This book seeks to better understand the intricate elements of Chinese education compared to American education thus helping educators and policy makers to craft win-win decisions in the education encounter of the dragon and the eagle. Many educators are pulling their hair trying to understand how to work well with new Chinese immigrant students and their parents. To get the job done, one has to go beyond the superficial language translation to understanding the culture that shapes the base foundations of learning and thinking.

This book seeks to better understand the intricate elements of Chinese education compared to American education thus helping educators and policy makers to craft win-win decisions in the education encounter of the dragon and the eagle. Many educators are pulling their hair trying to understand how to work well with new Chinese immigrant students and their parents. To get the job done, one has to go beyond the superficial language translation to understanding the culture that shapes the base foundations of learning and thinking.

Public education has been criticized for under-achieving schools and one key phrase for long-term school success is school leadership. Taken comprehensively, leadership emphasizes the importance of where the leader stands at times of decision, challenge, and conflict. The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist more than 2500 years ago, represents a very complex work of philosophy and military strategy. A good part of the work describes the pivotal role of a leader and his understanding and application of the winning factors. The Art of War application to education is about solving (i.e. fighting) problems (i.e. the enemy) to improve student and school success. The Art of War describes the significance of a leader and his knowledge and prudent application of the strategies. At the core of theses strategies is the non-negotiable moral purpose of the leader to be reinforced by other fine qualities as wisdom, commitment, discipline, and courage. Readers will be amazed and rewarded by finding the relevance and practicality of this ancient Eastern philosophy.

What is tenure? It is a policy which gives teachers a permanent contract ensuring them a guarantee of employment like for life. Tenured teachers cannot be fired unless for just cause such as gross misconduct, or incompetence. Proponents of teacher tenure say that it is good. They argue that tenure prevents teachers from being fired for inappropriate reasons; tenure protects teachers from false accusations; tenure reduces teacher anxiety and allows them to become even better educators; properly used, tenure creates an environment where teachers are encouraged to improve; and lastly tenure protects good but veteran teachers from being fired for being too expensive. Opponents of teacher tenure say that it is bad. They argue that tenured teachers if they are ineffective are often extremely difficult to dismiss; dismissing tenured teachers takes a long time and is often extremely expensive; almost every k-12 teacher receives tenure whether they have earned it or not; and last but not least teacher tenure leads to complacency. The purpose of the book is not to further debate the pros and cons of teacher tenure. Rather it examines the critical elements to better prepare teachers for the tenure application and the tenure decision makers to make better informed evaluation. Teacher Tenure: An Analysis of the Critical Elements begins with an unlikely introduction of a story that uses rhetorical comparison of the shoe experience to connote the wisdom of the teacher tenure process.

What is tenure? It is a policy which gives teachers a permanent contract ensuring them a guarantee of employment like for life. Tenured teachers cannot be fired unless for just cause such as gross misconduct, or incompetence. Proponents of teacher tenure say that it is good. They argue that tenure prevents teachers from being fired for inappropriate reasons; tenure protects teachers from false accusations; tenure reduces teacher anxiety and allows them to become even better educators; properly used, tenure creates an environment where teachers are encouraged to improve; and lastly tenure protects good but veteran teachers from being fired for being too expensive. Opponents of teacher tenure say that it is bad. They argue that tenured teachers if they are ineffective are often extremely difficult to dismiss; dismissing tenured teachers takes a long time and is often extremely expensive; almost every k-12 teacher receives tenure whether they have earned it or not; and last but not least teacher tenure leads to complacency. The purpose of the book is not to further debate the pros and cons of teacher tenure. Rather it examines the critical elements to better prepare teachers for the tenure application and the tenure decision makers to make better informed evaluation. Teacher Tenure: An Analysis of the Critical Elements begins with an unlikely introduction of a story that uses rhetorical comparison of the shoe experience to connote the wisdom of the teacher tenure process.

Look no further if you are new to a teaching career in higher education regardless of whether you are doing it full- or part-time. The passion to share your wealth of knowledge and skills is a good beginning. However, you need to know the higher education environment from the classroom to the office of the administration well enough to thrive. If you are not new to instruction in higher education, this book can help you to look at rewards and challenges ahead. If you are a college administrator the book can help you to tool and retool your faculty for more effective instruction brining about better student learning achievement. Regardless of your college role it is important to remember that the vitality and credibility of the institution is defined by the excellence of the professors that they employed.

Look no further if you are new to a teaching career in higher education regardless whether you are doing it full or part time. Your passion to share your wealth of knowledge and skills is a good beginning. However, you need to know the higher education environment from the classroom to the office of the administration well enough to thrive. If you are not new to instruction in higher education this book can help you to look at rewards and challenges ahead. If you are a college administrator the book can help you to tool and retool your faculty for more effective instruction brining about better student learning achievement. Regardless of your college role it is important to remember that the vitality and credibility of the institution is defined by the excellence of the professors that they employed.

In a recent international comparative study, the United States public schools did not fare well with the rest of the world. To the disappointment of many, the No Child Left Behind law did little to improve student achievement. Nevertheless, a small pocket of poverty schools worked against the odds of limited resources and performed to new heights of academic excellence. These high-poverty, high-performing schools were studied to identify the common trends and to reveal their secrets of success. The secrets include a unique combination of leadership, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and evaluation. Can the high-poverty, high-performing schools be the success model of our next generation schools? As concerned citizens and stakeholders of education, we need to find out how our country can get back on track to become an educational leader again so we may compete in the fierce global economy.

The challenge of proper school finance goes beyond having a balanced budget to finding strategies that maximize money to improve schools and equalize student achievement. School finance deals with how money works to support school operations and answer rigorous accountability such as the No Child Left Behind mandate. This book paints a comprehensive picture of school finance to illuminate issues with the current system and suggest ways to improve that system.

Public education has been criticized for under-achieving schools and one key phrase for long-term school success is school leadership. Taken comprehensively, leadership emphasizes the importance of where the leader stands at times of decision, challenge, and conflict. The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist more than 2500 years ago, represents a very complex work of philosophy and military strategy. A good part of the work describes the pivotal role of a leader and his understanding and application of the winning factors. The Art of War application to education is about solving (i.e. fighting) problems (i.e. the enemy) to improve student and school success. The Art of War describes the significance of a leader and his knowledge and prudent application of the strategies. At the core of theses strategies is the non-negotiable moral purpose of the leader to be reinforced by other fine qualities as wisdom, commitment, discipline, and courage. Readers will be amazed and rewarded by finding the relevance and practicality of this ancient Eastern philosophy.

Education reforms such as A Nation at Risk and Goals 2000 have come and gone. However, we can be confident that the goal of student improvement shall not pass if the core mission is student learning. The true mission of learning has prompted educators to ponder the following questions: How do we need each student to behave? How do we know when each student has behaved properly? How do we respond when students misbehave? Standards of behavior such as attendance, discipline, homework, and academic learning are the answering points for the first question with connections to school policy and curriculum. The question of 'how do we know?' is answered by assessment with relevant data support. Decisions to adjust student behaviors or to modify a school program are based on thorough data analysis and interpretation. What is the evidence that a student is not learning? A teacher is not effective? A school program is not serving the needs of students? The evidence can be addressed by information from a student record book; a teacher performance summary; a program survey or other data based reports. This book uses a unique blend of quantitative and qualitative strategies to tackle challenges in both student and school improvement and should be of interest to all educators.