Community, Collaboration, and Collegiality in School Reform

Community, Collaboration, and Collegiality in School Reform
Author: Nina G. Dorsch
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 250
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780791435977

A "tale from the trenches" of educational reform, this book chronicles a year in the life of four teachers as they implement an innovative new program.

Teacher Learning That Matters

Teacher Learning That Matters
Author: Mary Kooy
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2012-02-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1136651357

In the continuing global call for educational reforms and change, the contributors in this edited collection address the critical issue of teacher learning from diverse national contexts and perspectives. They define "teacher learning that matters" as it shapes and directs pedagogical practices with the goal of improving student learning. This book weaves together major studies, research findings and theoretical orientations to represent a globalized network of inquiries into the what, how and why of teacher learning that shapes teacher skill and knowledge. Teacher learning matters on an international scale because teachers are the portals through which any initiative for change and reform is realized. Recognizing that a highly skilled teaching force is instrumental to improving student achievement adds import to generating interactive dialogue on teacher learning around the globe.

Community, Diversity, and Conflict Among Schoolteachers

Community, Diversity, and Conflict Among Schoolteachers
Author: Betty Achinstein
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2002-01-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780807741740

Using richly textured case studies of two very different schools, the author shows when teachers enact reforms in the name of community, what often emerges is conflict. Whether dealing with issues of teachers collaboration or how to meet the needs of a diverse student population, conflicts within professional communities reflect important differences of beliefs and practices. This book reframes conflict as constructive in building educational communities that learn and promote democratic values in schools.

Community, Collaboration, and Collegiality in School Reform

Community, Collaboration, and Collegiality in School Reform
Author: Nina G. Dorsch
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780791435984

A "tale from the trenches" of educational reform, this book chronicles a year in the life of four teachers as they implement an innovative new program.

Talking about a Revolution

Talking about a Revolution
Author: Jacqueline Cossentino
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2004-03-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780791460191

Analyzes how teachers attempt to translate the language of reform into pedagogical action.

Motivate! Inspire! Lead!

Motivate! Inspire! Lead!
Author: RoseAnne O'Brien Vojtek
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2009-05-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1452213682

Incorporating motivational theory and the authors' administrative experience, this resource presents 10 strategies for developing a collegial learning community through positive interdependence, reciprocal relationships, and mutual responsibility.

The Inclusive School

The Inclusive School
Author: Judy W. Kugelmass
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2004-11-08
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780807744918

How do schools sustain a collaborative, inclusive culture in these times of high-stakes testing and standardization? Through the story of a progressively minded public elementary school, the author shows how committed educators can collaborate to maintain a creative, inclusive educational environment and still rise to the demands of state-imposed standards. This timely volume explores the evolution of a school in chaos to a highly regarded school serving a diverse student population.

Collective Responsibility: Redefining What Falls Between the Cracks for School Reform

Collective Responsibility: Redefining What Falls Between the Cracks for School Reform
Author: Frances Whalan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2012-09-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9460918824

How to achieve school reform and organisational change has been a subject of much inquiry and interest by educators, education systems and academics. This volume advances both conceptual and methodological knowledge in understanding the cultural changes required at the school level to develop teachers’ collective responsibility for student learning. The concept of teachers’ collective responsibility is both intriguing and elusive as it traverses both sociological and psychological aspects of teaching. Five major but interconnected discourses: professional community; professional development; relational trust; accountability; and efficacy map the terrain of this complex phenomenon. Results reported in this volume provide clear evidence that collective responsibility is positively correlated the coherence between professional learning programs and the school’s learning goals, teachers’ commitment to enact those shared goals and teacher-to-teacher trust. In addition, teachers’ collective struggle to address pressing issues for teaching and learning, and pedagogical leadership, when embedded in the organisational capacity of a school, form a complex and dynamic set of factors influencing the development of collective responsibility. Drawing together these important findings surfaces a need to rethink how schools, education systems and academics pay attention to what falls between the cracks for school reform. This book addresses aspects of school culture that guide the choices in the development of teachers’ collective responsibility. Professional development, collective struggle, professional community, relational trust and pedagogical leadership as elements of school culture and organisational reform are modelled as a continuum of micro-political conditions interacting at the school level. This model offers new insights into the complexity of collective responsibility as a multi-dimensional phenomenon and is a useful guide to organisational change for school and system leaders and academics whose research interests are focused on the how of organisational change.

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.

Librarians in Schools as Literacy Educators

Librarians in Schools as Literacy Educators
Author: Margaret Kristin Merga
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2019-06-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3030210251

This book explores the role that librarians play within schools as literacy leaders. While librarians working in schools are generally perceived as peripheral to the educational experience, they can in fact provide significant support in encouraging children’s literacy and literature learning. As the need for strong functional literacy becomes ever more important, librarians who support literacy are often invaluable in achieving various academic, vocational and social goals. However, this contribution often seems to be overlooked, with funding cuts disproportionately affecting librarians. Building on recent research from Australia, the USA and the UK, the author examines the role that librarians may play as literacy educators in schools in order to make visible their contributions to the school community. In doing so, this book urges for greater recognition and support to school libraries and their staff as valuable members of the school community.