The recent rise of “primarying” corresponds to the rise of national fundraising bases and new types of partisan organizations supporting candidates around the country

Throughout the contest for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, politicians and voters alike worried that the outcome might depend on the preferences of unelected superdelegates. This concern threw into relief the prevailing notion that—such unusually competitive cases notwithstanding—people, rather than parties, should and do control presidential nominations. But for the past several decades, The Party Decides shows, unelected insiders in both major parties have effectively selected candidates long before citizens reached the ballot box. Tracing the evolution of presidential nominations since the 1790s, this volume demonstrates how party insiders have sought since America’s founding to control nominations as a means of getting what they want from government. Contrary to the common view that the party reforms of the 1970s gave voters more power, the authors contend that the most consequential contests remain the candidates’ fights for prominent endorsements and the support of various interest groups and state party leaders. These invisible primaries produce frontrunners long before most voters start paying attention, profoundly influencing final election outcomes and investing parties with far more nominating power than is generally recognized.

Essential reading if you are considering making an application for primary initial teacher education or preparing to begin your programme. It introduces you to a range of perspectives on teaching and teacher education and guides you through the application process to ensure you choose the training route that’s right for you and achieve a successful result. Key chapters cover developing your subject knowledge in English and mathematics, understanding the curriculum, the nature of learning, assessment, behaviour issues and inclusive teaching. Useful features such as jargon busters, progress checklists and case studies make the material accessible and help you navigate the ‘new landscape’ of teacher education. In addition the text encourages you to reflect critically on your school experiences of learning and teaching and uses example of theory, research and practice to help you develop an informed stance on important themes.

Developing, promoting and maintaining a good professional teaching workforce from primary to upper secondary education is a policy imperative for education systems around the world. The data drawn from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) can help policy makers and education practitioners design policies and practices that enhance teaching across education levels.

An investigation of policy preferences in the U.S. and how group opinion affects political representation. While it is often assumed that policymakers favor the interests of some citizens at the expense of others, it is not always evident when and how groups' interests differ or what it means when they do. Who Gets Represented? challenges the usual assumption that the preferences of any one group—women, African Americans, or the middle class—are incompatible with the preferences of other groups. The book analyzes differences across income, education, racial, and partisan groups and investigates whether and how differences in group opinion matter with regard to political representation. Part I examines opinions among social and racial groups. Relying on an innovative matching technique, contributors Marisa Abrajano and Keith Poole link respondents in different surveys to show that racial and ethnic groups do not, as previously thought, predictably embrace similar attitudes about social welfare. Katherine Cramer Walsh finds that, although preferences on health care policy and government intervention are often surprisingly similar across class lines, different income groups can maintain the same policy preferences for different reasons. Part II turns to how group interests translate into policy outcomes, with a focus on differences in representation between income groups. James Druckman and Lawrence Jacobs analyze Ronald Reagan's response to private polling data during his presidency and show how different electorally significant groups—Republicans, the wealthy, religious conservatives—wielded disproportionate influence on Reagan's policy positions. Christopher Wlezien and Stuart Soroka show that politicians' responsiveness to the preferences of constituents within different income groups can be surprisingly even-handed. Analyzing data from 1876 to the present, Wesley Hussey and John Zaller focus on the important role of political parties, vis-à-vis constituents' preferences, for legislators' behavior. Who Gets Represented? upends several long-held assumptions, among them the growing conventional wisdom that income plays in American politics and the assumption that certain groups will always—or will never—have common interests. Similarities among group opinions are as significant as differences for understanding political representation. Who Gets Represented? offers important and surprising answers to the question it raises.

Congressional primaries are increasingly being blamed for polarization and gridlock in Congress. Most American states adopted congressional primaries during the first decades of the 20th century as a means of breaking the hold of political "bosses" on the nomination of candidates. Yet now, many contend that primaries have become a means by which the most dedicated party activists choose candidates unrepresentative of the electorate, and so general election voters are forced to choose between two ideologically extreme candidates. Consequently, there have been recent instances in both parties where nominees were chosen who were clearly not preferred by party leaders, and who arguably lost elections that their parties should have won. This book is the first to focus solely upon congressional primary elections, and to do so for a student readership. Boatright organizes his text around the contention that there are important differences between types of primaries, and these differences prevent us from making blanket statements about primary competition. He focuses on explanations of two sources of difference: differences in electoral structure and differences brought about by the presence or absence of an incumbent seeking reelection. The first three chapters introduce these differences, explore how they came to exist, and outline some of the strategic considerations for candidates, parties, interest groups, and voters in primary elections. The subsequent four chapters explore different types of primary elections, and the final chapter evaluates actual and proposed primary reforms. Congressional Primary Elections is the first book to provide a history and analysis of congressional primary elections and will serve as a crucial part of courses on political parties and campaigns and elections. The book gives students the tools for understanding arguments for and against the reform of primary elections and for understanding the differences between types of primaries.

This book is essential reading for students just beginning a career in primary school teaching. Written with the needs and questions of the new student teacher in mind, it covers the fundamental aspects of the job of the primary school teacher in an inspiring yet down-to-earth way. Each chapter covers a key issue in primary education. Becoming a Primary School Teacher is the perfect introductory text for the student teacher, helping them to prepare for their first school experience. It will also be of interest to more experienced teachers and teacher trainers.

What is meant by outstanding teaching? What makes the best teachers stand out from the rest? How can I develop my own practice to become an outstanding teacher myself? Whether you are training to become a primary school teacher or you are newly qualified and striving to improve your practice, this fully updated second edition of Becoming an Outstanding Primary School Teacher will support, inform and inspire you on your quest for excellence. Throughout, Russell Grigg draws on theory, research and case studies of real classroom practice to discuss what it takes to become an outstanding primary teacher today. This bestselling guide has been comprehensively revised to reflect the latest changes to the curriculum, including the National Curriculum in England for 2014 and Scotland’s Building Curriculum for Excellence. It has also widened its scope to appeal to trainee and serving teachers, reflecting the new Teachers’ Standards. Key topics include: defining and measuring outstanding teaching; understanding the theory, nature and scope of the curriculum; developing thinking skills in the classroom; understanding and meeting individual learning needs; using ICT to improve pedagogy; behaviour management; monitoring, assessment, recording and reporting. Becoming an Outstanding Primary Teacher will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students, including those on school-based programmes such as Teach First, as well as more experienced teachers seeking inspiration.

A stimulating expose on how the roots of today's partisan rage lie in the "outrage industry" - deregulated, commodified media markets that will do anything for money and attention.

Provides the most comprehensive empirical evaluation of primaries, demonstrating their importance in the US political system.