This book is about student success and how to support and improve it. It takes as its point of departure that we--as faculty, assessment directors, student affairs professionals, and staff--reflect together in a purposeful and informed way about how our teaching, curricula, the co-curriculum, and assessment work in concert to support and improve student learning and success. It also requires that we do so in collaboration with our colleagues and our students for the rich insights that we gain from them. Conversational in style, this book offers a wide variety of illustrations of how your peers are putting assessment into practice in ways that are meaningful to them and their institutions, and that lead to improved student learning. The authors provide rich guidance for activities ranging from everyday classroom teaching and assessment to using assessment to improve programs and entire institutions. The authors envisage individual faculty at four-year institutions and community colleges as their main audience, whether those faculty are focused on their own classes or support their colleagues through leadership roles in assessment. If you plan to remain focused on your own courses and students, you will find that those sections of this book will help you better understand why and how assessment leaders do what they do, which in turn will make your participation in assessment more engaging and increase your expertise in facilitating student learning. Because the authors also aim to strengthen connections between the curriculum and co-curriculum and include examples of co-curricular assessment, student affairs professionals and staff interested in doing the same will also find ideas in this book relevant to their work. Opening with a chapter on equity in assessment practice, so critical to learning from and benefitting our diverse students, the authors guide you through the development and use of learning outcomes, the design of assignments with attention to clear prompts and rubrics, and the achievement of alignment and coherence in pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment to better support student engagement, achievement and success. The chapter on using student evidence for improvement offers support, resources, and recommendations for doing so, and demonstrates exciting uses of student wisdom. The book concludes by emphasizing the importance of reflection in assessment practices--offering powerful examples and strategies for professional development--and by describing appropriate, creative, and effective approaches for communicating assessment information with attention to purpose and audience.

This book is about student success and how to support and improve it. It takes as its point of departure that we--as faculty, assessment directors, student affairs professionals, and staff--reflect together in a purposeful and informed way about how our teaching, curricula, the co-curriculum, and assessment work in concert to support and improve student learning and success. It also requires that we do so in collaboration with our colleagues and our students for the rich insights that we gain from them. Conversational in style, this book offers a wide variety of illustrations of how your peers are putting assessment into practice in ways that are meaningful to them and their institutions, and that lead to improved student learning. The authors provide rich guidance for activities ranging from everyday classroom teaching and assessment to using assessment to improve programs and entire institutions. The authors envisage individual faculty at four-year institutions and community colleges as their main audience, whether those faculty are focused on their own classes or support their colleagues through leadership roles in assessment. If you plan to remain focused on your own courses and students, you will find that those sections of this book will help you better understand why and how assessment leaders do what they do, which in turn will make your participation in assessment more engaging and increase your expertise in facilitating student learning. Because the authors also aim to strengthen connections between the curriculum and co-curriculum and include examples of co-curricular assessment, student affairs professionals and staff interested in doing the same will also find ideas in this book relevant to their work. Opening with a chapter on equity in assessment practice, so critical to learning from and benefitting our diverse students, the authors guide you through the development and use of learning outcomes, the design of assignments with attention to clear prompts and rubrics, and the achievement of alignment and coherence in pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment to better support student engagement, achievement and success. The chapter on using student evidence for improvement offers support, resources, and recommendations for doing so, and demonstrates exciting uses of student wisdom. The book concludes by emphasizing the importance of reflection in assessment practices--offering powerful examples and strategies for professional development--and by describing appropriate, creative, and effective approaches for communicating assessment information with attention to purpose and audience.

In PRIMED for Character Education, renowned character educator Marvin W Berkowitz boils down decades of research on evidence-based practices and thought-provoking field experience into a clear set of principles that leaders, administrators, and teacher-leaders can implement to help students thrive. The author's original six-component framework offers a comprehensive guide to shaping purposeful learning environments, healthy relationships, core values and virtues, role models, empowerment, and long-term development in any PreK-12 school or district. This engaging and heartfelt book features tips for practice, anecdotes from award-winning schools, and straightforward tenets from moral education, social-emotional learning, and positive psychology.

The volume aims at analysing the migration processes of families from Greece following the financial crisis from 2009 onwards. It investigates whether and to what extent this 'new' and international migration represents a new phenomenon when compared to the so-called migration of guest-workers during the sixties.

This is a book about educational leadership. It tells the stories of 7 educational leaders who made the difficult decision to change their school to public charter school status. Several of the stories are told by those leaders themselves. Their journeys span over 25 years in many cases. The authors also conducted follow-up interviews, dialogues, and investigations to investigate the keys to their sustained success over time. These leaders all possessed an unwavering commitment to their school communities and maintained unusual dedication to their stakeholders.

Improving Schools with Blended Learning is specifically designed to address the important issues needed to successfully modernise education within the context of technological change. It does this by first providing a clear roadmap for designing Blended Learning environments able to respond to the technological imperatives challenging schools at present, and then illustrating this roadmap via specific, original research that details the 'how to' aspects of a successful technology-based design process. School leaders, teachers, teacher education students and researchers will all find highly relevant information about how to manage for disruption in the new and informative approach to Blended Learning (BL) they will discover in this book.

This book arose from two different research projects the authors have been pursuing over the last 3–5 years, including school improvement research and Blended Learning research designed to investigate the role of technology in effective teaching and learning. By combining the insights gained from these two different research areas, this book is able to present a novel understanding of BL that is both insightful and clearly evidence-based.

Improving Schools with Blended Learning also provides several original contributions to specific knowledge in the areas of BL and school improvement that most educators will find highly useful, including the use of BL schemas, a clear and extended BL continuum, how to measure and evaluate the success of BL, how to scaffold teacher ICT knowledge and skills, and a specific process for contextualising applied BL in relation to the ‘disruption’ imperatives of the Knowledge Economy.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Education and schooling in the digital age. Chapter 2: The case for education reform. Chapter 3: Educational disruption: Why all the fuss about Blended Learning? Chapter 4: What does the research evidence say about effective schools? Chapter 5: Exploring the key role played by school leaders in relation to educational change Chapter 6: What does the research evidence say about Blended Learning? Chapter 7: A Vision for the future of schooling: Positioning Blended Learning in relation to School Improvement. Chapter 8: Using embedded Blended Learning to create the outstanding school. Chapter 9: Taking stock of Blended Learning as a school-based reform journey

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

This book explores the position of Muslim schools in contemporary Britain. A Critical Race Theory approach is used to consider some of the specific issues faced by Muslim schools, in particular those looking to become state-funded. The book provides a critically considered and meaningful application of a theory of 'race' to Muslims as a religious community, without restricting the analysis to minority ethnic Muslim groups; it also provides a counter-narrative which contests assumptions about Muslim schools presented in the media and in public debates more generally. These insights are positioned against current political climates within which Muslims have been consistently subjected to surveillance and suspicion. The book draws on first-hand research carried out inside Muslim schools to offer insights into the ways that these schools cater to diverse and locally-specific needs. It concludes by arguing that independent Islamic schools represent ideal models of community need. Therefore, bringing such schools into the state sector, in a way that allows them to retain autonomy, represents an ideal strategy for the educational and political enfranchisement of British Muslims. Muslim schooling represents an opportunity for increased state investment in Muslim interests as a strategy for offsetting the ways in which Muslim communities have been marginalised more generally in contemporary political climates. The book will make compelling reading for students and researchers in the fields of Education, Sociology, and Religious Studies, particularly those with an interest in faith schools, Islam, and Critical Race Theory.

The second edition of Leadership for Increasingly Diverse Schools helps both practicing and aspiring school leaders deepen their knowledge, skills, and dispositions to create schools that best serve all students. This book helps readers sharpen their awareness of how students’ multiple dimensions of diversity intersect, as well as develop strategies for working with students of all socioeconomic statuses, races, religions, sexual orientations, languages, and special needs. Leadership for Increasingly Diverse Schools provides school leaders with the theory, research, and practical guidance to foster teaching and learning environments that promote educational equity and excellence for all students.

Special features:

Each chapter focuses on a specific dimension of diversity and discusses intersectionality across other areas of difference, including ability/disability, linguistic diversity, race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender, religion, and social frontiers.

Chapters synthesize literature, share practical strategies and tools, include school-level and district-level cases illustrating inclusive leadership, and provide extended learning opportunities.

Online eResources features additional resources, documents, and links to specific tools described in the chapters, accessible at www.routledge.com/9780367404604.

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION - INTERSECTIONALITY IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP 2. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP AND DISABILITY 3. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP AND POVERTY 4. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP AND RACE 5. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP AND MULTILINGUAL LEARNERS 6. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP AND LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDERED, AND QUESTIONING STUDENTS 7. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP AND GENDER 8. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP AND RELIGION 9. INCLUSIVE LEADERSHIP ON THE SOCIAL FRONTIERS: FAMILY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 10. THE EQUITY AUDIT AS THE CORE OF LEADING INCREASINGLY DIVERSE SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS

The study of place has recently gained prominence in new work by sociologists and criminologists. Neighborhoods, Schools, and Violence furthers this evolution of the merger of social disorganization theories and opportunity theories in explaining the crime potential of place. Specifically looking at data from Prince George's County, Maryland, author Caterina Roman cogently utilizes the criminal opportunity framework to examine the influence of schools on neighborhood variations in the rates of violence. Roman's research seeks to answer, What are the contributions of routine activity and social disorganization to block-level violence?, and How does the presence of schools change the relationship between opportunity and violence? Criminologist, sociologists, and any one interested in temporal and spatial aspects of crime opportunity, will find this volume an invaluable tool.

Restorative circles are an effective way of implementing restorative justice, through starting a conversation wider than just the victim and the offender. Proven to be an effective way of healing and building relationships, tackling bullying within schools and providing a sense of community, this book gives everything needed for a school to start implementing restorative circles. Accompanied by illustrations, interviews and case studies to show how to start using restorative circles, this practical guide is the perfect introduction for schools looking to improve their methods of conflict resolution.

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.

"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.

The authors of this volume examine theory and practice regarding past and present roles of Jewish, Christian and Islamic religious education in nurturing tolerance, interpreted as mutual respect for and recognition of other groups, in Eastern (Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro and Romania) and Western (Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia and Spain) Europe, Israel, Nigeria and Uzbekistan. They also explore potential roles of religion and exclusivism in fostering (Islamic state, NGOs, etc.), but also averting (Islamic legal theory, authority, Sufism, etc.) radicalization, and of secular states in allowing, but also banning minority religious education in public schools.With contributions from Friedrich Schweitzer, Martin Rothgangel, Gerhard Langer, Daniela Stan, Arto Kallioniemi, Juan Ferreiro Galguera, Maria Chiara Giorda, Rossana M. Salerno, Viorica Goras-Postica, Constantin Iulian Damian, Valentin Ilie, Dzintra Ilisko, Ayman Agbaria, Zilola Khalilova, Raid al-Daghistani, Osman Tastan, Moshe Ma'oz, Adriana Cupcea, Muhamed Ali, Rudiger Lohlker and Dele Ashiru. The Editors Ednan Aslan is the Chair of Islamic Theological studies at the University of Vienna where he is a Professor for Islamic Education. Margaret Rausch is scholar, researcher and university instructor in the field of Islamic and Religious Studies.

Originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, this expanded text provides new insights into the successful, sustained implementation of Full-Service Community Schools (FSCSs) in the United States. Reviewing the Success of Full-Service Community Schools in the US documents the experiences of students, teachers, and communities involved in the establishment and growth of FSCSs. By considering how successful this reform strategy has been in meeting the needs of underserved communities, the text illustrates the potential these schools have to transform students' learning and outcomes. In particular, the studies illustrate the value these schools have in supporting low-income students and students of color. At the same time, by interrogating the defining pillars of FSCSs - expanded learning opportunities, integrated services, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership - chapters identify challenges that if left unattended, could limit the transformative potential of this reform strategy. This groundbreaking text will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academics, professionals, and policy makers in the fields of Educational Change and School Reform, Multicultural Education, Sociology of Education, Education Policy, and School Management and Administration.

The pivotal role of the school leader as a factor in effective schools has been corroborated by findings of school effectiveness research over the last decades. School improvement researchers have also demonstrated increasing recognition of the importance of school leaders for all stages of the school improvement process. The school leader is most often cited as the key figure in the individual school's development, either blocking or promoting change, acting as the internal change agent, overseeing the processes of growth and renewal. In view of these ever-increasing responsibilities of school leaders for ensuring and enhancing the quality of schools, school leadership has recently become one of the central concerns of educational policy makers. Moreover, in most countries, the tasks and structures of schools and of the education system are changing. These change processes strongly influence the leadership of schools.

The chapters of the book vividly reflect the ideas and experiences regarding current issues and trends in school leadership and leadership development from both perspectives, research and practice. They comprise insights from recent research findings and their consequences for the leadership of schools. They look at the growing importance placed on activities to "professionalize" school leaders, among them: training and development programs and selection procedures. They also examine the professional standing and the level of decision-making authority that school leaders in various countries have.

This book presents a range of perspectives on the current state of Catholic education in the opening decades of the twenty-first century. All of the chapters have their origin in an International Conference on Catholic Education, held at Heythrop College (University of London) in September 2016. The book brings together many leading scholars to present a survey of the latest research on Catholic education in areas such as the aims of Catholic education, Catholic schools and Catholic identity, leadership issues in Catholic schools and fresh thinking about the place of Religious Education (RE) in Catholic Education. This book demonstrates how the field of Catholic Education Studies has firmly come of age. Rather than being a subfield of educational or theological discourse, it is now an established field of research and study. As such, the book invites readers to engage with much of the new thinking on Catholic education that has grown rapidly in recent years. It offers a broad range of contemporary perspectives on research in Catholic Education and rich insights into current thinking about Catholic Education.

Educators are always in search of approaches that promote student development and academic achievement. Engaging learners in purposeful instruction in skills and strategies is a cornerstone in every classroom. The gradual release of responsibility (GRR) model requires the responsibility of learning to shift from being teacher-centric towards students gradually assuming responsibility as independent learners. In the last 35 years, the gradual release of responsibility model of instruction has become synonymous with some of the most effective approaches to teach both skills and content to students of all ages. Evidence-based practices have been documented across the globe not only in literacy but also in most disciplines across the curriculum. While the GRR model is a well-established theory, its implementations have not been researched. This edited volume discusses how the GRR model evolved and has been applied, how it benefits learners and teachers, and how it can be utilised for years to come. By looking not only at the gradual release of responsibility model from a theoretical standpoint but also the research and practice of this approach, this book will prove invaluable for educational leaders and researchers alike.

Shimamura's MARGE model, described as a 'Whole-Brain Learning Approach for Students and Teachers', builds links between the areas of neuroscience, cognitive science and the practice of classroom teachers. Through discussing key ideas within the learning process - Motivate, Attend, Relate, Generate and Evaluate - Shimamura's MARGE is a valuable lens through which we can discuss learning. This book aims to bring the MARGE model to life through the use of case studies written by practising teachers, and examples taken from classrooms across a range of phases. Through taking each of the principles of MARGE in turn, this practical guide helps all teachers better understand how they can develop their practice and improve the impact they have with the students they teach.

This book applies philosophical and critical textual scholarship to the traditional Islamic narrative in an attempt to distinguish between its historical and interpretive elements. It allows the narrative to be preserved with due respect for its significance and distinctiveness, but in a way that frees it from the ease with which it can slip into the hands of literalists and fundamentalists in order to serve a purpose which is at odds with its original spirit and intention. When radical Islamists use social media to try and convert young followers to a Jihadist cause, they refer often to the narrative about the Prophet, the original Islamic community (Ummah), and the holy book (Qur'an). The references usually imply that these are under threat by infidels, either non-Muslim Westerners or Muslims themselves who follow allegedly errant forms of Islam. The narrative itself is, however, never questioned; it is taken as merely factual with every word to be taken literally, including words that appear intolerant of difference and given to violence. As such, it can serve well the forms of fundamentalism that lie at the heart of radical Islamism and Jihadism. Because of a shortage of critical scholarship about Islam's central narrative, the radical Islamist understanding of it differs too little from that of mainstream Muslims. Neither tends to take sufficient account of the context of the writing, its original purpose or the many interpretive elements that have been overlain. This makes it difficult for mainstream Islamic authorities to counter effectively the radical Islamist discourse or to distinguish moderate and liberal forms of religious practice from radical breakaway forms. In turn, this causes confusion among Muslims, who know the radical Islamists are in error but find it hard to say just why, and even greater confusion and angst among non-Muslims, for whom the allegation that all of Islam is inherently violent and to be feared is clearly being heard by an increasing number. This book sets out to address this problem by applying forms of scholarship that can preserve the best of the Islamic narrative while, at the same time, illustrating just how errant is the radical Islamist understanding of it.

Gerry Brooks is an elementary school principal turned YouTube celebrity, and the creator of YouTube videos such as "First Week of School Stress" (over 1.6 million views and counting). He tells jokes with the kind of mocking--yet folksy and good-natured--humor that gets a laugh from teachers and administrators (yet can be safely shared in school). Served up with a dash of humor and a healthy dose of wisdom, Go See the Principal expands on the author's viral video fame and offers comic relief and inspiration to educators. Ranging from practical topics like social media use in the classroom to parent-teacher conferences to more humorous sections such as "Ways to Spot a Teacher in Public" and "Gift Ideas for Your Teacher's Birthday," Go See the Principal is both the comic relief and practical advice all educators need. Brooks also shares suggestions, ideas, and declarations commonly heard in and around the classroom--as well as illustrations, both from students and inspired by them.

In 1991 Allan Collins, John Seely Brown and Ann Holum published 'Cognitive Apprenticeship: Making Thinking Visible'. Nearly a quarter of a century later John Tomsett encountered their paper and since then, it has influenced his teaching immeasurably. Collins et al. believed that 'domain (subject) knowledge ... provides insufficient clues for many students about how to actually go about solving problems and carrying out tasks in a domain'. They believed that you had to make expert subject thinking visible to students. Consequently, Tomsett developed a number of techniques which made his expert subject thinking visible to his students, to great effect. Beyond his own practice, the principles behind Collins et al's paper have been woven throughout Huntington School in York, where Tomsett is headteacher, a research school whose teachers are committed to developing evidence-informed classroom practice. In this book, a number of Huntington School teachers discuss, in a series of brief essays, what they consider to be the expert thought processes specific to their individual subject domains. They explain in detail how they use cognitive apprenticeship techniques 'in action' to make their disciplinary thinking visible and help their students learn those same expert thought processes. This book is a priceless contribution to the current debate about the curriculum and how it is taught in our schools.

This book marks ten years of language test development and language testing research in Austria. Part I describes the development of large-scale tests at all levels of the educational system. The documentation covers German as the language of instruction for the majority of pupils, the so-called modern foreign languages English, French, Italian and Spanish, as well as the classical languages Latin and Ancient Greek. Part II brings together a considerable body of research which has been conducted in the course and the wake of the development and implementation of the new assessment philosophy during the past ten years. The studies are accommodated in a framework of test validation, which could serve as orientation for future research in language testing in Austria. Das Buch blickt auf zehn Jahre professioneller Testentwicklung und Sprachtestforschung in OEsterreich zuruck. Teil I beschreibt die Entwicklung von Testsystemen auf allen Ebenen des Bildungssystems. Die Dokumentation umfasst Deutsch, das fur die grosse Mehrheit Unterrichtssprache ist, die sogenannten modernen Fremdsprachen Englisch, Franzoesisch, Italienisch und Spanisch sowie die klassischen Sprachen Latein und Altgriechisch. Teil II umfasst eine beachtliche Anzahl von Untersuchungen, die wahrend und nach der Entwicklung und Implementierung der neuen Prufungsphilosophie in den letzten zehn Jahren durchgefuhrt wurden. Die Untersuchungen werden in ein Validierungskonzept eingeordnet, das als Orientierung fur zukunftige Sprachtestforschung in OEsterreich dienen koennte.