Public schools are a vast money pit. Education officials seem to prefer inefficiency and mediocrity. We could have better schools at less cost. This book explains how. Bruce Deitrick Price is the country's most prolific and aggressive writer on education. He is good at explaining the root causes, the problems that typically occur, and the ideological obsessions that lead our Education Establishment astray. This book presents 65 articles divided into 10 themes: Reading; Math; Weird Theories and Methods; Common Core; Historical Background; Guilty as Charged; Where Are Our Leaders; and What to Do Now. You can read the articles in any order and dip in wherever you want. This is pleasant reading about grim topics. If we don't save the public schools, we're not going to save very much else.

Inside the race to save a great American high school, where making the numbers is only the beginning Being principal was never her dream. Anabel Garza, the young widow of a young cop, got by teaching English to immigrant children, taking college classes at night and raising her son. And Reagan High was no dream assignment. Once famous for its state football championships, educational achievements and award-winning design, the school was a shadow of its former self. “Identified for improvement,” said the federal government. “Academically unacceptable,” said the state. Promising students were fleeing. Test scores were plunging. The education commissioner set a deadline of one year, threatening to close the school for good. But when Anabel took the job - cruising the mall for dropouts, tailoring lessons to the tests, firing a few lazy teachers and supporting the rest – she started something no one expected. As the numbers rose, she set out to re-create the high school she remembered, with plays and dances, yearbooks and clubs, crowded bleachers and teachers who brought books alive. And soon she was not alone. There was Derrick Davis, a star player on the basketball team in the early 1990s, coaching the Raiders toward a chance at the playoffs. There was Candice Kaiser, a science teacher who had left hard partying behind for Christ, drilling her students on chemistry while she drove them to games, tutoring sessions, Bible studies and sometimes even doctors’ appointments. There were JaQuarius Daniels, Ashley Brown and 900 other kids trying to pass the exams, escape the streets and restore the pride of a neighborhood, all while still growing up. Across the country, public schools face the threat of extinction in the numerically ordained churn of the accountability movement. Now, for the first time, we can tally the human cost of rankings and scores. In this powerful rejoinder to the prevailing winds of American education policy, Michael Brick takes us inside the high-pressure world of a school on the brink. Compelling, character-driven narrative journalism, Saving the School pays overdue tribute to the great American high school, and to the people inside.

Provides an overview of effective online teaching and learning practices.

All professions have their jargon, but the language of the education world is so impenetrable that it has become the stuff of internet jokes. This book translates and defines the terms and jargon unique to the K-12 world. What's the difference between Title I, Title IX, and Title VII? How does a norm-referenced test differ from a criterion-referenced test, or from a high-stakes test? What do classrooms look like when cooperative learning, experiential education, constructivism, block scheduling, or inclusion are being implemented? The Education Week Guide to K-12 Terminology will be a must-have reference for those new to the field, and will give veteran educators the language they need to explain terms to parents, school boards, and the outside world.

In this book Peterson interprets the history of American schools by placing major educational reformers in the context of their times and relates their thinking to our own era by scrutinizing the often unanticipated consequences of their commitments and ideas. These extraordinary individuals provided the critical ideas and articulated the ideals that motivated many others to search for ways to save the schools from the limitations in which they were embedded: Horace Mann, John Dewey, Martin Luther King, Al Shanker, William Bennett, and James S. Coleman. The drive to centralize was pervasive despite repeatedly expressed reform desire to customize education. Peterson argues that education has become an increasingly labor intensive industry that must reverse direction and become more capital intensive or it will descend in quality. Fortunately, technological change is making it possible radically alter the way in which education services are delivered, providing a new chance to save our schools.

The integration of information and communication technologies in education is unavoidable, as an increasing percentage of educators embrace modern technology, others are faced with the decision to reevaluate their own pedagogical practices or become obsolete. To meet the needs of students, one must first define what stipulates a successful K-12 student, the best practices of online classrooms, the warning signs for low-performing students, and how to engage web-based students. Optimizing K-12 Education through Online and Blended Learning addresses the models, support, cases, and delivery of K-12 online education. Seeking to further the conversation about the most effective ways to integrate ICT into the classroom, this publication presents theoretical frameworks to support educators and administrators. This book is an essential collection of research for teachers, administrators, students of education, IT professionals, developers, and policy makers.

Written specifically for K-12 teachers, this book covers all aspects of online education. Unique in its focus on K-12 learning, this book shows educators how to transform their teaching as they move from traditional face-to-face classrooms to online settings. Taking into account what teachers know about effective traditional classrooms, Kerry Rice guides the reader step by step through the change showing how familiar concepts, such as setting the tone, building community, course design, lesson planning and assessment, must be re-examined in the context of the online classroom. With the simple premise that teachers need practical information to move beyond traditional practices, it provides an overview of the key principles of effective online instruction, emphasizes the power of the learner-centered approach, and discusses the technology tools that make online delivery and design possible. Filled with checklists, guidelines, vignettes and sample lessons, the book guides educators throu.

Does the education of Black children matter? Not so much. The K-12 education system exists in a fog that serves the needs of the adults at the expense of the children who they are supposed to serve especially our children of color. Learn about the multiplicity of maladies and underlying racism that afflicts this corrupt system. Most of us know that the system is failed but we are unaware of the specifics of how the system engages in an actual war on youth. I will tell a personal and hard-hitting story that exposes this organized crime network. I will share my hope in the youth who I will challenge to take agency in addressing the system that is letting them down in such profound ways. Unfortunately, most educators will not want to read this book as it presents issues that they do not acknowledge let alone work to address. This is not your typical feel-good education book. It is meant to inspire the families and children to rise up to address the educational abomination within their midst.

This journey will engage you in dealing with some hard truths and it will take you down a new pathway and new ways of thinking about K-12 education. We now live in a nation that is struggling with deep social, economic and political conflicts. We are all doing our best to resolve these conflicts and to solve the critical challenges that we all face in the Digital Age, but our children and young adults are having a very difficult time in dealing with the realities of their young lives. We wrote this book because we want to engage all of our readers in each local community in frank, honest, down-to-earth, practical conversations about our K-12 schools as the foundation for our constitutional democracy. Without well-educated citizens, our government, our economy and our society will not survive. And this is true regardless of the political beliefs of our readers across the political spectrum.

The K-12 Educator’s Data Guidebook is a comprehensive field guide for school professionals learning to use data. “Non-data people,” rejoice! Requiring no prior proficiency in data tools and programming, this book validates the implicit challenges of learning to use data to empower educators and features original real-world examples from in-service educators to illustrate common problem-solving. Each chapter uses stories, humor, and a human approach to set the tone for a safe and fun learning experience. Through this highly practical foundation, everyday educators can better engage school initiatives, professional development, and instructional challenges that require competent data use for improving school systems.