Evaluating Transition to School Programs

Evaluating Transition to School Programs
Author: Sue Dockett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2021-10-21
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000464555

Transition to school represents a time of great change for all involved. Many transition to school programs have been developed to support positive transitions to school. While these programs have involved complex planning and implementation, often they have not been evaluated in rigorous or systematic ways. This book brings together Australian and international perspectives on research and practice to explore approaches to evaluating transition to school programs. For children, school is quite different from anything else they have experienced. For families and educators, there are considerable changes as they interact with new people and take on new roles. Developing effective transition to school programs is a key policy initiative around the world, based on recognition of the importance of a positive start to school and the impact of this for future school engagement and outcomes. Throughout the chapters of this book, authors from Australia, Germany, Sweden, Ireland and Jamaica share examples of evaluation practice, with the aim of encouraging educators to reflect on their own contexts and adopt evaluation practices that are relevant and appropriate for them. The book brings together the fields of evaluation research and transition to school. A wide range of examples and figures is used to relate research and practice and to illustrate possible applications of evaluation strategies. Evaluating Transition to School Programs highlights the importance of multiple perspectives of the transition to school and offers suggestions about how the perspectives of children, families, educators and community members might be included and analysed in evaluation strategies. Other themes throughout the book include the importance of collaboration, respectful and trusting relationships, practitioner-driven inquiry, strengths-based approaches and developing programs that are responsive to context. This book is written for educators and leaders in early years and primary school settings, and will also be of interest to researchers, students and policy makers in the field.

Managing Change and Transition

Managing Change and Transition
Author: Richard Luecke
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2003
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1578518741

This timely guide offers advice on how to recognize the need for organizational change, communicate the vision, prepare for structural change, and address emotional responses to downsizing.

Transition Programs for Children and Youth with Diverse Needs

Transition Programs for Children and Youth with Diverse Needs
Author: Kate Scorgie
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2022-01-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781801171021

Providing a focus on meaningful involvement and participation in communities and activities of choice, that secure benefits for all, the chapter authors examine both innovative evidence-based practices that facilitate transition, and potential barriers, supplemented by informative case studies.

Kindergarten Transition and Readiness

Kindergarten Transition and Readiness
Author: Andrew J. Mashburn
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2018-06-09
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 3319902008

This book presents a comprehensive overview of children’s transitions to kindergarten as well as proven strategies that promote their readiness. It presents theories and research to help understand children’s development during the early childhood years. It describes evidence-based interventions that support children in developmental areas essential to school success, including cognitive, social-emotional, and self-regulatory skills. Chapters review prekindergarten readiness programs designed to promote continuity of learning in anticipation of the higher grades and discuss transitional concerns of special populations, such as non-native speakers, children with visual and other disabilities, and children with common temperamental issues. The volume concludes with examples of larger-scale systemic approaches to supporting children’s development during the transition to kindergarten, describing a coherent system of early childhood education that promotes long-term development. Featured topics include: Consistency in children’s classroom experiences and implications for early childhood development. Changes in school readiness in U.S. kindergarteners. Effective transitions to kindergarten for low-income children. The transition into kindergarten for English language learners. The role of close teacher-child relationships during the transition into kindergarten. Children’s temperament and its effect on their kindergarten transitions. Kindergarten Transition and Readiness is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, and graduate students in child and school psychology, educational psychology, social work, special education, and early childhood education.

The Knowledge Gap

The Knowledge Gap
Author: Natalie Wexler
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2020-08-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0735213569

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

Bridging the Transition from Primary to Secondary School

Bridging the Transition from Primary to Secondary School
Author: Alan Howe
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2011-06-02
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1136738096

Bridging the Transition from Primary to Secondary School offers an insight into children's development, building a framework for the creation of appropriate and relevant educational experiences of children between the ages of 10-12.

Transitions in Mathematics Education

Transitions in Mathematics Education
Author: Ghislaine Gueudet
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2016-07-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3319316222

This book examines the kinds of transitions that have been studied in mathematics education research. It defines transition as a process of change, and describes learning in an educational context as a transition process. The book focuses on research in the area of mathematics education, and starts out with a literature review, describing the epistemological, cognitive, institutional and sociocultural perspectives on transition. It then looks at the research questions posed in the studies and their link with transition, and examines the theoretical approaches and methods used. It explores whether the research conducted has led to the identification of continuous processes, successive steps, or discontinuities. It answers the question of whether there are difficulties attached to the discontinuities identified, and if so, whether the research proposes means to reduce the gap – to create a transition. The book concludes with directions for future research on transitions in mathematics education.

Effective School Management

Effective School Management
Author: K.B. Everard
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2004-05-26
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9781412900492

This popular book has been thoroughly updated for its fourth edition, and is even more directed towards the leadership demands on managers, both within the school and in its community setting.

A School where I Belong

A School where I Belong
Author: Dylan Wray
Publisher:
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2018
Genre: Schools
ISBN: 9781928257516

Over the past few years, it has become clear that the path of transformation in schools since 1994 has not led South Africa's education system to where we had hoped it could be. Through tweets, posts and recent protests in schools, it has become apparent that in former whites-only state schools, and private schools, children of colour and those who are 'different' don't feel they belong. Following the astonishing success of How to Fix South Africa's Schools, the authors sat down with young people who attended former Model-C and private schools, as well as principals and teachers, to reflect on.

The School Improvement Planning Handbook

The School Improvement Planning Handbook
Author: Daniel Linden Duke
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2013
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1610486315

Developing and updating school improvement plans is an annual ritual for virtually all school principals and their school improvement committees. Still, large numbers of schools continue to produce disappointing outcomes. The authors believe that part of the problem is the result of plans that focus on the wrong targets and that rely on ineffective strategies for improvement. To help principals and their school improvement committees develop and implement plans with a greater likelihood of success, the authors offer a step-by-step process for school improvement planning. They go on to pinpoint specific school improvement goals, including raising reading and mathematics achievement, building robust school cultures, addressing the needs of English language learners, improving instruction, and reducing absenteeism and dropouts. For each goal, a variety of objectives and proven strategies is presented along with sample school improvement plans. The book addresses the differences in planning to turn around a low-performing school, planning to sustain improvements over time, and planning to move a good school to a great school.