There are no magical prescriptions for success as a school leader, but Joe Batory's exemplary career as a superintendent provides ample examples of effective leadership. He truly 'Lets it All Hang Out' in this very revealing portrait of the human side of an award-winning superintendent. Beyond the issues of school leadership, Joey addresses the complexities of public education_the goals, aspirations, and ideals; the special qualities of the people who work inside schools, and the propaganda that surround them. This book will appeal to anyone who cares about education in America.

Catch a new vision of leadership that fosters school communities that are socially just and academically excellent with this accessible guide. It combines promising theoretical perspectives with stories about practitioners and schools across the United States, Canada, and in the South Pacific (Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand) to show how, in many varied contexts, leaders are making a difference. Good Intentions Are Not Enough, is designed to raise the awareness of all concerned citizens about how to develop schools with diverse populations. Comprehensive and research-based, this book offers theories and practical ideas helpful to both teachers and administrators.

At least 24 state legislatures have authorized state takeovers of local schools. This handbook assumes that state legislatures will continue endorsing takeovers as state policy, which begs an important question: how can takeovers be made effective? Garland argues that those who execute takeovers should expect a mess_racial, legal, political, and bureaucratic. This book serves as a first and chief resource for those interested in state takeovers of local school districts including a persuasive description of effective legislation, a strategy for implementation, and a comprehensive and well-researched compilation of takeover experiences. The main message is a warning that takeovers always cause turbulent waters but the author presses on to draft a strategy for more effectively navigating these waters. Will be of interest to parents, teachers, administrators, academics, students, and policymakers.

A strategic plan is a useful tool for communicating the purpose of the library media center (LMC) to the administrators, teachers, and parents of the school community. An initial benefit is an assessment of the library program's strengths, weaknesses, and impact on the teaching and learning process. The library media specialist should use the planning process to garner greater support, identify priorities for future direction, provide the basis for effective budget development, and articulate the LMC's integral role in the school's instructional program. Based on Information Power, as well as input from focus groups of librarians, computer educators, teachers, administrators, and parents, the authors identified a core of the essential elements found in quality library media programs. Rubrics developed for this core provide a foundation for developing and prioritizing goals and objectives, as well as tools for ongoing evaluation. School library media centers, often short of time and staff, will welcome this easy-to-follow blueprint, packed with forms, questions to consider, templates, rubrics, and charts. From forming a committee and constructing surveys, to good PR and a consistent evaluation process, this essential handbook provides the tools to create a visionary mission statement, the strategic plan that embodies it, and the steps to implement it.

Do principals see themselves as others see them? Many new and veteran principals remark that one cannot truly know what it means to be a principal until you are one. However, most people have developed their own perceptions of the role of a principal based on their direct experience. Sharon Pristash describes the various perceptions of the principalship based on interviews with students, teachers, parents, and community members. She also offers some implications these perceptions might have for the profession. Viewpoints of practicing or former principals are included allowing the reader to compare and contrast the public and personal view of the profession. Whether novice or veteran principal, there's something for everyone in this fascinating study.

If you have more questions than answers about online learning for K-12 students, then you need this comprehensive guide that takes you through all of the planning and implementation steps need to go from vision to actual delivery of online courses. Clearly written and incorporating useful aids such as a timeline for planning and creating your online program, this book provides information on evaluating online courses, how-to successfully mentor students online, and some opportunities and services that will enhance the online program. More multi-layered than step-by-step, the process described involves working in many areas simultaneously. Superintendents, board members, administrators, and teachers can successfully pull all of the pieces together with this book as their guide.

This is a time of far-reaching change and debate in American education and social policy, spurred in part by a rediscovery that civil-society institutions are often better than government at meeting human needs. As Charles Glenn shows in this book, faith-based schools and social agencies have been particularly effective, especially in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable. However, many oppose providing public funds for religious institutions, either on the grounds that it would threaten the constitutional separation of church and state or from concern it might dilute or secularize the distinctive character of the institutions themselves. Glenn tackles these arguments head on. He builds a uniquely comprehensive and persuasive case for faith-based organizations playing a far more active role in American schools and social agencies. And, most importantly, he shows that they could do so both while receiving public funds and while striking a workable balance between accountability and autonomy.

Glenn is ideally placed to make this argument. A leading expert on international education policies, he was for many years the director of urban education and civil rights for the Massachusetts Department of Education, and also serves as an Associate Minister of inner-city churches in Boston. Glenn draws on all his varied experience here as he reviews the policies and practices of governments in the United States and Europe as they have worked with faith-based schools and also with such social agencies as the Salvation Army and Teen Challenge. He seeks to answer key theoretical and practical questions: Why should government make greater use of faith-based providers? How could they do so without violating First Amendment limits? What working relationships protect the goals and standards both of government and of the organizations that the government funds? Glenn shows that, with appropriate forms of accountability and a strong commitment to a distinctive vision of service, faith-based organizations can collaborate safely with government, to their mutual benefit and that of those they serve. This is a major contribution to one of the most important topics in political and social debate today.

This easy-to-read book integrates research and performance-based concepts in order to demystify and debunk the conventional wisdom about education. For many years, education has been beset by myths - myths that it can't be fixed with new concepts, that it takes specialists to diagnose what's wrong, that research doesn't reflect the real world, that the lessons of business cannot be generalized to education. This book takes on these misunderstandings and shows precisely what educators may do in order to overcome them. Educators will find Salowe and Lessinger's advice to be a rational, sober, and research-based approach to an often-debated topic.

Unlike other humanistic disciplines, the academic study of religion must contend with a phenomenon that touches every dimension of human experience. For scholars so engaged, the study of religion often becomes a cross-cultural as well as a necessarily interdisciplinary endeavor. In this collection of original essays, Jon R. Stone has brought together the intellectual autobiographies of fourteen senior scholars--all with national or international reputations in their respective fields--each of whom reflects upon his or her own theoretical assumptions and methodological approaches to the study of religion. Taken together, these essays represent the variety of research methods and interpretive rigor mature scholars bring to the task of examining religious phenomena, religious actions, religious movements, and religious ideas.

This book presents, in 11 chapters, a comprehensive look at the school superintendent that will be welcomed in the fields of education management and policy. Many different perspectives are represented: studying the school manager (Glass, Kowalski, and Glasman), minorities in the profession (Ortiz and Brunner), and the radical decentralization of the British school system under Thatch and Major (Campell, Powell, and Parker). Legal positions and collective bargaining are also discussed to great effect. Professors, public school educators, and policymakers should all find this book useful due to the critical nature of the superintendency.

Can charter schools save public education? This radical question has unleashed a flood of opinions from Americans struggling with the contentious challenges of education reform. There has been plenty of heat over charter schools and their implications, but, until now, not much light. This important new book supplies plenty of illumination.

Charter schools--independently operated public schools of choice--have existed in the United States only since 1992, yet there are already over 1,500 of them. How are they doing? Here prominent education analysts Chester Finn, Bruno Manno, and Gregg Vanourek offer the richest data available on the successes and failures of this exciting but controversial approach to education reform. After studying one hundred schools, interviewing hundreds of participants, surveying thousands more, and analyzing the most current data, they have compiled today's most authoritative, comprehensive explanation and appraisal of the charter phenomenon. Fact-filled, clear-eyed, and hard-hitting, this is the book for anyone concerned about public education and interested in the role of charter schools in its renewal.

Can charter schools boost student achievement, drive educational innovation, and develop a new model of accountability for public schools? Where did the idea of charter schools come from? What would the future hold if this phenomenon spreads? These are some of the questions that this book answers. It addresses pupil performance, enrollment patterns, school start-up problems, charges of inequity, and smoldering political battles. It features close-up looks at five real--and very different--charter schools and two school districts that have been deeply affected by the charter movement, including their setbacks and triumphs. After outlining a new model of education accountability and describing how charter schools often lead to community renewal, the authors take the reader on an imaginary tour of a charter-based school system.

Charter schools are the most vibrant force in education today. This book suggests that their legacy will consist not only of helping millions of families obtain a better education for their children but also in renewing American public education itself.

This book explores the utilisation of seclusions and restraints in schools. In certain circumstances, teachers and other staff may decide that it is necessary to restrain or seclude children in order to protect them from harming themselves or others. Some doctors and teachers contend that using seclusions and restraints can reduce injury and agitation and that it would be very difficult for organisations to run programs for children and adults with special needs without being able to use these methods. The authors highlight cases where staff at some programs employed unsafe restraint techniques, resulting in the death and abuse of teens in their care. Recent reports by advocacy groups indicate that similar restraint techniques have been used at public and private schools throughout the country.

Edinburgh was the place where Miss Jean Brodie taught her girls to believe they were the 'creme de la creme', where there was a real St. Trinnean's, and where an unusually large proportion of the city's girls went to independent schools. Alasdair Roberts has produced a social history of this special feature of Edinburgh life."

One day Greg Mortenson set out to climb K2 - the world's second highest mountain - in honour of his younger sister, but when another member of his group fell ill, they turned around and Greg became lost in the mountains of Pakistan. He wandered into a poor village, where the chief and his people took him in. Moved by their kindness, Greg promised to return and build a school for the children. This is the remarkable story of how, against all the odds, Greg built not only one but more than sixty schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and how he dedicated his life to establishing literacy and peace, and understanding.

researchED is an educator-led organisation with the goal of bridging the gap between research and practice. This accessible and punchy series, overseen by founder Tom Bennett, tackles the most important topics in education, with a range of experienced contributors exploring the latest evidence and research and how it can apply in a variety of classroom settings.In this edition, Craig Barton busts the most damaging myths in education, editing contributions from writers including: Doug Lemov; Bob and Elizabeth Bjork; Mark Enser; and Claire Sealy.

Should a liberal democratic state permit religious schools? Should it fund them? What principles should govern these decisions in a society marked by religious and cultural pluralism? In Faith in Schools?, Ian MacMullen tackles these important questions through both political and educational theory, and he reaches some surprising and provocative conclusions. MacMullen argues that parents' desires to educate their children "in the faith" must not be allowed to deny children the opportunity for ongoing rational reflection about their values. Government should safeguard children's interests in developing as autonomous persons as well as society's interest in the education of an emerging generation of citizens. But, he writes, liberal theory does not support a strict separation of church and state in education policy. MacMullen proposes criteria to distinguish religious schools that satisfy legitimate public interests from those that do not. And he argues forcefully that governments should fund every type of school that they permit, rather than favoring upper-income parents by allowing them to buy their way out of the requirements deemed suitable for children educated at public expense. Drawing on psychological research, he proposes public funding of a broad range of religious primary schools, because they can help lay the foundations for young children's future autonomy. In secondary education, by contrast, even private religious schools ought to be obliged to provide robust exposure to the ideas of other religions, to atheism, and to nonreligious approaches to ethics.

When in 1858 Newman was retiring from the Catholic University in Dublin, friends approached him when confronted with the problem of where to educate their sons and he became the central figure in the establishment of the Oratory School. Newmand and his co-founders - a trio of brilliant Catholic laymen, two parliamentary barristers and Lord Acton - faced stiff resistance in setting up the first Catholic public school; and once it opened their troubles were compunded by a staff mutiny and threats of closure from Rome. This is no standard story because the Oratory School was no standard school. It was the school's fate to be caught up in many of the key controversies of the time, not least because of its association with Newman; and for this reason the tale of its formative years under Newman provides important insights into Victorian life and English Catholic history. The story of the early years of the school, which counted Gerard Manley Hopkins among its masters, Hilaire Belloc among its pupils, and Newman as its guiding light, is told here fully for the first time.

As prices of traditional library materials increase, and space to house them shrinks, savvy school library media specialists are creating cyber libraries, or school libraries on the Internet. These libraries offer students and their parents 24-hour access and are invaluable for providing up-to-date information in a way traditional materials cannot. This guide outlines the steps library media specialists can take to create a cyber library, provide content and policies for use, and maintain it for maximum efficiency. Craver justifies the need for cyber libraries in the 21st century, and how they can help librarians to meet the standards in Information Power (1998). She explains the different types of cyber libraries available, along with their advantages and disadvantages. She discusses how to construct them using portals or by acquiring fee-based cyber libraries, and what policies should be in place to protect both the school and its students. Also included are instructions for establishing remote access to subscription databases, creating cyber reading rooms, and providing instructional services to student users. Once a cyber library is created, it must be maintained and evaluated to keep it useful and current, and this book provides guidelines to do so. Finally, there is a chapter on promoting the cyber library, so the school community is aware of its features and participates in its growth process. No school library should be without this volume!

An educational innovator who worked at Sesame Workshop and The George Lucas Educational Foundation offers a new vision for learning

As a result of constant innovation, learning is no longer limited by traditional confines and we're moving beyond students tied to their chairs, desks, and textbooks-and teachers locked away in classrooms. In "Education Nation" author Milton Chen draws from extensive experience in media-from his work on Sesame Street in its nascent years to his role as executive director of the George Lucas Educational Foundation-to support a vision for a new world of learning.

This book, in six chapters, explores the "edges" in education--the places where K-12 learning has already seen revolutionary changes through innovative reform and the use of technology. Examines ways in which learning can be revolutionized through innovative reform and the use of technologyExplores the ever-expanding world of technology for breakthroughs in teaching and learningIncludes many wonderful resources to support innovation in schools across the nation "

This important book offers a clear vision for tomorrow's classrooms that will enhance learning opportunities for all children.

Parents, Personalities and Power: Welsh-medium Schools in South-east Wales is the first volume ever published to investigate in depth the interdependent influences on the phenomenal growth of such schools over the last half century. Derived from a sustained research investigation based in the School of Welsh, Cardiff University (2003 - 8), the research is set within a constantly evolving linguistic, social and political society. The authors underline the international interest in the sustainable and continuing growth of the Ysgolion Cymraeg, and, as the title suggests, note the various powers that have influenced the shaping of the Welsh-school movement. These reflect the increased interest in the language and identity of Wales and the future challenges these schools face.

It's not what students know, but what they do with what they know that is important Schools are changing in response to this reality, and in Transforming Schools Using Project-Based Learning, Performance Assessment, and Common Core Standards, Bob Lenz, Justin Wells, and Sally Kingston draw on the example of the Envision Education schools, as well as other leading schools around the country, to show how the concept of deeper learning can meet the need for students who are both college and career ready and engaged in their own education. In this book, the authors explain how project-based learning can blend with Common Core-aligned performance assessment for deeper learning. You'll discover how many schools have successfully made the transition from traditional, teacher-centered learning to project-based, deeper learning and find many practical ideas for implementation. * Companion DVD and website include videos showing how to implement deeper learning strategies in the classroom * Evidence-based descriptions show why deeper learning is right for students * Performance assessment experts explain how to align assessments with Common Core by shifting the emphasis from knowing to doing * Extensive game plan section provides step-by-step guidance for change Schools are complex organizations, and transformation involves all of the stakeholders, from students to superintendents. But as this book shows, there are amazing benefits to be realized when everyone commits to diving deeper into learning.

The Three Minute Leader presents 101 snippets of advice, provocation and reflection to encourage school leaders as they go about their daily routines. 'Less is more' is its guiding principle. Enjoying the role is the key ingredient, together with the three essentials of leadership: humanity, clarity, courage.Education leadership is a people business. This short compendium is for people who are school leaders, wherever on the globe they find themselves.

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.