Many of today's parents yearn to live in or near the lively, culturally vibrant heart of the city—in diverse, walkable neighborhoods full of music and theater, accessible to museums and stores, awash in ethnic eateries, and radiating a true sense of community. This is a major shift from recent generations that saw middle class families trading urban centers for suburbs with lawns, malls, parks, and good schools. But good schools still matter. And standing in the way of many parents' urban aspirations is the question: Will the public schools in the city provide a strong education for my kids? To be sure, lots of parents favor sending their sons and daughters to diverse schools with children from a variety of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. But can such schools successfully meet the educational needs of all those different kids? How do middle class children fare in these environments? Is there enough challenge and stimulation in schools that also struggle to help poor immigrant children reach basic standards? Is there too much focus on test scores? And why is it so hard to find diverse public schools with a progressive, child-centered approach to education? These quandaries and more are addressed in this groundbreaking book by Michael J. Petrilli, one of America's most trusted education experts and a father who himself is struggling with the Diverse Schools Dilemma.
“Follow the science.” How often have you picked up an education book to read how, according to the authors, the system is broken, failing, and flailing—but their ideas for fixing it will bring about a miraculous transformation? That’s not the approach of this volume. Sure, the editors believe that our system of education could achieve significantly better results. But they also recognize that schools have gotten better over time. One explanation is the progress schools have made in “following the science”. Especially in early reading and math instruction, scholars know more now about what works than we did in the past, and more schools are putting that knowledge into practice. Now, in the wake of a horrific pandemic, even the best elementary schools are struggling to help their students get their momentum back again. In this book, the editors share high-quality syntheses of evidence and insights from leading educators, academics, and other experts. And they communicate those findings in user-friendly language, with an understanding of the real-world complexities of schools and classrooms.
In the years after A Nation at Risk, conservatives’ ideas to reform America’s lagging education system gained much traction. Key items like school choice and rigorous academic standards drew bipartisan support and were put into practice across the country. Today, these gains are in retreat, ceding ground to progressive nostrums that do little to boost the skills and knowledge of young people. Far from being discouraged, however, conservatives should seize the moment to refresh their vision of quality K–12 education for today’s America. These essays by 20 leading conservative thinkers do just that. Students, according to this vision, should complete high school with a thorough understanding of the country’s history, including gratitude for its sacrifices, respect for its achievements, and awareness of its shortcomings. They should also learn to be trustworthy stewards of a democratic republic, capable of exercising virtue and civic responsibility. Beyond helping to form their character, schools ought to ready their pupils for careers that are productive, rewarding, and dignified. Excellent technical-training opportunities will await those not headed to a traditional college. Regardless of the paths and schools that they select, all students must come to understand that they can succeed in America if they are industrious, creative, and responsible. Anchored in tradition yet looking towards tomorrow, How to Educate an American should be read by anyone concerned with teaching future generations to preserve the country’s heritage, embody its universal ethic, and pursue its founding ideals.
Hess is a specialist in education policy at the American Enterprise Institute and Harvard U.; Petrilli is with the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a Washington-based school reform organization. They offer a concise guide to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), covering the history and key elements of the law, how it is intended to work, how i.
Written by an author team of accomplished leaders in statistics education, The Basic Practice of Statistics (BPS) reflects the actual practice of statistics, where data analysis and design of data production join with probability-based inference to form a coherent science of data. The authors’ ultimate goal is to equip students to carry out common statistical procedures and to follow statistical reasoning in their fields of study and in their future employment. The text’s long-standing renown is built on an inspired framework of balanced content, experience with data, and the importance of ideas. These themes are widely accepted by statisticians concerned about teaching and are directly connected to and reflected by the themes of the College Report of the Guidelines in Assessment and Instruction for Statistics Education (GAISE) Project. The eighth edition of The Basic Practice of Statistics is supported in SaplingPLUS for a user experience of its own. SaplingPLUS combines Macmillan’s StatsTools, powerful multimedia resources, and text-specific exercises with the powerful targeted feedback of Sapling Learning, where every problem is a teaching and learning opportunity.
Decades of research clearly show what works in schools, yet a huge gap persists between those instructional best practices and what is widely taught—and not taught—in classrooms today. In Results Now 2.0, Mike Schmoker expands on his bestselling book and offers a broader, deeper analysis of the entire K–12 education system and how it can improve. He describes a systemic buffer of policies, pedagogy, and initiatives that prevents everyone—teachers, students, and parents—from understanding our collective failure to align instruction with evidence of what works. We need to bridge the gap between proven practice and common practice. By focusing on the fundamental elements of curriculum, literacy, and effective instruction, Schmoker offers hope for the future. He describes schools that have successfully used evidence and strategic practice to remove the buffer, and he shows how schools can improve—quickly. This book is a call for both educators and the public to demand transparency and fidelity to the most effective actions that transform our schools and help us see results now.
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