Organizing Schools for Productive Learning

Organizing Schools for Productive Learning
Author: Shlomo Sharan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 117
Release: 2008-06-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1402083955

A major problem confronting schools is that many students are turned off from learning and are bored. Boredom is destructive of learning. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative of the US government (2001) stemmed from the claim – accompanied by sharp debates pro and con – that many schools in the United States fail to achieve basic educational objectives, and that many schools are doing a poor job for a wide variety of reasons and surely not just because of student boredom (Brigham, Gustashaw, Wiley, & Brigham, 2004; Essex, 2006; Goodman, Shannon, Goodman, & Rapoport, 2004; Sunderman, Tracey Jr. , Kim, & Orfield, 2004). The model of school organization and instruction presented here seeks to provide an effective plan for significant improvement in secondary school education, one of whose central aims is to make students genuinely engaged in what they are learning. The NCLB legislation emphasizes, inter alia, the need for school improvement. Without it one cannot reasonably anticipate improvement over current levels in student engagement in learning and in academic achievement. The NCLB literature frequently employs the term “school improvement” to refer to the quality of the teachers, such as their academic credentials, instructional competence, and their knowledge of subject matter. Similarly, “school restructuring” is said to include steps such as transforming the school into a charter school, replacing the teaching staff, or inviting a private company to administer the school. The use of those terms in this work is distinctly different.

Organizing Schools for Improvement

Organizing Schools for Improvement
Author: Anthony S. Bryk
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2010-03-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0226078019

In 1988, the Chicago public school system decentralized, granting parents and communities significant resources and authority to reform their schools in dramatic ways. To track the effects of this bold experiment, the authors of Organizing Schools for Improvement collected a wealth of data on elementary schools in Chicago. Over a seven-year period they identified one hundred elementary schools that had substantially improved—and one hundred that had not. What did the successful schools do to accelerate student learning? The authors of this illuminating book identify a comprehensive set of practices and conditions that were key factors for improvement, including school leadership, the professional capacity of the faculty and staff, and a student-centered learning climate. In addition, they analyze the impact of social dynamics, including crime, critically examining the inextricable link between schools and their communities. Putting their data onto a more human scale, they also chronicle the stories of two neighboring schools with very different trajectories. The lessons gleaned from this groundbreaking study will be invaluable for anyone involved with urban education.

Identifying and Supporting Productive STEM Programs in Out-of-School Settings

Identifying and Supporting Productive STEM Programs in Out-of-School Settings
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2015-10-26
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309373654

More and more young people are learning about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in a wide variety of afterschool, summer, and informal programs. At the same time, there has been increasing awareness of the value of such programs in sparking, sustaining, and extending interest in and understanding of STEM. To help policy makers, funders and education leaders in both school and out-of-school settings make informed decisions about how to best leverage the educational and learning resources in their community, this report identifies features of productive STEM programs in out-of-school settings. Identifying and Supporting Productive STEM Programs in Out-of-School Settings draws from a wide range of research traditions to illustrate that interest in STEM and deep STEM learning develop across time and settings. The report provides guidance on how to evaluate and sustain programs. This report is a resource for local, state, and federal policy makers seeking to broaden access to multiple, high-quality STEM learning opportunities in their community.

Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done
Author: David Allen
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2015-03-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0698161866

The book Lifehack calls "The Bible of business and personal productivity." "A completely revised and updated edition of the blockbuster bestseller from 'the personal productivity guru'"—Fast Company Since it was first published almost fifteen years ago, David Allen’s Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business books of its era, and the ultimate book on personal organization. “GTD” is now shorthand for an entire way of approaching professional and personal tasks, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organizational tools, seminars, and offshoots. Allen has rewritten the book from start to finish, tweaking his classic text with important perspectives on the new workplace, and adding material that will make the book fresh and relevant for years to come. This new edition of Getting Things Done will be welcomed not only by its hundreds of thousands of existing fans but also by a whole new generation eager to adopt its proven principles.

The Differentiated Classroom

The Differentiated Classroom
Author: Carol Ann Tomlinson
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2014-05-25
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416618635

Although much has changed in schools in recent years, the power of differentiated instruction remains the same—and the need for it has only increased. Today's classroom is more diverse, more inclusive, and more plugged into technology than ever before. And it's led by teachers under enormous pressure to help decidedly unstandardized students meet an expanding set of rigorous, standardized learning targets. In this updated second edition of her best-selling classic work, Carol Ann Tomlinson offers these teachers a powerful and practical way to meet a challenge that is both very modern and completely timeless: how to divide their time, resources, and efforts to effectively instruct so many students of various backgrounds, readiness and skill levels, and interests. With a perspective informed by advances in research and deepened by more than 15 years of implementation feedback in all types of schools, Tomlinson explains the theoretical basis of differentiated instruction, explores the variables of curriculum and learning environment, shares dozens of instructional strategies, and then goes inside elementary and secondary classrooms in nearly all subject areas to illustrate how real teachers are applying differentiation principles and strategies to respond to the needs of all learners. This book's insightful guidance on what to differentiate, how to differentiate, and why lays the groundwork for bringing differentiated instruction into your own classroom or refining the work you already do to help each of your wonderfully unique learners move toward greater knowledge, more advanced skills, and expanded understanding. Today more than ever, The Differentiated Classroom is a must-have staple for every teacher's shelf and every school's professional development collection.

The Self-Organizing School

The Self-Organizing School
Author: Alan Bain
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2022-06-14
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1475862733

The Self-Organizing School provides ground-breaking insights and guidance about how schools can fulfill their aspirations for quality and productivity in learning and teaching. The book describes a comprehensive decade long school design process and effort that improves teaching quality and student outcomes. The practical guidance and examples employed throughout the book are supported by one of the most extensive longitudinal studies of a school reform process, including data from over 1600 classroom observations, 12,000 student evaluations and research studies of school change, technology use, student achievement, collaboration, and teacher effectiveness.

Creating Productive Cultures in Schools

Creating Productive Cultures in Schools
Author: Joseph Murphy
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2014-04-23
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1412995698

Leading Researcher Joseph Murphy and his colleague Daniela Torre shed light on two critical issues in education today: student underachievement and how to build effective, high-performing schools. Murphy draws from considerable research and scholarship in the area of school reform. This research is based on meaningful links with the worlds of practice and policy, and builds upon our most robust understanding about school improvement. The book examines the historical footings of the American public school to expose the economic, political, social, and cultural currents that have shaped and continue to influence our understanding of public education and underachievement.

PISA 2022 Results (Volume III) Creative Minds, Creative Schools

PISA 2022 Results (Volume III) Creative Minds, Creative Schools
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2024-06-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9264575839

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students around the world know and can do. This volume – Volume III, Creative Minds, Creative Schools – is one of five volumes presenting the results of the eighth round of the PISA assessment. For the first time, in 2022, PISA assessed students’ capacity to engage in creative thinking in 64 countries and economies, defined as students’ capacity to produce original and diverse ideas. This volume describes student performance in creative thinking in different contexts and how creative thinking performance and attitudes vary across and within countries and economies. It examines differences in performance by student characteristics, including gender and socio-economic status, as well as school-characteristics. The volume also offers an insight into school leader and teacher attitudes towards creative thinking, how opportunities for students to engage in creative thinking vary across schools, and how these factors are associated with student outcomes.

The Productive High School

The Productive High School
Author: Joseph Murphy
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2001-02-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780761977780

Murphy and his colleagues discuss how reform based on empirical evidence and a robust set of theories can create productive high schools for all students. Focus is on core technologies of learning and teaching, organizational systems, and institutional linkages between schools and their environments. Using current research and case studies from successful schools, they show how to construct models of learning-driven school communities that encourage excellence. Key concepts cover: defining the learning imperative; developing humanized and intellectual relationships for learning; laying the groundwork for dynamic, adaptive change; and building linkages with home and family.