Quality and Equity in Education draws attention to the importance of developing and testing theories of educational effectiveness and using these theories for improvement purposes. It makes a major contribution to knowledge and theory building in research on promoting quality and equity in education. The book presents an improved version of the…

This publication provides a comprehensive analysis of the most important issues facing teachers during the early stages of their careers. The effectiveness of teachers fresh to the profession is an important policy issue, especially knowing the impact that teachers have on student learning. The OECD's Teaching and Learning International Survey…

Through "teacher research", teachers engage in the systematic study of their own practice to answer questions they have about teaching and learning, and their own effectiveness. This book explores what teacher research in the early childhood setting looks like, why it is important to the field of early childhood education, and how…

This is a down-to-earth, heart-to-heart book about what it takes to be an exceptional early childhood teacher. The author uses her experience as a classroom observer and a developmental psychologist to create a rationale for best practice--the reasoning behind the best (worst and average) classroom practice. Cindy Rzasa Bess examines a variety of…

The fundamental purpose of educational supervision is to increase the confidence and improve the competence of teachers. This book is a guide for supervisors and teachers in the training and development of teaching staffs in school systems; it also serves as an informal text for use in college and university systems. The book offers opportunities…

"A Look at Transfer" examines the six levels of transfer and the adult learner. The book explores the seven bridging strategies to use with adult learners as they learn how the professional development content they are learning does, indeed, transfer into their classrooms and into their life situations. Following a preface, this book is divided…

Professional development for teachers is at a crucial period. In order to help students meet demanding new standards, teachers must have greater success than ever before. The concept of "teacher as learner" must be explored more deeply by educators. At the core of this concept is the idea that many reforms undertaken in the name of greater student…

This book examines peer review, a prominent feature of the new unionism, relying heavily on peer review programs in Columbus and Toledo, Ohio. Peer review encompasses various procedures by which teachers and their unions can exercise more responsibility for improving teacher performance and terminating the services of teachers who do not perform…

This book examines transformational leadership and explores why such leadership can enhance the work of secondary-school leaders. It focuses on school leadership exercised in restructuring contexts. The text is divided into three parts: (1) the context for changing leadership; (2) transformational school leadership; and (3) beyond transformational…

This book examines the effects of reforms in some countries' national education systems, noting that far from improving education, they have often made it more difficult for teachers to do a good job in the classroom. It focuses on how teaching has changed and continues to change in England's educational reform climate. The book argues that many…

Business leaders created New American Schools (NAS) to develop "break-the-mold" designs for schools serving grades K-12. The notion of a design was meant to convey a coherent and comprehensive set of school-level practices that unified a school behind a goal of high performance by all students. These practices would cover all grades, all students…

Disputing the claim that improved student learning requires stronger academic standards and stiffer tests, the authors of this book contend that effective state reform depends on coherence in policy and practice, and opportunities for professional learning. It draws on a study of a program in California that worked to improve mathematics teaching…