"Schools of Opportunity" builds an argument for shifting the way that excellent schools are recognized and built. The National Education Policy Center's Schools of Opportunity project was designed to highlight public high schools that are using research-based practices for closing opportunity gaps in student learning. The project…

"Preparing Teachers to Educate Whole Students" offers a wide-ranging comparative account of how innovative professional development programs in a number of countries guide and support teachers in their efforts to promote cognitive and socio-emotional growth in their students. The book focuses on holistic educational outcomes in an effort…

In comparing one public school to another, discussions frequently include talk concerning the socio economics of a school or district, which then leads to talk about the advantages that one socioeconomic setting has over another. Educators tend to agree that low academic achievement frequently associated with a low socioeconomic status is a…

Most of us have had at least one amazing teacher who has inspired, influenced, or encouraged us to do better, aim higher, or just be more confident. However, most of us have also had at least one teacher who has not met our expectations. In "Teachers Matter", education researcher Marcus A. Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute,…

As the title of this book suggests, how one understands, perceives and experiences democracy may have a significant effect on how he/she actually engages in, and with, democracy. Within the educational context, this is a key concern, and forms the basis of the research presented in this volume within a critical, comparative analysis. The Global…

In this book, the author uses his experiences as a parent, teacher, and school board member to explore what has gone wrong with education and how to make it right. He takes the reader inside classrooms, locker rooms, school board meetings, and parent-teacher conferences to discover how children are being educated--or, more often than not,…

Teachers in general are hired in conformity with an assumed standard, and are expected to reflect a conventional morality that corresponds to the government's ideologically sanctioned model of behavior. This book explores the situation of the lesbian teacher and her disposition not to reveal her sexual orientation. It is set in the Canadian…

This 10-chapter book discusses the research process and how it can be used to improve educational practice. The assumption is made that schools can and do make a difference in the educational progress of students, and that research data can be used to improve educational practice. Important current educational topics are also presented. These…

An assessment of the school reform movement, this book focuses on the states of the Deep South--Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Ten articles, organized into three sections, tackle such issues as the role of government in school reform, the professional growth of teachers, and the privatization of schools. Part 1 includes the following: "Public…

This book sets out a straightforward prescription for the schools that centers on the value of the individual teacher and rejects the billion-dollar school reform industry. The book argues that enormous monies and millions of hours of effort have gone into reforming U.S. schools in the past 10 years, with little to show for it. It indicated that…

Meaningful school reform requires a deeper understanding of how high schools evolved to their current condition. This book presents an objective history of American public secondary education in two ways--as a social history and as a synthesis of literature. Chapter 1 offers a brief history of American education, beginning with the debate over…

Values must play an important role in public school curricula. Recent increases in crime rates among youth, and divorces which change a child's family environment, indicate a need for young Americans to have guidance in their moral development. This problem has been considered by professional educational groups for over five decades. A review of…

This book is designed to help policymakers, educators, and researchers develop a deeper understanding of the issues of school restructuring and to give greater conceptual clarity to the terms of the current debate. The chapters of the book contain forum papers that are organized into two main parts. Following chapter 1, "Introduction: On Changing…

Over the last two decades, the co-authors of this book have worked together to build a tradition of intellectual freedom within public schools. The book describes their struggles as cultural workers, the pedagogical and legal strategies they employed, the resistance they encountered, the lessons they learned, and the impact that they have seen on…

Education has emerged as a leading national issue for the 1990s. To address some of the current and future issues facing education, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company asked members of the Metropolitan Life Foundation Education Advisory Council to articulate their views about recent and future directions in public-school-improvement efforts. This…