In this book, the contributors challenge dominant discourses and practices in the fields of early childhood and middle grades education that are based on the last century's grand developmental theories. The contributors to this book examine the notion of development in their own work by employing various alternative frameworks, including Bakhtinian ideas, Buddhism, cultural psychology, and post-structuralism. Exploring issues related to developmentalism within and across the fields, the contributors invite the reader to participate in the cross-field dialogue which provides new language and perspectives for the education of young children, young adolescents, and teachers in both fields.

This important new book assembles internationally prominent school-of-education faculty and researchers to provide valuable perspectives on the school reform or excellence movement. "From the CampuS" addresses timely issues in education in a scholarly yet easy-to-read style. The contributors represent a wide variety of disciplines including comparative and international education, history, sociology, political science, curriculum theory, testing and evaluation, school administration, special education and more. They confront the most controversial issues in education of our time; equity and excellence, at-risk children, the education of language-minority students, the governance of education, parental choice, and the importance of home, family, and elementary and preschool education.

This book broadens the scope of the debate over school reform to include concerns that the current enthusiasm for excellence will erode earlier gains for equality, and that the reform movement is not paying enough attention to at-risk and disadvantaged children. The contributors examine the need for radical restructuring of schools in order to combine excellence with equality. "From the CampuS" offers insight, values, and pedagogical expertise from education scholars enabling the reader to be well-informed in the school reform debate. Parents, school board members, policy makers, school administrators, teachers, and education students will find "From the CampuS" a source of stimulating ideas as well as a valuable resource.

Social epistemology is a broad set of approaches to the study of knowledge and to gain information about the social dimensions. This intellectual movement of wide cross-disciplinary sources reconstructs the problems of epistemology when knowledge is considered to be intrinsically social. In the first chapter, ""Social Epistemology and Social Learning,"" Olivia Saracho and Bernard Spodek discuss the social and historical contexts in which different forms of knowledge are formulated based on the perspective of social epistemology. They also discuss the emergence of social epistemology, which guides researchers to investigate social phenomena in laboratory and field settings. Social factors ""external"" to the appropriate business of science have a major impact in the social studies researchers'= historical case studies. Thus, social studies researchers may be considered social epistemologists, because (a) they focus on knowledge of social influences and (b) they infer epistemologically significant conclusions from their sociological or anthropological research.In addition, analyses indicate that studies of scientific paradigms are basically a struggle for political power rather than reflecting reliable epistemic merit. Social studies researchers focus on knowledge of social influences on knowledge, which is analogous to the knowledge of the social epistemologists. They also use their sociological or anthropological research to infer epistemologically significant conclusions.

Many parts of the world are experiencing rapid demographic restructuring, resulting in an ageing population with increasingly significant work and care pressures on cohorts less able or willing to provide support. This book examines some of the important trends that have underpinned reductions in fertility, including delayed child-bearing and increased childlessness. It demonstrates how relationships between partners have resulted in new living arrangements with changing attitudes from marriage to co-habitation as the social norm, and it considers the health and well-being for particular at risk groups such as the elderly and stepparents as well as aspects of mobility such as household migration and commuting to school.

The book brings together a series of studies that all involve quantitative analyses of secondary data from censuses, surveys or administrative records. The trends and patterns reported provide new and interesting insights into behaviour of the household and the roles of adults and children, and point to questions of critical importance for practitioners and policy makers.

Restorative Practice Meets Social Justice: Un-silencing the Voices of "At-Promise" Student Populations is a collection of pragmatic urban school experiences that focus on restorative approaches situated in the context of social justice. By adopting this approach, researchers and practitioners can connect and extend long-established lines of conceptual and empirical inquiry aimed at improving school practices and thereby gain insights that may otherwise be overlooked or assumed. This holds great promise for generating, refining, and testing theories of restorative practices in educational leadership and will help strengthen already vibrant lines of inquiry on social justice. The authors posit that a broader conceptualization of social and restorative justice adds to extant discourse about students who not only experience various types of daily oppression in US schools but also regularly live on the fringes of society. Chapters are written by a combination of researchers and practicing school leaders who believe in the power of healing and restoring relationships within school communities as opposed to traditional punitive structures. The dynamic approaches discussed throughout the book urge school leaders, teachers, school community members, and those who prepare administrators to look within and build bridges between themselves and the communities in which they serve.

Writing centers are places where writers work with each other in an effort to develop ideas, discover a thesis, overcome procrastination, create an outline, or revise a draft. Ultimately, writing centers help students become more effective writers. Visit any college or university in the United States and chances are there is a writing center available to students, staff, and community members. A Guide to Creating Student-Staffed Writing Centers, Grades 6-12 is a how-to and, ultimately, a why-to book for middle school and high school educators as well as for English/language arts teacher candidates and their methods instructors. Writing centers support students and their busy teachers while emphasizing and supporting writing across the curriculum.

During the 1980's and 1990's, Hollywood released a spate of films about schools. This text offers a study of the predominant messages about education and race that these 'school films' communicate. Films examined include The Graduate, Blackboard Jungle, The English Patient, Dead Poets Society, Pulp Fiction, Ghost, The Wizard of Oz, Top Gun and Forrest Gump, to name but a few.

This proposed book will be part of the new international series Educating the Young Child. It will focus on transitions that young children make to early care and education settings, along with the issues that surround this very important time in their lives. The theme is timely and important because children transitions are a universal rite of passage encountered by children worldwide. The diverse experiences, traits, and needs exhibited by young children provide early childhood educators with what may be a potentially challenging role. New experiences, such as the start of formal schooling, mark important and exciting events that also evoke different reactions from both parents and children.

With an international focus, the purpose of this book is to communicate an enlarged view of the currently constraining deficit-based American focus on readiness for the transition to formal school. By broadening this narrow view, the book will appreciate and honor the promise and potential of all children worldwide. The insights shared in this book have the potential to inform both practice and policy.

The book will provide a plethora of practices and strategies for promoting successful transitions for children in a variety of social and cultural contexts. As a resource for teacher education programs, along with in-service early childhood professionals, and university faculty, the book will also provide a theoretical and research background. This edited book will showcase the views of a variety of authors who have demonstrated experience in topics related to transitions in early childhood education. One of these noted authors is Nancy Balaban, who has published two significant works in this area.

As a former kindergarten teacher, I view the book as a resource that will assist educators to promote successful transitions for the students they serve. It has been my experience that student teachers who are placed in early childhood classrooms in the fall semester have an "edge" over those who student teach in the spring semester, due to the many practices that they observe as the transition process unfolds. For those who do not have the opportunity to prepare for teaching in this way, the book will help fill the gap between theory and practice and be a resource for teachers as they support their students transitions to new educational experiences.

To prepare an effectively organized book, a review of literature was conducted on the topic of transition to formal school. As the co-editor, I have also written on this subject and have researched international practices for promoting successful transitions. Authors who have previously published books and articles on this topic were researched and a tentative table of contents was developed based on previous work that was done in this area. The goal for the proposed book is to provide early childhood educators with a resource that is a compilation of research-based strategies and pertinent information that addresses issues related to the transition to formal school experiences, according to noted researchers who have already published in this area. Their expertise will be compiled into this book and address issues that include attachment and separation; meeting the needs of children with exceptionalities; children living in poverty; family relationships; and strategies for promoting successful transitions.

The targeted market for this book will benefit from the information contained in the book because of the universality of the transitions that children experience, yet the diverse needs that exist. When educators are familiar with current, research-based practices for addressing children s transition needs, their students and their families will ultimately benefit. It is essential that early childhood educators are aware of the practices that exist that can help with this very important milestone in their students lives."

This book provides a detailed account of an educational experiment in a middle school in Shanghai, China. The school, called Zhabei No. 8 Middle School (hereafter No. 8 School), is located in a run-down, lower working class district. Since the mid-1980s the school has experimented on an educational reform program called success education, aiming to help those at-risk students to be successful in school. This book illustrates how this educational experiment has been carried out and identified experiences that could be learned by the international educational community. The book analyzes the critical role played by Principal Liu Jinghai, and particular attention is paid to the strategies adopted by the school to help enhance students' self-esteem through integrating love and care throughout the school's curriculum and activities. The pivotal roles played by teachers called ""class directors"" are meticulously studied, and efforts the school has made to collaborate with parents and the local community are examined. An ethnographic approach was used to gather data in this study.A combination of interviews, participant-observation, and document analysis was applied to arrive at a systematic and complex understanding of this educational endeavor in China.

This book introduces a framework for examining bilingual identity and presents the cases of seven individual children from a study of young students' bilingual identities in an Australian primary school. The new Bilingual Identity Negotiation Framework brings together three elements that influence bilingual identity development - sociocultural connection, investment and interaction. The cases comprise individual stories about seven young, bilingual students and are complemented by some more general investigations of bilingual identity from a whole class of students at the school. The framework is explained and supported using the students' stories and offers readers a new concept for examining and thinking about bilingual identity. This book builds upon past and current theories of identity and bilingualism and expands on these to identify three interlinking elements within bilingual identity. The book highlights the need for greater dialogue between different sectors of research and education relating to languages and bilingualism. It adds to the increasing call for collaborative work from the different fields interested in language learning and teaching such as TESOL, bilingualism, and language education. Through the development of the framework and the students' stories in this study, this book shows how multilingual children in one school in Australia developed their identities in association with their home and school languages. This provides readers with a model for examining bilingual identity in their own contexts, or a theoretical construct to consider in their thinking on bilingualism, language and identity.

Some chapters focus on interventions for the child, and others on training for the parents and professionals. The combination of current information and evidence contained in these chapters includes an emphasis on the importance of supporting families with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and indicates how team support (including families as part of the team) is crucial for these children. Parents of children with special needs may have their own challenges and this may create an additional need for support and resources for the family and the professional. The dynamic interaction between provider or teacher, theoretical approaches and curriculum used, and the child's individual needs is what maximizes the impact of any intervention. The information is useful for early care and preschool teachers, early intervention providers, therapists, psychologists and administrators.

Teaching resources for middle school students for A Land Remembered Student Edition.

Creating your Earth-Friendly Early Chlidhood Program, Redleaf Quick Guide offers an approachable, efficient entry point for ECE educators who wish to instill ecofriendly values and practices in their programs. The guide will help educators evaluate their current environment and practices, get families and colleagues involved, and make both immediate and long-term changes to make their program "greener."

The 50 Fantastic Ideas series is packed full of fun, original, skills-based activities for Early Years practitioners to use with children aged 0-5. Each activity features step-by-step guidance, a list of resources, and a detailed explanation of the skills children will learn. Creative, simple, and highly effective, this series is a must-have for every Early Years setting. Circle time stimulates learning in all areas of development - from the improvement of social skills and positive relationships to encouraging children to listen to each other within a caring and respectful environment. Judith Harries brings together creative ideas for circle time where learning can be shared and music and drama can be enjoyed. The book includes circle time activities and games that cover all of the Early Learning Goals through the sharing of thoughts, feelings and experiences. It can also be used across the curriculum, including helping children with literacy and mathematics through phonics and number games. This timeless collection of ideas featuring colourful and fun photography is a fantastic resource with many new activities for circle time, as well as some old favourites.

This volume provides an analysis of what we know about turning around "failing" schools in the United States. It starts with an in-depth examination of the barriers that hinder action on turnaround work. The book analyses the reasons why some schools that find themselves in serious academic trouble fail in their efforts to turn themselves around. Beginning with a discussion of what may best be described as "lethal" reasons or the most powerful explanation for failed reform initiatives, which include an absence of attention to student care and support; a near absence of attention to curriculum and instruction; the firing of the wrong people. Covered in this volume are "critical" explanations for failed turnaround efforts such as failure to attend to issues of sustainability, and "significant" explanations for failed turnaround efforts such as the misuse of test data. The volume concludes by examining what can be done to overcome problems that cause failure for turnaround schools and reviewing ideas in the core technology of schooling: curriculum, instruction, and assessment. As well as exploring problems associated with the leadership and management of schools to see where improvement is possible and an analysis of opportunities found in relationships between schools and their external partners such as parents and community members.

In this book, internationally migrant families invite us to listen to the storylines of their mostly muted voices as they navigate the local schools in their new cultural context. They call us to hear them as they grapple with issues they encounter. They implore us to feel like an outsider and see the school as a foreign culture with language and communication barriers. The book is organized to enhance this carework. Each chapter begins with a vignette that includes the voices of one or more members of international migrating families, while introducing the context of the chapter. At the end of each chapter readers will find specific implications to consider. These are constructed with preservice teachers, practicing teachers, and educational administrators in mind. As you read each chapter, there is the call for school transformation. The families in this book entreat school personnel to engage with international migrant families and to embrace a risk and resilience model as we strive together for success. These storylines challenge us to examine our personal storylines for biases and deficit understandings and call us all to purposefully rewrite these in the spirit of possibilities as the families in this book have embodied for us.

Politics, language, and culture are three of the most powerful forces affecting education today, yet they have been little discussed in relation to systemic school reform, the new status quo of urban schools. This book looks at their effects through the eyes of teachers, administrators, and insider/outsiders who are actually living reform at the school level in four widely different urban school systems: Chicago, San Francisco and Oakland, California, and Boston. The book also creates a statistical and conceptual picture of urban education and school reform as national phenomena with deep historical roots, and offers a composite case study of an urban elementary school undergoing reform.

The author argues that urban school reform is failing becasue its basic strategy is misguided and because reform thinking has consciously ignored three essential sources of knowledge about school change. Strategically, efforts for reform have relied heavily on the widespread replication of nationally promoted exemplary programs. This approach assumes that local schools lack the knowledge and will to solve their own problems and require prescriptive intervention from national models. In fact, the exemplary programs approach has yielded very limited success. What is needed instead is the creation and long-term support of unique, local exemplary contexts that combine best-practice approaches with local knowledge, conditions, and resources.

An Introduction to the Foundation Phase provides a practical guide to understanding and implementing the Foundation Phase in any early years setting in Wales. The experienced author team discuss and reflect upon a play based approach to learning and the importance of collaboration between various members in any early years settings. Students are introduced to key topics including: key theories of influential thinkers within early years education, both past and present; international curricula and perspectives on play and how Welsh curriculum compares; effective classroom practice; observational techniques; methods of assessment and how to be a reflective practitioner. Through interviews with different stakeholders, including educational ministers, policy advisors, practitioners and parents, An Introduction to the Foundation Phase concludes by discussing the challenges and complexities of putting policy into practice and considers implications for the future of early years education. Making links between theory, policy and practice is vital for a future workforce and this core text provides a solid foundation for any student within early years. Illustrative case studies, activities, reflective tasks and suggestions for further reading are provided throughout. Online resources for lecturers and students are also included.

By the mid-twentieth century, the public comprehensive high school was often regarded as the most democratic form of secondary education. Fifty years later it was under challenge. New educational markets emphasized school diversity and parental choice rather than social equity through common schooling. The comprehensives faced many criticisms, including the decline of their educational standards. This book traces the history of this decline, attending to the relationships between government education policies and their diverse regional manifestations.

This book explores important current social justice issues that confront young children in America. A broad range of topics related to the fair treatment of young children and their families are approached with a fresh and hopeful energy. The central argument of this volume is that a fair and just society must protect the basic needs of all children so they are able to reach their full potential to learn, grow, and ultimately become productive democratic citizens. The book includes contributions from an impressive group of authors who have been consistent voices for the fair and equitable treatment of children in school and society. Each chapter examines a critical issue in child social justice with a focus on the current problem, historical importance of the issue, potential solutions, and a vision for the future. The book has been developed to reach a wide audience of professionals whose work involves children and who have grown concerned about social forces that cause child suffering and threaten the well-being or even the survival of children in the United States. Readers will come away with up to date information and a renewed commitment to being life-long advocates for children.