This book evaluates contemporary approaches to education, with a particular focus on the ways in which assessment shapes the educational experience and influences pupils and students. It adopts a critical approach, arguing that there is a need for students to develop critical thinking skills, be flexible and have the capacity for originality. Education has increasingly come to be seen as a process with qualifications as the output; however, as economies change, attaining advantage increasingly relies on creativity and originality. Unfortunately, in the quest to remove uncertainty from education, creativity and originality are often overlooked; and the result is that education is impoverished. Creasy argues here that there is no single factor that has shaped education and led to this situation; rather, developments within education can be seen as having been shaped by a range of forces such as neoliberalism, New Public Management, standardization and internationalization. This is not to claim any deliberate undermining of education, but the cumulative effect is that education is less and less fit for purpose. Written for anyone involved in education, student, teacher or manager, this book draws upon Educations Studies, Sociology and Social Policy to offer a compelling critique of contemporary education.

There is a recent surge in the use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) within education globally, with disproportionate claims being made about what they show, ‘what works’, and what constitutes the best ‘evidence’. Drawing on up-to-date scholarship from across the world, Taming Randomized Controlled Trials in Education critically addresses the increased use of RCTs in education, exploring their benefits, limits and cautions, and ultimately questioning the prominence given to them. While acknowledging that randomized controlled trials do have some place in education, the book nevertheless argues that this place should be limited. Drawing together all arguments for and against RCTs in a comprehensive and easily accessible single volume, the book also adds new perspectives and insights to the conversation; crucially, the book considers the limits of their usefulness and applicability in education, raising a range of largely unexplored concerns about their use. Chapters include discussions on: The impact of complexity theory and chaos theory. Design issues and sampling in randomized controlled trials. Learning from clinical trials. Data analysis in randomized controlled trials. Reporting, evaluating and generalizing from randomized controlled trials. Considering key issues in understanding and interrogating research evidence, this book is ideal reading for all students on Research Methods modules, as well as those interested in undertaking and reviewing research in the field of education.

This professional resource equips K-12 students with the skills they need to be critical readers in the 21st century. Today's reader is reading across multiple genres, on phones and tablets, with text in hand, and also online, and this helpful book provides educators with techniques on how to teach students to read on every platform and in every genre, to struggle with text, and to break through to new ideas when reading text. It focuses on the habits that students must form in order to gain the confidence to access all texts across all platforms. Each chapter is devoted to developing the five habits for successful reading: reading closely, widely, critically, deeply, and purposefully. Grounded in the latest research, the easy-to-implement strategies and instructional methods will help students cultivate strong reading skills in the 21st century classroom.

Grade level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, e, p, e, i, s, t.

Getting the best out of students is made easier by using teaming to nurture their educational, emotional, social, and developmental needs, and this guide is a blueprint for teambuilding in any school setting. True stories and practical strategies make this an effective and entertaining tool for assembling and managing a team within a professional learning community. It includes a dynamic “3-5-3 Action Plan” for improving student behavior as well as tips for using teams to address Common Core State Standards. The book guides teams through resolving conflicts; planning ahead and preventing time wasting; setting consistent expectations for students; and connecting curriculum, instruction, and calendar schedules. It is a helpful combination of humor and instruction that will help any school with teambuilding.

Building on their important findings in The Source of the River, the authors now probe even more deeply into minority underachievement at the college level. Taming the River examines the academic and social dynamics of different ethnic groups during the first two years of college. Focusing on racial differences in academic performance, the book identifies the causes of students' divergent grades and levels of personal satisfaction with their institutions. Using survey data collected from twenty-eight selective colleges and universities, Taming the River considers all facets of student life, including who students date, what fields they major in, which sports they play, and how they perceive their own social and economic backgrounds. The book explores how black and Latino students experience pressures stemming from campus racial climate and "stereotype threat"--when students underperform because of anxieties tied to existing negative stereotypes. Describing the relationship between grade performance and stereotype threat, the book shows how this link is reinforced by institutional practices of affirmative action. The authors also indicate that when certain variables are controlled, minority students earn the same grades, express the same college satisfaction, and remain in school at the same rates as white students. A powerful look at how educational policies unfold in America's universities, Taming the River sheds light on the social and racial factors influencing student success.

The impetus for this Approaches to Teaching volume on The Taming of the Shrew grew from the editors' desire to discover why a play notorious for its controversial exploration of conflicts between men and women and the challenges of marriage is enduringly popular in the classroom, in the performing arts, and in scholarship. The result is a volume that offers practical advice to teachers on editions and teaching resources in part 1, "Materials," while illuminating how the play's subtle and complex arguments regarding not just marriage but a host of other subjects--modes of early modern education, the uses of clever rhetoric, intergenerational and class politics, the power of theater--are being brought to life in college classrooms. The essays in part 2, "Approaches," are written by English and theater instructors who have taught in a variety of academic settings and cover topics including early modern homilies and music, Hollywood versions of The Taming of the Shrew, and student performances.

The world of education has undergone major changes within the last year that have pushed online instruction to the forefront of learning. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, online learning has become paramount to the continued and uninterrupted teaching of students and has forced students and teachers alike to adjust to an online learning environment. Though some have already returned to the traditional classroom, or plan to very soon, others have begun to appreciate the value of online education – initiatives that had previously been discussed but never acted upon as they have been in the past year. With plenty of positive and negative aspects, online learning is a complex issue with numerous factors to consider. It is an issue that must be studied and examined in order to improve in the future. Curriculum Development and Online Instruction for the 21st Century examines the issues and difficulties of online teaching and learning, as well as potential solutions and best practices. This book includes an examination on the value of teaching fully via the internet as well as the challenges inherent in the training of teachers to teach in online environments. While addressing key elements of remote learning, such as keeping student data safe, as well as methods in which to engage students, this book covers topics that include assessment tools, teaching deaf students, web technology, and standardized curricula. Ideal for K-12 teachers, college faculty, curriculum developers, instructional designers, educational software developers, administrators, academicians, researchers, and students, this book provides a thorough overview of online education and the benefits and issues that accompany it.

This book explores the links between recent reports of increasing levels of unhappiness and mental health problems amongst children and young people, and changes within childhood which restrict and reduce opportunities for children to develop and maintain resilience. Although in academic terms children may be viewed as beings, Creasy and Corby posit that there is much to suggest that for parents, practitioners and policy-makers, children are primarily seen as becomings. The book argues that viewing children as becomings, together with the idea that childhood is fraught with danger, contributes to practices and policies which can be seen as making childhood tame. This taming of childhood leads to an impoverished childhood that does not provide the space that children need to grow and develop. Furthermore, Taming Childhood? challenges the idea that young adults are 'snowflakes', unable to cope with everyday pressures. Students and scholars across a range of social science disciplines will find this book of interest.

An eight-time national chess champion and world champion martial artist shares the lessons he has learned from two very different competitive arenas, identifying key principles about learning and performance that readers can apply to their life goals. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.