This book traces back how male students are currently disadvantaged in school by instruction in an overwhelmingly female environment devoid of male role models, who can inspire the love of learning in male students. Further, teachers are unduly influenced by biases related to compliant behaviors which result in conflating assessments of student academic achievement with compliance. Therefore, males' marks prevent to many from qualifying for courses leading to leading as well as achieving sufficiently high marks in those courses.

Education occurs in a complex environment now confronted by many social issues, and who is ultimately responsible for a child's education is the fundamental issue. This book's purpose establishes how parents and not the state wear this responsibility, and how they must consider and navigate through multiple factors in their choice. Political differences are ever-present in America's culture. The current climate accentuates clashing perspectives involving race, religion and individualism. While many solutions for improving educational outcomes are proposed, political obstacles appear insurmountable. An apolitical strategy providing evidence for large-scale student success culminates this review.

Education for this generation's youth is the key for our nation's future well-being but it is now threatened by political correctness. A politically correct environment seeks to avoid controversial issues by maintaining the status quo on matters related to workers in the education system while avoiding the best interests of the stakeholders, and it is for this reason that political correctness must be challenged on many issues in our school system, so that our children have a better chance for learning well and then living well. This book's focus is on using accountability to pressure the system toward implementing reforms necessary for winning. It deals with educational policies, which are controversial and also identified by others for being problematic, rather than classroom practices. The solutions, or recommendations, proposed are intended to ensure that policies align with the best interests of students, parents, and taxpayers rather than with those of the service providers.

Then, Now and Why Now, identifies many educational issues evident during the past six decades and which present some controversies for educators. Extensive research is provided to assist reader's understanding of how these issues have changed over time and why, today, they are accompanied with some controversy.

Education is a significant social program in our culture because we understand that learning well impacts our capacity to live well. Its importance produces many controversies because perspectives are greatly influenced by what policies and practices are implemented. Inevitably, the general public has insufficient time and/or interest to scratch away the veneer surrounding controversial matters and discover what should be. This book identifies numerous conflicts within the field of education and provides the perspectives and information which stakeholders within the enterprise sweep aside or cover-up. An extensive data-base is used to demonstrate why existing policies and practices create unfair learning situations for our nation's children, frequently described as our most valuable resource. Policy-makers, both administrative and legislative, are caught in the middle; yet, they choose to avoid controversy by siding with educators. This book provides evidence of how the decision-making should be altered to achieve optimal learning in our North American schools.

Common Sense about Common Core breaks down everything you need to know about the Common Core, from how it was implemented to where we are now. Common Core has emerged as a significant political issue and, therefore, a concern with the general public. Special interest groups are spinning messages which are inaccurate or biased in order to confuse parents and the public. Therefore a transformative educational initiative developed on sound principles is jeopardized because special interest groups, including politicians seeking to garner support from these groups, are taking positions based on inaccurate information. This book will show that Common Core is a necessary initiative for achieving America's Race to the Top.

The education system is dealing with a concerted effort at making it more accountable and transparent. Whereas measurement of a quality education used to focus on inputs such as money spent, the new measurement is focused on student outcomes such as learning success determined by large-scale standardized tests. This change in perspective assesses personnel and system performance using empirical data rather than perceptual information. Transparent access to data regarding student learning is uncomfortable to teachers' unions because it is difficult to explain away objective information. Their substantial success in reducing teacher workload and limiting management's activity is predicated on persuading the public that they are focused on students. In reality, teachers are their clients, and students are frequently disadvantaged as the unions pursue a "less work, more pay" objective. Many politicians are complicit in this pursuit because they are reticent to embrace reform when confronted by such a powerful special interest. When considering issues which pit student best interests with those of teachers, governments frequently side with teachers because they can vote whereas students cannot. Flashpoints emerge as data is introduced into the process for making decisions.

The current practice of having children begin school within a twelve-month cohort is unfair but can be ameliorated by incorporating a dual-entry system. Such a reform effort will dramatically reduce failure, improve student achievement at all levels, while reducing expenditures. Many students are penalized from maximizing their academic potential simply by being born at the wrong time of the year. Not only is there a significant decline in achievement for students born in the second half of the year but they also experience higher rates of failure which negatively impacts self-esteem and reduces future success. Meanwhile, more capable students experience unfairness because of the school's extraordinary effort at helping their failing students. With so much focus on the weak, many strong students are held back from achieving their potential. Parents agonize over when to begin their child's formal education but lack data for making informed decisions. Educators understand the issue intuitively but decision makers lack data for justifying reform. These informational needs are now available.

This book outlines how administrators in our school system can move from managerial efforts to leadership functions. Identifying taxpayers as the school systems’ foremost client presents leaders with the critical perspective for ensuring accountability. Government is the taxpayers’ servant and act as managers of educational funding and programs, and is supported by administrators working in schools, districts and regional offices. A key understanding is that school is a student’s place of work, and current processes for evaluating and reporting their progress identifies them as the most accountable workers in our culture. Taxpayers are better served when educators and government are held accountable by similar assessment processes. Accountability is enhanced when power for selecting teachers and schools is shifted from administrators to parents, and quantifiable information provides the basis for these decisions. Ensuring that students have their learning assessed consistently guarantees fairness to students and provides critical information for parents and taxpayers. Proven leadership strategies for ensuring accountability and superior levels of performance are presented for each administrative level.