Today, educators are looking for ways to utilize classroom time more effectively. Many thoughtful and forward-looking educators have reorganized the school calendar from the traditional nine-month model to one which is more balanced, and they have experienced the effects of calendar modification in the classroom, school, district, and community. Balancing the School Calendar is a compilation of perspectives and research reports from those who have experienced the urgent necessity of reorganizing time to effectuate better learning situations for students. Chapter authors have implemented, studied, or contemplated school calendar change and the results of the change.

Today, educators are looking for ways to utilize classroom time more effectively. Many thoughtful and forward-looking educators have reorganized the school calendar from the traditional nine-month model to one which is more balanced, and they have experienced the effects of calendar modification in the classroom, school, district, and community. Balancing the School Calendar is a compilation of perspectives and research reports from those who have experienced the urgent necessity of reorganizing time to effectuate better learning situations for students. Chapter authors have implemented, studied, or contemplated school calendar change and the results of the change.

For more than a decade, school choice has been a flashpoint in debates about our nation's schooling. Perhaps the most commonly advanced argument for school choice is the notion that markets will force public schools to improve, particularly in those urban areas where improvement has proved so elusive. However, the question of how public schools respond to market conditions has received surprisingly little attention. Revolution at the Margins examines the impact of school vouchers and charter schooling on three urban school districts, explores the causes of the behavior observed, and explains how the structure of competition is likely to shape the way it affects the future of public education. The book draws on research conducted in three school districts at the center of the school choice debate during the 1990s: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cleveland, Ohio; and Edgewood, Texas. Case studies examine each of these three districts from the inception of their local school choice program through the conclusion of the 1999 school year. The three school districts studied did not respond to competition by emphasizing productivity or efficiency. Instead, under pressure to provide some evidence of response, administrators tended to expand public relations efforts and to chip holes in the rules, regulations, and procedures that regulate public sector organizations. Inefficient practices were not rooted out, but some rules and procedures that protect employees and vocal constituencies were relaxed. Public school systems are driven by political logic, according to Hess, and their incentives lead them to respond generally through symbolic and metaphorical gestures. Choice-induced changes in public school systems will be shaped by public governance, the market context in which they operate, and their organizational characteristics. Revolution at the Margins encourages scholars and policymakers to think more carefully about the costs and benefits of educational competition, to understand how competitive effects will be heavily shaped by the outcomes of more conventional efforts to reform schooling, and to reevaluate some of the facile promises of market-based education reform.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the single most influential piece of federal education legislation in American history, and Hess and Petrilli provide a concise yet comprehensive look at this important and controversial act. Signed into law in 2002, NCLB seeks to ensure that all American students are proficient in math, reading, and science by 2014. Trumping two centuries of state primacy in K-12 education, it set standards for measuring student performance, ensuring the quality of teachers, and providing options for students in ineffective schools. The authors trace the heritage of these new policies, explain how they work, and examine the challenges of their implementation.

In this genial and challenging overview of endless debates over school reform, Rick Hess shows that even bitter opponents in debates about how to improve schools agree on much more than they realize and that much of it must change radically. Cutting through the tangled thickets of right- and left-wing dogma, he clears the ground for transformation of the American school system.

Whatever they think of school vouchers or charter schools, teacher merit pay or bilingual education, most educators and advocates take many other things for granted. The one-teacher one-classroom model. The professional full-time teacher. Students grouped in age-defined grades. The nine-month calendar. Top-down local district control. All were innovative and exciting in the nineteenth century. As Hess shows, the system hasn t changed since most Americans lived on farms and in villages, since school taught you to read, write, and do arithmetic, and since only an elite went to high school, let alone college.

Arguing that a fundamentally nineteenth century system can t be right for a twenty-first century world, Hess suggests that uniformity gets in the way of quality, and urges us to create a much wider variety of schools, to meet a greater range of needs for different kinds of talents, needed by a vastly more complex and demanding society.

At a time of bitter national polarization, there is a critical need for leaders who can help us better communicate with one another. In A Search for Common Ground, Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera, who have often fallen on opposing sides of the ideological aisle over the past couple of decades, candidly talk through their differences on some of the toughest issues in K-12 education today-from school choice to testing to diversity to privatization. They offer a sharp, honest debate that digs deep into their disagreements, enabling them to find a surprising amount of common ground along the way. Written as a series of back-and-forth exchanges, this engaging book illustrates a model of responsible, civil debate between those with substantial, principled differences. It is also a powerful meditation on where 21st-century school improvement can and should go next. Book Features: Modeling dialogue: Rick and Pedro provide a model for how to sort through complicated issues and find common ground in today's atmosphere of distrust. Deliberate, sustained exchange: Rick and Pedro demonstrate how deliberate, sustained reflection allows them to respectfully flesh out differences and sharpen their own thoughts. Left and Right Politics: Rick (generally Right) and Pedro (generally Left) offer a window into where they do and don't agree on education and point the way to principled cooperation. Readable and conversational: Rather than pushing a partisan agenda, Rick and Pedro have crafted a stimulating read for education newcomers and experts alike. Unique approach: While other books about the different sides of the education debates simply present paired essays, Rick and Pedro actually engage with each other to strive for a deeper understanding of their differences.

Reboot student learning the right way! Today's most successful school leaders are truly "learning engineers": creative thinkers who redefine their problems and design new ways to better serve kids' success. Technology has a critical role, but it's the creative reinvention of schools, systems, and classrooms that has to come first. In this powerful book, best-selling author and education policy expert Rick Hess and chief learning officer Bror Saxberg show you how to become your school's learning engineer. Using cutting-edge research about learning science as a framework, you'll: Identify specific learning problems that need solving Devise smarter ways to address them Implement technology-enabled, not technology-driven, solutions