avoids the common pitfalls of lumping together any and all possible influences on student learning without regard to the actual processes of the classroom. Barr and Dreeben systematically explain how instructional groups originate, form, and change over time. Focusing on first grade reading instruction, their study shows that individual reading aptitude actually has little direct relation to group reading achievement and virtually none to the coverage of reading materials once the mean aptitude of groups is taken into consideration. Individual aptitude, they argue, is rather the basis on which teachers form reading groups that are given different instructional treatment. It is these differences in group treatment, they contend, that explain substantial differences in learning curricular material.

Reclaiming Freedom in Education examines the notion of 'freedom' within educational settings. Following an investigation of the new 'Free Schools' in the UK, it argues that this name is a misnomer, and instead explores the original free schools of the 1960s and 1970s, using these models as a lens through which to explore contemporary examples of radical schooling, notably those which describe themselves as democratic and/or progressive. By arguing that in radical educational contexts both 'positive freedom' and 'negative freedom' are apparent, and that the notion that 'responsible freedom' is more pertinent than that of 'absolute freedom', this book posits that freedom can be seen to operate in a number of ways including 'freedom to be', 'freedom to think', 'freedom to choose' and 'freedom to self-govern'. The book: Describes how freedom can be used to inform educational structures, policies, pedagogies and practices across a range of settings Features illustrative case studies of radical free schools and alternative education spaces which have been underpinned by a commitment to freedom and to advancing social justice Critiques the current policy agenda to use 'freedom' to make education more competitive through claims that it correlates with higher test scores and academic success Considers some of the challenges for teachers, educators and students of offering and experiencing freedom in education, and argues that despite these, the case for advancing freedom is both urgent and compelling Creating discussions about the new meaning and role that 'freedom' can have in improving education, Reclaiming Freedom in Education is a practical contribution to educational activism, which will be a key point of reference for teachers, parents, researchers and students on undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Education Studies, Early Childhood Studies and doctorates.

Leading Schools to Learn, Grow, and Thrive provides a unique approach to preparing prospective education leaders by combining theory, research, and practice. Grounded in organizational and leadership theory, this book helps leaders understand their schools and districts from multiple perspectives and develop their own leadership aspirations, approaches, and missions. Well-known authors Brazer, Bauer, and Johnson present authentic practical problems, illuminate them with appropriate theory and research, and give readers opportunities to solve common puzzles as a means to grow wisdom about how to lead, especially when confronted with complex challenges. This book is an invaluable resource for aspiring leaders, one that readers will reference as they proceed through their leadership coursework and keep close at hand throughout their leadership career. Special Features: eResources-complementary resources for instructors and students, including a set of authentic role-playing scenarios accessible from https://www.routledge.com/9781138039100 Vignettes-introduce the reader to real-life dilemmas that impact teaching and learning and provide a central reference point for discussions of theory, research, and practice. Theory and Research-frameworks and examples inform common leadership challenges, helping readers expand their knowledge and experience base to explore situations similar to their own contexts. Puzzles-real-world situations test knowledge and provide opportunities to practice ideas for effective leadership. Thought Partner Discussions (TPCs) and Extended Web Activities (EWAs)-additional thought activities, opportunities for reflection, and suggestions for discussion provoke puzzle solving.

"This book is well written and inclusive with a realistic approach to problems encountered in schools today. Practical and useable interventions are included which makes this text a valuable resource to the school social worker."
–Terry Housteau-Hill, LSCW, Lead Consultant, Knox County School Social Services

"An invaluable resource . . . [and] extremely reader-friendly."
–Michelle Alvarez, MSW, LCSW, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
University of Southern Indiana

School Social Work thoroughly covers all aspects of this burgeoning field, from the history and function of school social workers and up-to-date, empirically and developmentally supported interventions to effective methods for implementing and evaluating school social work programs. Educational policy and legislation, community-based interventions, and prevention programs are also covered.

Supported by case vignettes and discussion questions that engage the reader in every chapter, this book:

• Provides proven and promising programs for change in classrooms, schools, families, neighborhoods, and communities
• Equips you with the knowledge and skills necessary to function effectively in the unique political environment of the school
• Outlines the school social worker’s essential role as a consultant to faculty and administrators as well as creator and mediator of school and community collaborations that enhance the academic success of at-risk students

In addition, this book provides current assessment methods for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions; recently developed standardized measures designed to assess change at the classroom, school, family, neighborhood, and community levels; guidelines for successfully planning, implementing, and evaluating new programs based on Comprehensive Quality Programming (CQP) strategies; and detailed information on the most current student-focused violence prevention programs.

Complete with lists of Internet resources and other references at the end of each chapter, School Social Work is a valuable tool for students and a hands-on resource for school social workers, psychologists, counselors, and administrators.

With the realization of familial deschooling in Germany, the so-called social movement of the ,Freilerner' transgresses a taboo and is therefore under enormous pressure to justify itself. Following on from this, the reconstructive study asks what latent structures of meaning underlie the subjective crisis scenarios about the schooling of children and the ideal concepts of parents in the sense-giving justification of the family deschooling practice. In the course of this, three types of the justification for the familial practice of deschooling, namely defending, charismatizing, and escaping, are empirically established. In this way, the study not only makes an empirically based contribution to a more reflective discourse on alternative educational practices, but also pushes itself into a taboo zone of school pedagogy and educational research in Germany. Because it addresses the school as a historically consolidated, but not as an organization without alternatives for learning and educational processes of children and adolescents.

This volume is a guide to using the Relational Literacy Curriculum with children in grades 2-5. Based on developmental and social constructivist principles, this curriculum presents a conceptual framework and a method for enhancing children's understanding of interpersonal relationships in the classroom. The Relational Literacy Curriculum:
*offers a powerful method for children to reflect on challenging interpersonal episodes and to discern constructive patterns of relating through discussion and role play;
*provides a process that can serve as both a prevention tool and a vehicle for managing immediate conflict;
*gives teachers a strong theoretical framework from which they can make principled decisions, and a flexible format for implementing it that they can adapt to meet the particular social needs of their classroom context; and
*promotes teacher reflection and learning through the use of various observational tools.
This book addresses the question of why it is important to study relationships in the elementary classroom; reviews the research and literature that inform the relational literacy curriculum; lays out the process of the curriculum; explains how the curriculum can be used to address real conflicts within the classroom community; and provides guiding principles for practice. It is a useful resource for classroom teachers, school psychologists, school counselors and social workers, and a valuable text for a range of courses, including classroom management, psycho-social interventions, child development, and early childhood education.

This book explores the partnership between Finnish universities and the university-affiliated teacher training schools known as 'normal schools'. It examines the benefits of school-based learning combined with Master's-level teacher education, uncovering the advantages of this unique school-university partnership. This book also explores the possibility of Finnish teacher education, and more specifically, the normaalikoulu, and its potential as an international export product. Although policy borrowing theory has long warned about the difficulties in successful transfer, interest in Finnish teacher education continues to rise. Therefore, this book investigates, in depth, the historical, cultural, and current context of Finnish teacher education and the normal schools, and the potential to move this policy abroad.

This book explores diverse relationships at play in integrating Indigenous knowledges and Western Science in curricula. The readers will unravel ways in which history, policy, and relationships with local Indigenous communities play a role in developing and implementing 'cross-cultural' science curricula in schools. Incorporating stories from multiple individuals involved in curriculum development and implementation - university professors, a ministry consultant, a First Nations and Metis Education coordinator, and most importantly, classroom teachers - this book offers suggestions for education stakeholders at different levels. Focusing on the importance of understanding 'relationships at play', this book also shows the author's journey in re/search, wherein she grapples with both Indigenous and Western research frameworks. Featuring a candid account of this journey from research preparation to writing, this book also offers insights on the relationships at play in doing re/search that respects Indigenous ways of coming to know.

This innovative volume is focused on the impact of religion on the realization of democratic citizenship. The researchers contributing provide empirical evidence on how religion influences attitudes towards citizenship and democracy in different countries. The book also tackles the challenges and opportunities for citizenship education. Experts contributing from sociology, political science, theology, and educational science look at the impact of religious beliefs and practices on democratic attitudes and behavior. Chapters also concern how religion influences the recognition of others as citizens. The text appeals to graduates and researchers in these fields with a secondary market for the general interest reader.

This multidisciplinary collection probes ways in which emerging and established scholars perceive and theorize decolonization and resistance in their own fields of work, from education to political and social studies, to psychology, medicine, and beyond. In this time of renewed global spiritual awakening, indigenous communities are revisiting ways of knowing and evoking theories of resistance informed by communal theories of solidarity. Using an intersectional lens, chapter authors present or imagine modes of solidarity, resistance, and political action that subvert colonial and neocolonial formations. Placing emphasis on the importance of theorizing the spirit, a discourse that is deeply embedded in our unique cultures and ancestries, this book is able to capture and better understand these moments and processes of spiritual emergence/re-emergence.

This book reformulates Christian education as an interdisciplinary and interdenominational vocation for professionals and practitioners. It speaks directly to a range of contemporary contexts with the aim of encouraging conceptual, empirical and practice-informed innovation to build the field of Christian education research. The book invites readers to probe questions concerning epistemologies, ethics, pedagogies and curricula, using multidisciplinary research approaches. By helping thinkers to believe and believers to think, the book seeks to stimulate constructive dialogue about what it means to innovate Christian education research today.Chapters are organised into three main sections. Following an introduction to the volume's guiding framework and intended contribution (Chapter 1), Part 1 features conceptual perspectives and comprises research that develops theological, philosophical and theoretical discussion of Christian education (Chapters 2-13). Part 2 encompasses empirical research that examines data to test theory, answer big questions and develop our understanding of Christian education (Chapters 14-18). Finally, Part 3 reflects on contemporary practice contexts and showcases examples of emerging research agendas in Christian education (Chapters 19-24).

2020 Finalist for Book of the Year Award, North American Society of Social and Political Philosophy (NASSP) This book examines the philosophical, motivational, and practical challenges of education theory, policy, and practice in the twenty-first century. There is a loud and persistent drum beat of support for schools, for citizenship, for diversity and inclusion, and increasingly for labor market readiness with very little critical attention to the assumptions underlying these agendas, let alone to their many internal contradictions. Merry does not neglect the historical, comparative international context so essential to better understanding where we are, as well as what is attainable in terms of educational justice. He argues that we must constructively critique some of our most cherished beliefs about education if we are to save the hope of real justice from the rhetoric of imagined justice.

This collected book is about the eduLab projects, an initiative with focus on Scaling Change through Apprenticising and Ecological Leadership, designed to surface and spread ground-up information and communication technology-based pedagogical innovations. It presents the goals and rationale behind eduLab, an overview of the research projects conducted by its principal investigators during its funding tenure, as well as synthesizing thoughts on the entire endeavor. This book not only marks the achievements of the eduLab programme but also serves as inspiration for future projects. It presents Singapore education in action - a continually evolving and adapting education system that delivers a system well known for its high quality as much as it is forward-looking.

This book questions the consensus that contemporary formal schooling is of clear cut and undoubted benefit to pupils. During lockdowns caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, governments and various other actors have been trying to get children and young people back into school as quickly as possible. While there are any numerous beneficial aspects of schooling, the book asks whether accepted models and practices of schools should change in a post-COVID world. By critically examining the everyday nature of 'normal' schooling, the book demonstrates that many aspects of schooling are not necessarily beneficial to pupils, and can be directly harmful: in doing so, the author imagines a future of schooling that could better support and benefit its students.

This book addresses the relationship between the production of social problems in educational policy, the research practices required to inform policy, and the daily production of normalcies and differences in school contexts. It reports on the opportunities and consequences for policy, research, and practice when normalcy is stigmatized at the same level as difference. The book employs a critical analysis combining queer, feminist, and post-representational theories to understand the implications of dominant ways of understanding the division between normal and different subjectivities and how they reiterate structures of inequality in schools.

In this timely interdisciplinary volume, William Watkins has brought together leading scholars and activists to address some of the most urgent issues facing public education. What is underneath and behind the language of choice, efficiency, and improvement in current neoliberal discourse? How will urban and poor populations be affected? Will privatization lead to increased stratification in our schools? How can public education not only be saved but re-imagined? In accessible language, renowned contributors explore and critique corporate school reform to both inform and serve as an organizing tool for teachers, parents, students, and citizens committed to genuine public education. Book Features: A comprehensive critique of how corporate power is disrupting universal public education. An illumination of how corporate school reform threatens unions, racial progress, and democracy. An illustration of how private wealth forges public policy. A case study of the public school system in New Orleans.

What are the attitudes and actions that make great principals stand out? In this internationally renowned bestseller, Todd Whitaker reveals the 20 keys to effective school leadership. This essential third edition features helpful new strategies for recruiting talent through better interview and reference questions, as well as tips for retaining talent. It also offers a new section on how leadership is not an event, but rather requires a consistent approach to affect the climate and eventually shape the culture of your school. Perfect for new and experienced principals, for independent professional reading or for leadership courses, this practical book will leave you feeling inspired and ready to do the things that matter most for the people who ultimately matter most-the students.

Challenging the popular perception that the free market can objectively ameliorate inequality and markedly improve student academic achievement, this book examines the overly positivistic rhetoric surrounding charter schools. Taking a multifocal approach, this book examines how charter schools reproduce inequality in public education. By linking charter schools to broader social issues and political economic factors, such as neoliberalism, race, and class, The Charter School Solution presents a more complete and nuanced assessment of charter schools in the context of the American public education system.

First published in 1998. The wide-ranging perspectives in this book will help key personnel in primary schools to manage the implantation of the 1993 Education Act and the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs more effectively. Governors and headteachers comment on the management of resources and on interaction with parents and others outside the school. Researchers and academics provide an analysis of the impact and legal implications of the Code of Practice on primary schools. SENCOs offer insights into the development of whole-school and classroom practice, commenting on the practicalities of implementing the philosophy behind the Code of Practice.

Specialized Schools for High-Ability Learners focuses on educational programming offered in nontraditional, publicly approved, and private settings, with important details about how to serve high-ability learners in specialized schools and deliver schoolwide educational change. Each chapter offers a differentiated resource for educators who are interested in designing and implementing programs in specialized school settings by providing a discussion of the critical components for inclusion in a carefully planned, coherent, and quality-minded K-12 curricular sequence. This book delivers a comprehensive discussion with recommendations for the learning experiences of high-talent students in specialized schools and alternatively approved educational programs. Through relevant research and practical applications, this compendium will help in developing high levels of talent among the next generation of competent critical thinkers.

This book addresses the issue of Sikh women's education in Punjab within the larger discourse of women's education in India. It focuses on the role of the Sikh Kanya Mahavidyalaya (SKM)-one of the most important educational institutions established in the nineteenth century as a result of the Sikh reformist movement in Punjab. It explores how various dimensions of caste, class, gender and religion generate a variety of approaches to the culture of literacy, and takes a closer look at the relevance of the Sikh Kanya Mahavidyalaya in today's India and its contribution to the area of educational pedagogy. It focuses on gender in education, specifically discourses and practices in women's education. In addition to providing valuable insights and critical evidence that can be used in the planning and implementation of education and gender policies, the book is sure to spark conversations in courses and professional communities interested in education, gender studies, history, sociology as well as overlooked dimensions of gender history.

Economics teachers often work by themselves or in small departments. This can mean they are forced to plan a lot of lessons from scratch with limited scope for shared planning or collaboration. Even as teaching becomes more research-informed, there is still the problem of having to work out how this best applies when teaching Economics, especially when there has been limited training in this. This can mean teachers are forced to adopt a trial-and-error approach, attempting to implement generic teaching and learning tips into economics lessons. Teachers plan each explanation individually, only learning what common misconceptions are through the painstaking experience of seeing puzzled expressions on multiple pupils' faces over the years. This book aims to change that. By looking at what the latest cognitive science research tells us about how pupils learn and crucially how that can be implemented in economics lessons, this book provides a short-cut to that trial-and-error approach. While the book summarises what the research tells us about pupil learning, this is fundamentally a 'doing' book. It is packed with practical examples of how research can be implemented in Economics lessons looking at explanations, misconceptions, assessment, curriculum and much more.

This book examines school violence in South Korea from an international comparative perspective. It analyses nationally representative samples and provides extensive literature reviews based on academic journals, various social and educational magazines and major media articles on school violence in South Korea. This book includes major data sets for the analysis such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and Nation Youth Policy Institute. These data show frequency, patterns and associated factors of school violence in South Korea and comparison of those in Japan and the United States.