This monograph offers insights into what actually works in developing school-community connections. Topics include: school-linked service programmes; school-business partnerships; and schools and communities working together to implement youth behavioural health programmes.

Between 2002 and 2016, the federal government, state governments, and school districts undertook unprecedented measures to improve the lowest-performing schools. This book draws on dozens of actual examples to illustrate the wide range of interventions adopted over this time period. Among the initiatives examined in depth are efforts by states to provide technical assistance to schools and districts, offer students educational choices, engage communities in school improvement, take over low-performing schools and districts, create special state-run school districts, and close failing schools. Also discussed are district-initiated measures, including programs to standardize instruction, innovative approaches to raising student achievement, and restructuring of district operations. The book concludes with an assessment of 15 years of turnaround initiatives and recommendations based on lessons learned over this time period.

Still Failing: The Continuing Paradox of School Desegregation is a significantly updated and revised version of Caldas and Bankston's previous book Forced to Fail: The Paradox of School Desegregation. The book includes an analysis of the most significant Supreme Court cases that have been decided in the ten years since the first edition of the book appeared. The authors consider the important implications of these recent rulings for the future of school desegregation in America's schools. Social capital theory is used to explain why schools and communities continue to be segregated along racial and ethnic lines. Still Failing also provides the most recent U.S. census and Department of Education statistics documenting the continuing segregation of American schools and districts. The book also continues to track the persistent racial achievement gap, using the newest ACT, SAT, and NAEP testing figures. Finally, the book considers what present segregation trends portend for future efforts to racially and ethnically integrate schools, and close achievement gaps. Additional key features of this book include: *Historical antecedents showing how and why American schooling became racially segregated *Social capital theory to explain school and community segregation *The legal history of all important supreme court cases, congressional laws and presidential executive orders related to school segregation and desegregation *Easy-to-read and interpret graphs and figures *The most up-to-date school population and census information

This book reports on innovative interdisciplinary research in the field of cultural studies. The study spans the early twentieth to twenty-first centuries and fills a gap in our understanding of how girls' and women's religious identity is shaped by maternal and institutional relations. The unique research focuses on the stories of thirteen groups of Australian mothers and daughters, including the maternal genealogy of the editor of the book. Extended conversations conducted twenty years apart provide a situated approach to locating the everyday practices of women, while the oral storytelling presents a rich portrayal of how these girls and women view themselves and their relationship as mothers and daughters. The book introduces the key themes of education, work and life transitions as they intersect with generational change and continuity, gender and religion, and the non-linear transitional stories are told across the life-course examining how Catholic pasts shaped, and continue to shape, the participants' lives. Adopting a multi-methodological approach to research drawing on photographs, memorabilia passed among mothers and daughters, journal entries and letters, it describes how women's lives are lived in different spaces and negotiated through diverse material and symbolic dimensions.

As the role of the school library media specialist continues to evolve, and dependence on technology increases, collection development for the school library media center becomes increasingly complex. "Collection Development for a New Century in the School Library Media Center" provides an overview of the issues and problems along with strategies for solutions. A complete list of collection development resources will aid the library school student, new librarian, and experienced librarian alike in building a collection that best meets the needs of their school in the 21st century.

Beginning with a discussion of collection development as both art and science, the author demonstrates how a collection should reflect the culture of the community that it serves. He advises school library media specialists on creating collection development policies, particularly with regard to protecting the collection from censorship, and presents strategies for balancing print and nonprint resources. He concludes with an individual examination of each of the major aspects of the collection (fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and biography), with suggestions for developing each. School library media specialists, using the principles outlined here, will be empowered in assisting both teachers and students with quality resources to support the school curricula.

This international edited volume is a rare look at cultural, economic and political forces that contribute to school violence. In light of the devastating events in US schools and the violence towards students and schools world-wide, the war on knowledge development in non/secular education is increasing at an alarming rate. This book offers an international perspective on violence from both K-12 to tertiary levels, parents, administrators-teachers-support staff and research scholars in a desire to understand the contextual issues surrounding violence and its impacts on the field of education. ELWB Scholars and practitioners hail from six continents propose historical to futuristic perspectives linking violence towards education and its inhabitants while framing future strategies to alter multinational fear mongering to the decline of knowledge generation for an informed citizenry.

This book captures the experiences of children in U.S. public schools and how they utilize artmaking to disrupt injustices they face. These first-time authors, who represent school children, parents, teachers, and community leaders, focus on artmaking for social change. Their first-tellings provide thought-provoking insights regarding the impact of artmaking on their capacity to promote social justice-oriented work in K-12 school communities. As the U.S. continues to experience significant demographic shifts, including increases of homeless children, children identified with learning differences, thousands of refugees and immigrants, children living in poverty, children in foster care, and increasing numbers of Children of Color, those who work in schools will need to know how to address disparities facing these underserved communities. These U.S. demographic shifts and issues facing underserved populations provide opportunities for children, teachers, families, and school leaders to deepen their understanding regarding their experiences within their communities and K-12 schools as well as ways to interrupt oppressive practices and policies they face every day through art as social action. Authors call upon decision-makers who serve children from disenfranchised populations to utilize artmaking to create equal access for children to explore social justice, equity, reflective practices, and promote authentic social action and change through artmaking. Authors reflect on this artmaking process as a catalyst for increasing consciousness, creating imaginative possibilities, and facilitating meaningful change in schools. Authors urge readers to create equal access art spaces to build bridges among schools, families, and communities. Together, they contend that artmaking promotes courageous conversations and encourages the exploration of what it means to live this significant work.

This book tells stories of life in a ""failing"" school. These are insider stories of the daily lives of children and educators in an urban school during a time when accountability weighs heavy on both teachers and students. Most educators are in favor of accountability. The kind and amount of testing associated with the current accountability movement, however, influence teachers' and students' lives in a way not often apparent to parents and politicians.

A volume in Educational Leadership for Social Justice Series Editor Jeffrey S. Brooks, University of Idaho, Denise E. Armstrong, Brock University; Ira Bogotch, Florida Atlantic University; Sandra Harris, Lamar University; Whitney H. Sherman, Virginia Commonwealth University; George Theoharis, Syracuse University While social identity challenges probably confront all school administrators, the authors focus on a doubly marginalized leadership population-Black female principals-whose experiences are rarely tapped. Based on lessons from this study and the literature reviewed, the authors think that leadership preparation programs should give prospective administrators opportunities to gain knowledge and develop skills relevant to navigating their leadership identities. In the age of accountability, and with the pressures placed on the education system to ensure the success of all students, school leaders are under constant scrutiny. The appearance, speech, body language, and interactions of principals with students, parents, teachers, and community members are dissected. Stretching to satisfy expectations, many principals find themselves trying to conform to a predefined image. Work pressures like these prove immeasurably intense for many Black women. Society has subscribed to certain beliefs about different groups, and these beliefs affect the roles, responsibilities, and identities of the individuals. They can have a positive or negative influence. Many principals have created professional identities that they have fine-tuned and learned to steer. Trial and error has helped them learn identity-fitting techniques, while other principals may still be learning how to effectively manage people, address supporters and nonsupporters, and be politically savvy. Regardless of how they develop their identity, principals work toward inventing and branding themselves, fulfilling public identities (e.g., caregiver) and trying out new identities, such as commander-and-chief. Black female principals must navigate their identities as bicultural beings with different stakeholder groups and within work spaces that are traditionally geared to monocultural White males.

This monograph celebrates the 50th anniversary of Michael Young's iconic book "The Rise of the Meritocracy" by analysing the ideas behind meritocracy, citizenship and education and offering an extension to Young's initial findings.Young's iconic book "The Rise of the Meritocracy", not only coined the word meritocracy but contained a prescient warning about the dangers of pursuing the vision of a meritocratic society.This fascinating book takes this anniversary as its starting point for an analysis and critique of meritocracy, citizenship and education. Part I begins with two substantial chapters - the first discussing Young's book and its influence, and the second the revival of support for meritocracy under New Labour in the UK, with particular reference to its implications for education; the third chapter then examines and critiques the ways New Labour has interpreted the idea of active citizenship.Part II examines issues of continuity and change in New Labour policy on schools, the curriculum, and the professions (especially but not only the teaching profession).Issues raised in Part I are revisited in Part III, which is devoted to an analysis of policy responses to the problems of multiculturalism and their relation to immigration policy and ideas of a common civic culture in both Britain and overseas. In all the sections, the aim is to go beyond exposition to develop a sustained critique, particularly of New Labour's over-centralizing tendencies and the associated erosion of local and institutional democracy.

The history of American education is a vital and productive field of study. This reference book provides factual information about eminent people and important topics related to the development of American public, private, and parochial schools, covering elementary and secondary levels. In addition to major state and regional leaders and reformers, it includes biographies of significant national educators, philosophers, psychologists, and writers. Subjects embrace important ideas, events, institutions, agencies, and pedagogical trends that profoundly shaped American policies and perceptions regarding education. The more than 350 entries are arranged alphabetically and written by expert contributors. Each entry closes with a brief bibliography, and the volume ends with a list of works for further reading.

Entries were drawn from a review of leading history of education textbooks and the "History of Education Quarterly." These topics were further refined by comments from leading authorities and the contributors. Most of the contributors are established scholars in the history of education, curriculum and instruction, school law, educational administration, and American history; a few also work as public and private school teachers and thus bring their practical experience to their entries. The period covered begins in the colonial period and continues through the 1990s.

As American educational reformers continue to find innovative ways to address the global achievement gap, many experts seem to agree that increasing instructional time is a viable option. In addition to extending the school day, some educational leaders have looked to modifying the traditional academic calendar to address some of the academic losses that occur when students have 8-10 weeks of summer vacation each year. Re-examining how students spend their summer vacation, although considered by many to be a cultural taboo, may be the answer to addressing global competition and decreasing the national achievement gap. The need for a two month break from schools harkens back to a pre-industrial time that no longer is pertinent for our students. Although an answer may be staring us in the face, are we willing to give up on the American tradition of summer vacation all in the name of reform and student success?

This provocative and accessible text is addressed to prospective and practicing teachers who believe schools must be fundamentally reformed to meet student needs in an information age. Drawing on interviews with frontline educators, the authors integrate descriptive accounts of learning and teaching in schools today with emerging multicultural curricula, information technologies, organizational structures that support innovations, and democratic dialogue. Jones and Maloy offer analytic perspectives for rethinking the social, historical, and philosophical foundations of education along with strategies for teacher renewal and organizational change.

Adopting a constructivist-developmental approach to learning, the authors identify endemic dilemmas that increasingly handicap industrial-era schools. A stagnant economy heightens tensions due to class, race, and gender inequities. Hierarchically structured corporations and representative politics perpetuate business domination. Computers offer possibilities for more open communication, flexible organizations, and democratic discourse. Alternative visions of the future that engage students can renew cooperation, collaboration, and community in schools and society.

We all share responsibility for vitalizing American education. As Myles Friedman makes clear, many of the changes needed are beyond the ability of educators to implement alone. They need supportive coalitions among government, community, and business leaders and agencies to force change. The purpose of the book is to present a prescription for interesting students in school so that they will want to attend and learn; developing law-abiding, productive citizens who are able to keep our nation at the forefront through innovation; and enabling students to find personal satisfaction while making social contributions. The emphasis is on changing what and how students are taught, rather than on changing the organization or politics of education. Friedman asserts that it is the instruction students receive in the classroom that determines their potential much more than the structure of the educational system or the politics that govern it. We all share responsibility for vitalizing American education. As Myles Friedman makes clear, many of the changes needed are beyond the ability of educators to implement alone. They need supportive coalitions among government, community, and business leaders and agencies to force change. The purpose of this book is to present a prescription for interesting students in school so that they will want to attend and learn; developing law-abiding, productive citizens who are able to keep our nation at the forefront through innovation; and enabling students to find personal satisfaction while making social contributions. The emphasis is on changing what and how students are taught, rather than on changing the organization or politics of education. Friedman asserts that it is the instruction students receive in the class that determines their potential much more than the structure of the educational system or the politics that govern the system. Teaching students how to control outcomes is the thesis that permeates the book. People must learn to control outcomes if they are to benefit themselves or society. They must be able to control outcomes well enough to take care of themselves, become gainfully employed, and to get what they want from life--whatever that may be. This important book is for professionals, academic, and community leaders responsible for improving education.

The school library media center is a relatively recent phenomenon. Its development throughout the 20th century has not always been predictable or peaceful, but neither has it been static or dull. Through personal and objective perspectives, this book relates the often turbulent history of the school library movement to times of rapid change. The authors address the mission of the school library program and how its realization has been shaped by professional organizations, standards and guidelines, accreditation associations, the education of library media specialists, collection development, evaluation, instruction, research, and technology applications. The relationship of the program to educational paradigms and to local, national, and international partnerships is also discussed. Students and instructors in school library media programs will find this work essential, and practicing library media specialists will find it a fascinating professional read.

This work looks at managing school system change. It covers such topics as: challenges to leading and managing school and school system change; key roles and competencies for administrators; stakeholder theory analysis; understanding school culture change; and more.

Education is a profession in which billions of federal dollars have been spent to reduce academic underachievement--particularly for minority children from poverty homes. Few funded programs have reduced failure on standardized achievement tests. Despite either repetition or innovation, most children who fail do not perform substantially better the next time around. On the other hand, practitioners who have used the Dunn and Dunn learning-styles approaches have reported statistically higher standardized achievement test scores among average, poorly achieving, and special education students.

This book is based on the practical, diverse experiences of more than thirty different supervisors throughout the United States. Representing a variety of urban and suburban locations with diverse student populations, each supervisor was able to obtain significantly higher standardized achievement test scores for his or her student populations.

This practical, hands-on guide will assist the school library media specialist in planning, funding, implementing, and promoting special events programs in the school. Trotta provides a readable text filled with program ideas, planning documents, and tips for successful programs. She shows how to incorporate special events programs into a yearly curriculum plan, where to locate speakers and performers, how to budget and build support for special programs, and how to develop partnerships with school and community members that will ensure the success of the program. Reproducible forms and guidelines will make it easy for the school library media specialist to plan for and implement special event programming. Trotta systematically takes the library media specialist through the process from the idea stage to the evaluation process. The work features chapters on developing special events programs relevant to the curricula, developing partnerships to support these programs, raising community support and awareness of the media center and its programs, personnel training and strategies, developing promotional materials, keys to making programs successful, and how to do programs on a shoestring. An extensive list of resources for all kinds of programs completes the work.

Research has consistently documented the failure of schools to reach students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. One reason suggested for this failure is teachers' lack of understanding and appreciation for students' home backgrounds, while most teachers are eager to becvome informed and supportive of their diverse students many have lacked the opportunity to develop the knowedge and skills appropriate to working with such students. Ethnic Diversity examines how migration and settlement patterns have varied for these populations throughout U.S. history, documenting what researchers have learned about Latino, Native American, African American, urban Appalachian, and Asian American families, neighborhoods, and communities as these relate to children's learning through case studies (in the form of vignettes) and suggests how schools, communites, and universities can address the needs of culturally diverse students and their families.

An authoritative reference on one of education's hottest topics, describing how the latest testing and assessment tools can be used to help improve student performance. In this comprehensive review of the wealth of techniques by which students can be assessed, Valerie J. Janesick points out that the politics of schooling often gets in the way of student progress. "High-stakes" standardized testing is frequently based on poorly constructed, unfair tests that encourage "teaching to the test," which actually impedes educational goals. Authentic testing relies more on essays and writing samples, performances, demonstrations, and role-plays. Although it is fairer and provides a measure of student growth and progress, it requires more effort by teachers, who also require extra training. Besides discussing authentic assessment in detail, The Assessment Debate includes a chronology, an annotated directory of organizations supporting performance assessment, a list of state coordinators for testing reform, and state-by-state report cards. A historical chronology from pioneering efforts in the testing movement in the 1880s through the drive toward standardized testing in 2001 A comprehensive annotated bibliography on assessment, including print resources, videotapes, websites, and organizations supporting performance assessment