America S Teachers

Since its initial publication and multiple reprints in hardcover in 2005, Teachers Have It Easy has attracted the attention of teachers nationwide, appearing on the New York Times extended bestseller list, C-SPAN, and NPR's Marketplace, in additio...

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What's wrong with today's teacher-evaluation systems-and how to improve them Unsound teacher evaluation practices lead to misinformed decisions regarding strategies for student learning, resulting in negative effects to students. Education measurement and evaluation expert W. James Popham critiques what is wrong with many existing teacher-evaluation systems and offers an alternate system that respects the professionalism and dignity of teachers. Popham argues that, because teaching is a very situation- specific profession, the use of any paint-by-numbers, one- size-fits-all teacher evaluation system is patently absurd. Rather, the only defensible approach to teacher evaluation is to base it on collegial judgment, that is, on the evaluative conclusions of experienced teachers who have been specifically trained and formally certified to carry out this function. This book discusses: Key strengths and weaknesses of prominent teacher-evaluation evidence How to improve a flawed teacher-evaluation program The merits of a teacher evaluation program based on "evidence-governed collegial judgment

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A groundbreaking history of 175 years of American education that brings the lessons of the past to bear on the dilemmas we face today—and brilliantly illuminates the path forward for public schools. “[A] lively account." —New York Times Book Review In The Teacher Wars, a rich, lively, and unprecedented history of public school teaching, Dana Goldstein reveals that teachers have been embattled for nearly two centuries. She uncovers the surprising roots of hot button issues, from teacher tenure to charter schools, and finds that recent popular ideas to improve schools—instituting merit pay, evaluating teachers by student test scores, ranking and firing veteran teachers, and recruiting “elite” graduates to teach—are all approaches that have been tried in the past without producing widespread change.

Celebrating educators, who go far above and beyond the call of duty, American Teacher shines a spotlight on one of the most underappreciated, undercompensated, yet critically important professions in the world. Over the course of two years, Katrina Fried has interviewed and written the stories of 50 extraordinary teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade, selected from public and charter schools across the United States. The result is a collection of inspiring and informative first person-narratives accompanied by heartfelt letters from students and captivating portraits taken by celebrated photographers from around the country such as Peter Feldstein, Roman Cho, Paul Natkin and Laura Straus. American Teacher introduces us to classroom heroes like Stephen Ritz of NYC's South Bronx, who uses sustainable agriculture as a tool to engage and inspire his neighborhood's most at-risk special-needs students; Rafe Esquith, a trail-blazing, multi-award-winning educator and author, who has spent 31years teaching 5th grade from within the same four walls at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles; and Iowan Sarah Brown Wessling who's unique "learner-centered" approach to teaching high school English earned her the 2010 National Teacher of the Year award. These are our most unsung heroes, the men and women responsible for molding and preparing our children to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In the face of increasing class sizes, insufficient resources, and budget cuts, many of our teachers are dipping into their own pockets and personal time to bridge the gap for their students; they are finding innovative and engaging solutions to institutional problems and changing the outcome of countless lives in the process. Hear their stories, see their faces, and join us as we pay tribute to their passion and sacrifice.

"This book moves beyond the purported dichotomy between university-based teacher education and alternatives such as Teach For America to consider their common challenges and suggest a starting place from which to imagine a future of more effective teacher preparation. In focusing on the experiences of the first Teach For America cohort between 1990-1992, the book anchors its analysis in a particular historical moment, allowing a significant accounting of a pivotal time in [teacher] education as well as thoughtful consideration of both change and continuity in how teachers have been prepared and entered the classroom over the decades since. Through its use of oral history testimonies, Schooling Teachers offers important stories about individuals' personal experiences and actions, but also reveals the broader collective and social forces that shaped and gave meaning to those experiences. Richly detailed qualitative data, in the form of oral history, enables the authors to draw from the specific narratives some general insights that speak to the larger issues of staffing and supporting urban schools"--

Why are America's public schools falling so short of the mark in educating the nation's children? Why are they organized in ineffective ways that fly in the face of common sense, to the point that it is virtually impossible to get even the worst teachers out of the classroom? And why, after more than a quarter century of costly education reform, have the schools proven so resistant to change and so difficult to improve? In this path-breaking book, Terry M. Moe demonstrates that the answers to these questions have a great deal to do with teachers unions—which are by far the most powerful forces in American education and use their power to promote their own special interests at the expense of what is best for kids. Despite their importance, the teachers unions have barely been studied. Special Interest fills that gap with an extraordinary analysis that is at once brilliant and kaleidoscopic—shedding new light on their historical rise to power, the organizational foundations of that power, the ways it is exercised in collective bargaining and politics, and its vast consequences for American education. The bottom line is simple but devastating: as long as the teachers unions remain powerful, the nation's schools will never be organized to provide kids with the most effective education possible. Moe sees light at the end of the tunnel, however, due to two major transformations. One is political, the other technological, and the combination is destined to weaken the unions considerably in the coming years—loosening their special-interest grip and opening up a new era in which America's schools can finally be organized in the best interests of children.

“Should be in the hands of every history teacher in the country.”— Howard Zinn James Loewen has revised Teaching What Really Happened, the bestselling, go-to resource for social studies and history teachers wishing to break away from standard textbook retellings of the past. In addition to updating the scholarship and anecdotes throughout, the second edition features a timely new chapter entitled "Truth" that addresses how traditional and social media can distort current events and the historical record. Helping students understand what really happened in the past will empower them to use history as a tool to argue for better policies in the present. Our society needs engaged citizens now more than ever, and this book offers teachers concrete ideas for getting students excited about history while also teaching them to read critically. It will specifically help teachers and students tackle important content areas, including Eurocentrism, the American Indian experience, and slavery. Book Features: An up-to-date assessment of the potential and pitfalls of U.S. and world history education. Information to help teachers expect, and get, good performance from students of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Strategies for incorporating project-oriented self-learning, having students conduct online historical research, and teaching historiography. Ideas from teachers across the country who are empowering students by teaching what really happened. Specific chapters dedicated to five content topics usually taught poorly in today’s schools.