Improving Schools and Educational Systems

Improving Schools and Educational Systems
Author: Alma Harris
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2023-05-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000948773

School improvement has become a dominant feature of educational reform in many countries. The pressure upon schools to improve performance has resulted in a wide-range of improvement programmes and initiatives which can provide both inspiration and advice to everyone involved in school improvement. This book draws together the most effective school improvement projects from around the world in one comprehensive text, including detailed comparative analysis of a wide variety of initiatives. Drawing on examples from the UK, the USA, Canada, South Africa and Australia this book gives both an international snapshot and a coherent synthesis of initiatives that have given achievable results.

Improving Schools

Improving Schools
Author: Wayne K. Hoy
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2008-04-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1607526514

Improving Schools: Studies in Leadership and Culture is the seventh in a series on research and theory dedicated to advancing our understanding of schools through empirical study and theoretical analysis. This book is organized around two broad concepts—leadership and culture, which have important implications for improving schools. The book begins with an analysis of the saliency of trust in the culture of schools. In the first chapter, Patrick Forsythís review of the consequences of school trust sets the tone for seeking and developing school cultures that enhance high academic performance of students. The investigation of school trust is traced over several decades at four research universities as scholars at each institution conceptualized, refined, and examined the consequences of school trust. It seems fair to conclude that a school culture that is anchored in values and norms of faculty trusting students and parents facilitates high academic achievement and positive outcomes.

Learning to Improve

Learning to Improve
Author: Anthony S. Bryk
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2015-03-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 161250793X

As a field, education has largely failed to learn from experience. Time after time, promising education reforms fall short of their goals and are abandoned as other promising ideas take their place. In Learning to Improve, the authors argue for a new approach. Rather than “implementing fast and learning slow,” they believe educators should adopt a more rigorous approach to improvement that allows the field to “learn fast to implement well.” Using ideas borrowed from improvement science, the authors show how a process of disciplined inquiry can be combined with the use of networks to identify, adapt, and successfully scale up promising interventions in education. Organized around six core principles, the book shows how “networked improvement communities” can bring together researchers and practitioners to accelerate learning in key areas of education. Examples include efforts to address the high rates of failure among students in community college remedial math courses and strategies for improving feedback to novice teachers. Learning to Improve offers a new paradigm for research and development in education that promises to be a powerful driver of improvement for the nation’s schools and colleges.

Improving Urban Schools

Improving Urban Schools
Author: Chance W. Lewis
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2013-04-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1623962323

Although STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) has been diversely defined by various researchers (e.g. Buck Institute, 2003; Capraro & Slough, 2009; Scott, 2009; Wolf, 2008), during the last decade, STEM education has gained an increasing presence on the national agenda through initiatives from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Institute for Educational Sciences (IES). The rate of technological innovation and change has been tremendous over the past ten years, and this rapid increase will only continue. STEM literacy is the power to “identify, apply, and integrate concepts from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to understand complex problems and to innovate to solve them” (Washington State STEM, 2011, Internet). In order for U.S. students to be on the forefront of this revolution, ALL of our schools need to be part of the STEM vision and guide students in acquiring STEM literacy. Understanding and addressing the challenge of achieving STEM literacy for ALL students begins with an understanding of its element and the connections between them. In order to remain competitive, the Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy has recommended that the US optimize “its knowledge-based resources, particularly in science and technology” (National Academies, 2007, p. 4). Optimizing knowledge-based resources needs to be the goal but is also a challenge for ALL educators (Scheurich & Huggins, 2009). Regardless, there is little disagreement that contemporary society is increasingly dependent on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and thus comprehensive understandings are essential for those pursuing STEM careers. It is also generally agreed that PK-12 students do not do well in STEM areas, both in terms of national standards and in terms of international comparisons (Kuenzi, Matthews, & Mangan, 2006; Capraro, Capraro, Yetkiner, Corlu, Ozel, Ye, & Kim, 2011). The question then becomes what might PK-12 schools do to improve teachers’ and students’ STEM knowledge and skills? This book will look at equity and access issues in STEM education from PK-12, university, and administrative and policy lenses.

School, Family, and Community Partnerships

School, Family, and Community Partnerships
Author: Joyce L Epstein
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 656
Release: 2018-04-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 042996322X

School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools addresses a fundamental question in education today: How will colleges and universities prepare future teachers, administrators, counselors, and other education professionals to conduct effective programs of family and community involvement that contribute to students' success in school? The work of Joyce L. Epstein has advanced theories, research, policies, and practices of family and community involvement in elementary, middle, and high schools, districts, and states nationwide. In this second edition, she shows that there are new and better ways to organize programs of family and community involvement as essential components of district leadership and school improvement. THE SECOND EDITION OFFERS EDUCATORS AND RESEARCHERS: A framework for helping rising educators to develop comprehensive, goal-linked programs of school, family, andcommunity partnerships. A clear discussion of the theory of overlapping spheres of influence, which asserts that schools, families, and communitiesshare responsibility for student success in school. A historic overview and exploration of research on the nature and effects of parent involvement. Methods for applying the theory, framework, and research on partnerships in college course assignments, classdiscussions, projects and activities, and fi eld experiences. Examples that show how research-based approaches improve policies on partnerships, district leadership, andschool programs of family and community involvement. Definitive and engaging, School, Family, and Community Partnerships can be used as a main or supplementary text in courses on foundations of education methods of teaching, educational administration, family and community relations, contemporary issues in education, sociology of education, sociology of the family, school psychology, social work, education policy, and other courses that prepare professionals to work in schools and with families and students.

Improving Schools with Blended Learning

Improving Schools with Blended Learning
Author: Tony Yeigh
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 141
Release: 2021-02-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 100033936X

Improving Schools with Blended Learning is specifically designed to address the important issues needed to successfully modernise education within the context of technological change. It does this by first providing a clear roadmap for designing Blended Learning environments able to respond to the technological imperatives challenging schools at present, and then illustrating this roadmap via specific, original research that details the 'how to' aspects of a successful technology-based design process. School leaders, teachers, teacher education students and researchers will all find highly relevant information about how to manage for disruption in the new and informative approach to Blended Learning (BL) they will discover in this book. This book arose from two different research projects the authors have been pursuing over the last 3–5 years, including school improvement research and Blended Learning research designed to investigate the role of technology in effective teaching and learning. By combining the insights gained from these two different research areas, this book is able to present a novel understanding of BL that is both insightful and clearly evidence-based. Improving Schools with Blended Learning also provides several original contributions to specific knowledge in the areas of BL and school improvement that most educators will find highly useful, including the use of BL schemas, a clear and extended BL continuum, how to measure and evaluate the success of BL, how to scaffold teacher ICT knowledge and skills, and a specific process for contextualising applied BL in relation to the ‘disruption’ imperatives of the Knowledge Economy.

Improving Schools Through Action Research

Improving Schools Through Action Research
Author: Cher Hendricks
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Action research in education
ISBN: 9780134027425

For courses in Action Research This package includes the Enhanced Pearson eText and bound book. A brief, user-friendly, solid look at the action research cycle and the knowledge to work through each step. In this book, educators learn what they need to know about the action research cycle and get practical help for working through each step of the cycle-from choosing a topic and generating research questions to analyzing data and reporting results and conclusions. In a clear, concise, user-friendly approach, the author helps readers through the entire process with specific, practical information that incorporates some of the latest online and professional resources, a more detailed explanation of how to analyze and interpret qualitative data, and instructions on formatting the research paper using the latest APA guidelines. From reviews of the text: "I've used the Hendricks text for 5 semesters and have modified the course each semester based on a deeper appreciation for the content the text offers. . . . . The Hendricks text provides an excellent organization and sequence in implementing the process of action research. . . . I see the text as a very strong component to my course and to any action research courses offered. . . . It helps students to produce a thorough and valuable end product." --Jill Miels, Ball State University "Key strengths are the examples and sample narratives; . . . projects threaded through the text provide a unifying connection of applications of the process for teachers. . . . [T]he last chapter provides much needed guidance for dissemination of research study results through presentations and publications." --Reese H. Todd, Texas Tech University "The strength of the text is accessibility and clarity. The text takes students through the steps of creating an action research project in clear and concise language. Hendricks does an excellent job of providing an appropriate balance of support and challenge for student teachers/action researchers. Great text for anyone who wants to learn more about constructing their own knowledge and improving schools through action research." --Jason Colombino, Boston College Lynch School of Education Invigorate learning with the Enhanced Pearson eText The Enhanced Pearson eText provides a rich, interactive learning environment designed to improve student mastery of content with embedded videos and tutorials. The Enhanced Pearson eText is also available without a print version. Instructors, visit pearsonhighered.com/etextbooks/ted to register for your digital examination copy. Students, register for or purchase your eText at pearsonhighered.com/etextbooks/ted.

Action Research

Action Research
Author: Craig A. Mertler
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 525
Release: 2016-06-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1483389073

Craig Mertler’s Action Research: Improving Schools and Empowering Educators introduces practicing educators to the process of conducting classroom-based action research. Practical and comprehensive, the book focuses on research methods and procedures that educators can use in their everyday practice. This Fifth Edition adds enhanced coverage of rigor and ethics in action research, means of establishing quality of both quantitative and qualitative data, as well as strengthened pedagogical features. New material includes discussions of social justice advocacy as an application of action research and the inclusion of abstracts in research reports.

Improving Schools, Developing Inclusion

Improving Schools, Developing Inclusion
Author: Mel Ainscow
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2006-09-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1134193459

While many books explore the possibilities for developing inclusive practices in schools, and ‘inclusion’ is widely regarded as a desirable goal, much of the literature on the subject has been narrowly concerned with the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs. This book however, takes the view that marginalisation, exclusion and underachievement take many forms and affect many different kinds of child. As such, a definition of inclusion should also touch upon issues of equity, participation, community, entitlement, compassion, respect for diversity and sustainability. Here the highly regarded authors focus on: barriers to participation and learning experienced by pupils the practices that can overcome these barriers the extent to which such practices facilitate improved learning outcomes how such practices can be encouraged and sustained within schools and LEAs. The book is part of the Improving Learning series, published in partnership with the Teaching and Learning Research Project.

Improving School Governance

Improving School Governance
Author: Nigel Gann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2003-10-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135713537

This text is about governing schools. It lays out a strategic model of school governance and considers the three key roles of planning, monitoring and evaluating. Practical examples and procedures are provided, for governors to adapt.