Most guides to the process of turning around low-performing schools are written for principals and policy makers. Teachers, however, are the individuals expected to conduct the "heavy lifting" of school improvement. Teachers' Guide to School Improvement is the first book on the subject written expressly for teachers. In this expanded second edition, teachers are shown a step-by-step process for raising student achievement, beginning with the diagnosis of the causes of low achievement and extending through the crucial first year of turnaround and beyond. Examples of effective turnaround practices are drawn from a variety of elementary, middle, and high schools.

Originally published in 1971, this volume is much more than a history of the Girls Public Day School Trust; it examines the growth of educational opportunities for girls and is set against a background of changing social attitudes and ideas. The book is mainly concerned with a small group of schools which pioneered girls education in the nineteenth century; schools which to this day, whether maintained, direct grant or independent are all concerned to provide the best possible educational opportunities for development and fulfilment to their pupils. "

Originally published 1971, this volume unravels the complicated history of the religious question in British education. The background of the key Acts of Parliament which established the "dual" system of Church and Local Authority school is examined. The changing policies of different religious groupings are analyzed, and their outcome in legislation brought out. "

Within a single educational system that of England and Wales the nature of schooling available to a child can be dramatically different. Even between residential areas the differences in educational climate can be striking. Apart from differences in the organization of schools and the availability of buildings, teachers and resources, there are also significant ideological variations between local education authorities. This book considers the evidence of such differences, some of the environmental factors (political, social and economic) that may account for their distribution, and the consequences that appear to spring from them.

Reforming Schools will transform the study of school reform, development and improvement. It not only provides an overview of research findings, professional and political issues, and policy developments and their history; it also relates such thinking to practice, through a rich and multi-faceted case study of school reform. Particular emphasis is given to urban schooling, with a candid look at what can be learned not only from successful school reforms but also from failure. Throughout the book, readers are guided by questions, points for reflection and hypothetical exercises that facilitate interaction with case study material. This book enables the reader to experience what it is like to be involved in the field as no other book on school reform does. This is the first true textbook in this area, written in an accessible style and supported by thought-provoking questions and useful exercises.

With the advent of charter schools in the United States, the face of public education has changed in this country. From its early beginning in Minnesota to its exponential growth in California the charter school movement has generated much controversy. It has been praised for its accomplishments, and criticized for its creaming of students. Over 130,000 students attend nearly 250 charter schools in the city of Los Angeles. This book presents an in-depth look at seventeen of those schools - urban schools that are making a difference in the lives of the students and families they serve. Readers will encounter a group of dedicated educational pioneers who are committed and passionate about their schools. These are people who have sacrificed much, and put their lives on hold to develop and implement schools that meet the needs of all students regardless of economic circumstance or background. From people who have mortgaged their homes to attain financing for their dream, to some that have changed careers to improve the quality of education for children and young adults.

There is an enduring belief amongst some that segregation is worsening and undermining social cohesion, and that this is especially visible in the growing divides between the schools in which our children are educated. This book uses up-to-date evidence to interrogate some of the controversial claims made by the 2016 Casey Review, providing an analysis of contemporary patterns of ethnic, residential and social segregation, and looking at the ways that these changing geographies interact with each other.

This book sheds light on the work of one of the 20th century's foremost critical educators, the Italian Lorenzo Milani (1923-1967), on the 90th anniversary of his birth. It provides an exposition and critical analysis of the ideas contained in his writings, ideas that emerged from his experiences in two Tuscan localities. The work of Milani and the School of Barbiana that he directed provide signposts for a critically and sociologically engaged pedagogy. Important themes include education and class politics; education and imperialism; education and the culture of militarization; the collective dimensions of learning and writing; peer tutoring; critical media literacy; and reading history against the grain. These ideas are analyzed with reference to similar and contrasting ideas by other international educators, scholars and thinkers. As the book argues, Milani's oeuvre contains important ingredients for a social justice-oriented critical pedagogy. The spirit for this pedagogical approach is captured in the School of Barbiana's motto 'I care.'

Every century has witnessed the birth of a few world-transcending intellectuals as well as talented emerging scholars. Noam Chomsky and Pierre W. Orelus are no exception. Using dialogues exchanged over the course of nine years, combined with heartfelt critical essays, Chomsky and Orelus analytically examine social justice issues, such as unbalanced relationships between dominant and subjugated languages, democratic schooling, neoliberalism, colonization, and the harmful effect of Western globalization on developing countries, particularly on the poor living in those countries. On Language, Democracy, and Social Justice offers a unique perspective on these issues. Educators and scholar-activists interested in challenging the long-standing status quo to inspire transformative social, educational, and political change must read this book.

Every century has witnessed the birth of a few world-transcending intellectuals as well as talented emerging scholars. Noam Chomsky and Pierre W. Orelus are no exception. Using dialogues exchanged over the course of nine years, combined with heartfelt critical essays, Chomsky and Orelus analytically examine social justice issues, such as unbalanced relationships between dominant and subjugated languages, democratic schooling, neoliberalism, colonization, and the harmful effect of Western globalization on developing countries, particularly on the poor living in those countries. On Language, Democracy, and Social Justice offers a unique perspective on these issues. Educators and scholar-activists interested in challenging the long-standing status quo to inspire transformative social, educational, and political change must read this book.

Much of school reform during the past decade has been influenced by neoliberal and neoconservative economic and social policies and Rightist politics. Although the authors of School Reform Critics do not abandon their own ideas about the need for progressive changes in K-12 schooling, they critique in specific ways the current so-called school reform movement, focusing on education in a democracy, context and policy implications, teachers and teacher education, and diversity and social justice. Their insightful chapters make a major contribution to our thoughtful consideration of where we are headed and in what direction we should be going if we seek to advance the public good, ensure a stronger democracy, and create more academically meaningful and equitable schools for all children. The book will especially engage readers in such courses as foundations of education, educational policy, curriculum studies, and teacher education.

The revival of madrasas in the 1980s coincided with the rise of political Islam and soon became associated with the "clash of civilizations" between Islam and the West. This volume examines the rapid expansion of madrasas across Asia and the Middle East and analyses their role in society within their local, national and global context. Based on anthropological investigations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Iran, and Pakistan, the chapters take a new approach to the issue, examining the recent phenomenon of women in madrasas; Hui Muslims in China; relations between the Iran's Shia seminary after the 1979-Islamic revolution and Shia in Pakistan and Afghanistan; and South Asian madrasas. Emphasis is placed on the increased presence of women in these institutions, and the reciprocal interactions between secular and religious schools in those countries. Taking into account social, political and demographic changes within the region, the authors show how madrasas have been successful in responding to the educational demand of the people and how they have been modernized their style to cope with a changing environment. A timely contribution to a subject with great international appeal, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of international politics, political Islam, Middle East and Asian studies and anthropology.

Islamic schools, especially madrasahs, have been viewed as sites of indoctrination for Muslim students and militants. Some educators and parents in the United States have also regarded introductory courses on Islam in some public schools as indoctrinatory. But what do we mean by "indoctrination"? And is Islamic education indoctrinatory? This book critically discusses the concept of indoctrination in the context of Islamic education. It explains that indoctrination occurs when a person holds to a type of beliefs known as control beliefs that result in ideological totalism. Using Indonesia as an illustrative case study, the book expounds on the conditions for an indoctrinatory tradition to exist and thrive. Examples include the Islamic school co-founded by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and the militant organisation Jemaah Islamiyah. The book further proposes ways to counter and avoid indoctrination through formal, non-formal, and informal education. It argues for the creation and promotion of educative traditions that are underpinned by religious pluralism, strong rationality, and strong autonomy. Examples of such educative Muslim traditions in Indonesia will be highlighted. Combining philosophical inquiry with empirical research, this book is a timely contribution to the study of contemporary and often controversial issues in Islamic education.

A comprehensive look at urban schools using history as a lens for coming to grips with present-day social, political, legal, and economic realities reflected in our urban education system. It's a blackboard jungle out there. Metal detectors at entrances, Overcrowded classrooms. Leaking roofs. Armed guards in the corridors. Burned-out teachers. Apathetic parents. No wonder Johnny can't read - even though he graduated. Explore how our urban students reached this stage, and what can be done to make it right. Here is the most recent information on the crises in our urban schools, from inadequate funding and student poverty to racial and ethnic schisms in the classroom, poorly prepared teachers, and more. The author skillfully maneuvers through the conflicting claims of administrators, school boards, teacher blocs, and other vested interests, to present a balanced overview. Urban Education encompasses the historical perspectives from the late 19th century to the present on urban schooling. It examines the social and political context of schools and the impact of court decisions on education in our urban schools. The book provides insightful analyses of teaching, curriculum and assessmen

This book provides an illuminating account of teachers' own reflections on their experiences of teaching in urban schools. It was conceived as a direct response to policy-related and media-generated concerns about male teacher shortage and offers a critique of the call for more male role models in elementary schools to address important issues regarding gender, race and the politics of representation. By including the perspectives of minority teachers and students, and by drawing on feminist, queer and anti-racist frameworks, this book rejects the familiar tendency to resort to role modelling as a basis for explaining or addressing boys' disaffection with schooling. Indeed, the authors argue, on the basis of their research in urban schools in Canada and Australia, that educational policy concerned with male teacher shortage and the plight of disadvantaged minority boys would benefit from engaging with analytic perspectives and empirical literature that takes readers beyond hegemonic discourses of role modelling. A compelling case is presented for the need to disarticulate discourses about role modelling from a politics of representation that is committed to addressing the reality of the impact of racial and structural inequalities on both minority teachers and students' participation in the education system. The book also provides insight into the persistence of gender inequality as it relates to the status of elementary school teaching as women's work.

Written in accordance with the President's 2003 homeland security directive and the Department of Education's guidelines, and in response to the ever-present threats facing our school systems, this book helps schools and institutions develop a comprehensive emergency response plan. This book outlines programs and procedures that can be applied to any school system to address hazard mitigation and prevention, emergency preparedness and response, and recovery and restoration of school functions to an effective learning environment. It describes specific actions and assigns responsibilities and response roles to district and individual school staff emergency teams, cooperating agencies, and community response partners that have agreed to share responsibilities and resources as defined in this plan. This book also outlines, in the event of an emergency involving response by fire and/or law enforcement, the district/school site personnel who should establish an Incident Command System-based response organization in accordance with procedures outlined in the National Incident Management System. In addition, the authors predetermine, to the extent possible, operational procedures across any U.S. school system and cooperating governmental, private, and volunteer agencies for responding to and recovering from any and all types of natural, human, or technology-based emergencies that may occur within school system operations or outside the jurisdiction of the school system but nonetheless cause/could cause collateral impact to school system operations. Contents examine emergency notification and immediate actions; concept of operations, including first key actions, partnering with community agencies, and the initial briefing; crisis management team action checklists; response resources, including personnel, response team partners, emergency evacuation/receiving facilities, and emergency equipment and supplies; emergency response flip charts for principals, teachers, secretaries, and custodians; district inciden

This pioneering volume defines the contours of the emerging engagements of Muslim women scholars from around the world with the authoritative interpretive traditions of Islam, classical and contemporary. Muslima theology, here broadly defined to encompass a range of interpretive strategies and perspectives arising from multiple social locations, interrogates Islamic scripture and other forms of religious discourse to empower Muslim women of faith to speak for themselves in the interests of gender justice. Contributions provide an overview of the field at this juncture-ranging from pioneering Muslim scriptural feminism to detailed analyses of legal and mystical texts by a new international cohort of Muslim women academics and activists. Contemporary female Muslim "constructivist" approaches articulate concerns with diversity, including race and religious pluralism, paralleling developments in womanist and mujerista readings of religious texts.

The Hidden Dangers in our schools have grown and intensified over the last few years; so much so that I was compelled to write a second edition to Hidden Dangers: Subtle Signs of Failing Schools. Our schools are complex places; each with its own unique climate, administration, faculty, students, parents and community members. Clearly, schools do not work in a vacuum; each is affected by the much larger society, government and economy. In this new edition we will be introduced to the interplay of these facets and how they can help and in some cases hinder our schools, our teachers, and our students from thriving. We also learn why it is more complicated now than ever, and the stakes are even higher than when Hidden Dangers was originally published back in 2008.

The authors set out to see if the American school has always been safe. Unfortunately, they found that it has not, that it is confronted in each new generation with a whole new set of threats and dangers. This is a unique book that examines American schools and their safety from the point of view of historical incursions and threats rather than from anecdotal and sometimes questionable information. Through the examination of thousands of documents and incidents, the authors show that the American school has always been subjected to threats from many different sources. Student violence is only a small part of this danger; in fact, the authors show that schools are confronted with many threats besides those presented sporadically by lone violent killers. The authors, at the same time, believe there has been an overreaction to violence that may in itself not be salubrious for the academic programs and moral climates of our schools. After the crisis at Columbine High School, many well-known commentators said that this was the worst crisis ever to take place in an American school. The authors decided to look at the whole topic of school safety in America from the period right after World War II to the present. This unique book is the first to place school safety at the heart of the educational endeavor in America, the first to treat the subject of threats to the school in a broader, historical context, and the first to treat the subject as part of intellectual history. By documenting thousands of instances during the period after World War II through the end of the century, the authors have concluded that the myth of "the school as a safe haven" has been a comforting, but not alwaysaccurate, metaphor. The approach to the subject is from a myriad of perspectives. First, the state of school buildings after the War is discussed. Next, the authors look at juvenile delinquency in the 1950s. Then they put school fires in context, followed by a chapter on school bus accidents and other devastating events from nature. In "Civil Rights, Uncivil Schools" they discuss the deleterious impact of the century's most important social movement on schools. In the creative chapter, "The Demise of Discipline," they demonstrate, through research, ways in which discipline in the schools has been eroded. In "A Decadent Counterculture" they assess the threats to schools by sex, drugs, and gangs. In "Terror Comes to School" they show that many violent intrusions began in the 1970s and earlier, well before the 1990s. The concluding chapter, "The Paradox of the Clinton Era" brings the history to the end of the century. The "Postscript" discusses new ways of looking at threats to school safety.

Journey to a High-Achieving School: Eliminate Destructive Excuses examines the range of devastating excuses often expressed for failure to attain significant improvement in our schools. Using the methods of systems thinking and leadership practices that are employed in high-performing organizations of all kinds, this book shows concretely and specifically that what is at the root of these excuses can be overcome. The core ideas at work in the volume are based on the authors' well-regarded Academy for Education Leaders, an intensive course of seminars conducted for school superintendents, principals, and other educational leaders for the past several years. This is not a "quick fix" manual offering magic wands or silver bullets. It is a carefully-structured guidebook that can clearly and demonstrably help educational leaders at all levels of accountability begin to build a serious culture of excellence within their schools and school districts. Improvement will take time, but as the processes become familiar, school leaders can uncover and address the complex, but confused assumptions that keep standing in the way of the substantial and measurable improvements that must be made for our society's educational future.

This book articulates a path for a renewed conception of-and commitment to-the public dimensions of schooling. It is an interdisciplinary book of philosophy and politics, written for educational leaders working in or on behalf of public schooling. Publics for Public Schools introduces a fresh view on how educational leaders might view the public ideal. In this conception of public work and leadership, educational leaders do not work with the public but help to achieve publics for public schools. The demos, or "the people" in the case of democratic governance of schools, mobilize around particular problems related to young people and schooling; they are best understood not as "the public" but as multiple publics. This book provides a conception of public life and of public leadership that can enable educational leaders of all types to help achieve publics for their schools.

Following 9/11 and the growth of religiously legitimated violence in Islamic countries, the focus of public discussion moved to imams and teachers of religion as actors supporting Muslim isolation and the lack of willingness to integrate - imams became central figures in the debate on Islam. With great enthusiasm, politicians discovered them to be the scapegoats of a failed integration of Muslims in Europe. Integrated imams trained in Europe were to promote Muslim integration, prevent violence, resolve contradictions between society and Muslims and further Islamic enlightenment. With this objective an attempt was made, on the one hand, to rediscover the existing institutions for imam training in Balkan states and, on the other hand, to establish new educational institutions at European universities to train Europe-compliant imams. Due to their central role in the lives of Muslims, the training of imams and teachers of religion is given an important role in the process of Muslim integration.

The vital role of principalship in improving schools in general and enhancing student achievement in particular has been well documented. Given its importance, there is a need for tools to improve principalship, particularly ones emphasizing those dimensions associated with student achievement. Given the accountability movement, with its particular focus on student achievement and the advent of the evaluation era (including the evaluation of principals), the need for tools is even more urgent. This edited volume presents those tools with the aim of improving learning-centered principalship. The book is useful for researchers and policy makers as well as principals.

Leadership and School Quality is the twelfth in a series on research and theory dedicated to advancing our understanding of schools through empirical study and theoretical analysis. Hence, the chapters include analyses that investigate relationships between school organizations and leadership behaviours that have an impact on teacher and school effectiveness.

Despite national and international commitments to Education for All, and the Millennium Development Goals to assure universal primary education by 2015, over 90% of children with disabilities remain excluded from regular education in countries of the south. This book describes a three decade-long change initiative in India to enable children with disabilities to move from segregation and exclusion to inclusive education, and draws lessons for confronting global exclusion. It examines the barriers to inclusion of children with disabilities in the Indian sub-continent, estimated at 4% of the population, or 40-50 million children, and implications of the systemic failure within a human rights framework. The book concludes with setting this initiative in a broader context of inclusive education development efforts, and identifies lessons it provides for a global development agenda for inclusive education, including the importance of ensuring strategies that are culturally appropriate and context-specific.