The statistics come as a total surprise to most: 45 percent of college and university students do not enrol directly out of school. Many are part-time students, people who are returning to school after life intervened, or otherwise 'nontraditional' learners-and this segment is growing. Back to School is the first book to look at this population of 'second chancers', in a work that Make magazine calls 'optimistic yet simultaneously realistic.'

Proponents of education reform are committed to the idea that all children should receive a quality education, and that all of them have a capacity to learn and grow, whatever their ethnicity or economic circumstances. But though recent years have seen numerous reform efforts, the resources available to children in different municipalities still vary enormously, and despite landmark cases of the civil rights movement and ongoing pushes to enact diverse and inclusive curricula, racial and ethnic segregation remain commonplace. "Public Education Under Siege" examines why public schools are in such difficult straits, why the reigning ideology of school reform is ineffective, and what can be done about it."Public Education Under Siege" argues for an alternative to the test-driven, market-oriented core of the current reform agenda. Chapters from education policy experts and practitioners critically examine the overreliance on high-stakes testing, which narrows the content of education and frustrates creative teachers, and consider how to restore a more civic-centered vision of education in place of present dependence on questionable economistic models. These short, jargon-free essays cover public policy, teacher unions, economic inequality, race, language diversity, parent involvement, and leadership, collectively providing an overview of the present system and its limitations as well as a vision for the fulfillment of a democratic, egalitarian system of public education.Contributors: Joanne Barkan, Maia Cucchiara, Ansley T. Erickson, Eugene E. Garcia, Eva Gold, Jeffrey R. Henig, Tyrone C. Howard, Richard D. Kahlenberg, Harvey Kantor, Michael B. Katz, David F. Labaree, Julia C. Lamber, Robert Lowe, Deborah Meier, Pedro Noguera, Rema Reynolds, Claire Robertson-Kraft, Jean C. Robinson, Mike Rose, Janelle Scott, Elaine Simon, Paul Skilton-Sylvester, Joi A. Spencer, Heather Ann Thompson, Tina Trujillo, Pamela Barnhouse Walters, Kevin G. Welner, Sarah Woulfin.

For the teacher Mrs Troyd, the pressure is on. Christmas is coming to the little parish of Oddleton, and for Mrs Troyd Christmas means the children's Nativity play, awaited with great anticipation (or in some cases, trepidation) by the whole congregation. This year, however, all is not going quite as planned. Joseph is too shy to speak out loud enough to be heard. The little angels are squabbling over which way up to hold the Baby Jesus, and to top it all, Mrs Troyd's nemesis, Arianna le Grand, has taken her children (the Angel Gabriel and the Third King) on an unexpected skiing holiday. Who will stand in for the Angel Gabriel? Was it an unwise move for the Shepherd to have eaten three packets of Sour Squigglers and a Whistling Dayglo-pop before the play? And did donkeys wear sombreros in Ancient Palestine? Whatever happens, this will be a Nativity the parishioners will remember for a very long time....

The war with Germany had been over for two months. Still, more than 371,000 German soldiers were being held in prisoner of war camps in the United States. Some would not make it home for two years. A few would not make it home at all. Nine German soldiers lie in graves in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were the tragic victims of a U.S. Army Private, for reasons known only to himself, who climbed onto a guard tower and opened fire with a .30 caliber machine gun into the German prisoners of war sleeping below. Nine captives were killed, twenty more were wounded. The "Salina, Utah, Massacre" is the story of interned men living out the last days of a painful war, what led to their being in a small corner of Utah farmland, and their hopes and dreams that were all changed on one horific night. It is the story of a cover-up by authorities and the remarkable resolve of a small town whose people rose up to befriend, help and embrace those who had once been the enemy. "They were just boys who wanted to go home."

Just when you thought it was safe enough to read the contents of a book, Twisted Tales was released. Compiling all new stories from 2004 - 2006 that thrill, chill and come direct from the twisted mind that is Mike Rouse-Deane.

Journey to far away worlds, modern life scenarios and dark and scary woods in this follow-up to Paperback Writer containing over 160 short stories all the twisted outcome of an over-imaginative writer.

From the imagination of writer Michael Rouse-Deane comes a book jam-packed with stories varying from the bizarre to the normal. This collection of short stories shows the development of his writing from 1992 to 2004--The Millennium Years, with the bizarreness that can only come from a mind that constantly over-imagines the world around him.

Michael merges both the normal workings of life, as well as the future prospects of "what if," to give you over eighty stories of immense strangeness and heartwarming pleasure. "Paperback Writer" is Michael's first book, and contains the writer's comments on why, how and what made him write such bizarre stories, commenting on each one of his stories in the Writer's Commentary.

Delve into his bizarre universe and emerge with a different perspective of the world around you. You won't be calling babies "cute" anymore.

"This big-shouldered book, full of ardor...offers us a reasonable hope that with attention and care we can again make public education what it was meant to be, and must yet be."—The Los Angeles Times.

First hailed as a wonder of the new industrial world, to later 19th-century commentators the term 'Ancoats' in Manchester, UK became synonymous with dark satanic mills and urban poverty. This book intends to raise awareness of the wide range and varied character of the historic mills, buildings and canals which constitute the Ancoats townscape, and the forces and trends which have contributed to its appearance. It outlines, through its buildings, how the area and its community have evolved over the last two and a half centuries. In addition to the local person interested in his or her city and its history, this book will appeal to all those with an interest in the growth of towns and cities, and in social history and the legacy of socio-economic, industrial and technological change within the built environment. It will also be of interest to planners and conservation officers dealing with regeneration issues.

Proponents of education reform are committed to the idea that all children should receive a quality education, and that all of them have a capacity to learn and grow, whatever their ethnicity or economic circumstances. But though recent years have seen numerous reform efforts, the resources available to children in different municipalities still vary enormously, and despite landmark cases of the civil rights movement and ongoing pushes to enact diverse and inclusive curricula, racial and ethnic segregation remain commonplace. Public Education Under Siege examines why public schools are in such difficult straits, why the reigning ideology of school reform is ineffective, and what can be done about it. Public Education Under Siege argues for an alternative to the test-driven, market-oriented core of the current reform agenda. Chapters from education policy experts and practitioners critically examine the overreliance on high-stakes testing, which narrows the content of education and frustrates creative teachers, and consider how to restore a more civic-centered vision of education in place of present dependence on questionable economistic models. These short, jargon-free essays cover public policy, teacher unions, economic inequality, race, language diversity, parent involvement, and leadership, collectively providing an overview of the present system and its limitations as well as a vision for the fulfillment of a democratic, egalitarian system of public education. Contributors: Joanne Barkan, Maia Cucchiara, Ansley T. Erickson, Eugene E. Garcia, Eva Gold, Jeffrey R. Henig, Tyrone C. Howard, Richard D. Kahlenberg, Harvey Kantor, Michael B. Katz, David F. Labaree, Julia C. Lamber, Robert Lowe, Deborah Meier, Pedro Noguera, Rema Reynolds, Claire Robertson-Kraft, Jean C. Robinson, Mike Rose, Janelle Scott, Elaine Simon, Paul Skilton-Sylvester, Joi A. Spencer, Heather Ann Thompson, Tina Trujillo, Pamela Barnhouse Walters, Kevin G. Welner, Sarah Woulfin.