Education In An Era Of Schooling

In a context of increased politicization led by state and federal policymakers, corporate reformers, and for-profit educational organizations, The Politics of Education Policy in an Era of Inequality explores a new vision for leading schools grounded in culturally relevant advocacy and social justice theories. This timely volume tackles the origins and implications of growing accountability for educational leaders and reconsiders the role that educational leaders should and can play in education policy and political processes. This book provides a critical perspective and analysis of today’s education policy landscape and leadership practice; explores the challenges and opportunities associated with teaching in and leading schools; and examines the structural, political, and cultural interactions among school principals, district leaders, and state and federal policy actors. An important resource for practicing and aspiring leaders, The Politics of Education Policy in an Era of Inequality shares a theoretical framework and strategies for building bridges between education researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

This book looks to ask critical questions about the driving force behind the growth of 'International Education' and 'international Schooling' and offers an original 'demand-supply' framework for understanding this expansion.

School Reform in an Era of Standardization explores how teachers and school-based administrators navigate the processes of accountability and standardization in schooling systems and settings. It provides clear insights into how the work and learning of teachers and students in schools have been dramatically reconstituted by increased pressures of external, political scrutiny and accountability. The book reveals in detail the nature and effects of standardization processes upon schools and schooling systems. Specifically, it shows how curriculum development, teaching and assessment practices have all been recalibrated under conditions of increased external scrutiny of teacher and student work and learning, and how such processes are manifest in curriculum dominated by attention to literacy and numeracy, more 'scripted' pedagogies and standardized testing. However, the research not only elaborates the detrimental effects of such processes, but also how those responsible for educating in schools – teachers, heads of curriculum, deputy-principals and principals – have responded proactively by interpreting, interrogating and challenging these conditions. In this way, it provides resources for hope – evidence of what are described as more ‘authentic accountabilities’ – and at the same time it provides a clear portrait of the difficulty of fostering substantive curriculum, teaching and assessment reform during an era of increasingly reductive accountability processes. It will be an invaluable resource for understanding and enhancing practices in schools and school systems in the decades to come, and for giving hope to educators in the ongoing work of rebuilding trust in public education.

This book is a Festschrift for Emeritus Professor Stephen Kemmis, who has a long and eminent career as an educational researcher and academic spanning over 40 years. His work in curriculum, evaluation, critical practice, action research and practice theory has been influential across all continents of the world. The book examines critical perspectives on educational practice and the participatory nature of action research, including practitioner research particularly as undertaken by teachers in schools. Including vignettes from Kemmis’ colleagues and mentors, it draws on contributions from a range of academics whose scholarship has been inspired, influenced and initiated by his work. The chapters stem from a range of countries, including Australia, Canada, Finland, weden, the United Kingdom, United States of America, and Trinidad and Tobago - a testimony to the enduring and global legacy of Kemmis’ scholarship. Contributing authors include leading educational research scholars, indigenous elders from Australia, and community leaders concerned with environmental sustainability. The concluding focus of this book turns towards practice theory. Kemmis’ later work led to the development of the theory of practice architectures and gave rise to the development of the theory of ecologies of practices in education. Research drawing on the theory of practice architectures and ecologies of practices resulted in the leading text “Changing practices, changing education” (Kemmis, Wilkinson, Edwards-Groves, Hardy, Grootenboer & Bristol, 2014, Springer) that reports on an Australian investigation of the ecological relationship between student learning, teaching, professional learning, leading and researching practices.This theory is now being applied to study practices across a wide range of international contexts, sites and disciplines including early childhood, school education, university education, vocational education and training, community environment, indigenous cultural sustainability and health.

Much has been written about globalization and the challenge of preparing young people for the new world of work and life in times of complexity and continuous change. However, few works have examined how globalization has and will continue to shape education in the East. This volume discusses education within the context of globalization and examines what is occurring in schools and systems of education in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Singapore, and Australia. Closer examination of recent developments and current trends reveal the same turbulence and a range of common issues in areas such as assessment, curriculum, leadership, management of change, pedagogy, policy, professional capacity and technology. This volume demonstrates the commonalities and differences and offers tremendous insight into the way things are done in places where student achievement is high but there is also a sense of urgency in continuing an agenda of change.

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, we are living in a global era, yet schooling systems remain generally reactive and slow to adapt to shifting economic, technological, demographic, and cultural terrains. There is a growing urgency to create, evaluate, and expand new models of education that are better synchronized with the realities of today’s globally linked economies and societies. Educating the Whole Child for the Whole World examines one such model: the ethos and practices of the Ross Schools and their incubation, promotion, and launching of new ideas and practices into public education. Over the last two decades Ross has come to articulate a systematic approach to education consciously tailored for a new era of global interdependence. In this volume, world-renowned scholars from a variety of disciplines, as well as veteran teachers, administrators, and students, come together to examine some of the best practices in K-12 education in the context of an increasingly interconnected world. Together they explore how the Ross model of education, which cultivates in students a global perspective, aligns with broader trends in the arts, humanities, and sciences in the new millennium. Contributors: Nick Appelbaum, Ralph Abraham, Antonio M. Battro, Sally Booth, Michele Clays, Elizabeth M. Daley, Antonio Damasio, Hanna Damasio, Kurt W. Fischer, Howard Gardner, Vartan Gregorian, Christina Hinton, Hideaki Koizumi, Debra McCall, Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, John Sexton, Carola Suárez-Orozco, Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, William Irwin Thompson, and Sherry Turkle.

Our fourth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on school leadership in an era of high stakes accountability. Fueled by sweeping federal education accountability reforms, such as the United States’ No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (R2T) and Australia’s Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce, school systems around the world are being forced to increase academic standards, participate in high-stakes testing, and raise evaluation standards for teachers and principals. These results-driven reforms are intended to hold educators “accountable for student learning and accountable to the public” (Anderson, 2005, p. 2, emphasis in original). While policymakers and the public debate the merits of student achievement accountability measures, P-12 educational leaders do not have the luxury to wait for clear guidance and resources to improve their schools and operating systems. Instead, successful leaders must balance the need to create learning communities, manage the organizational climate, and encourage community involvement with the consequences testing has on teacher morale and public scrutiny. The chapters in this volume clearly indicate that as school leaders attend to these potentially competing forces, this affects their problem-solving strategies, ability to facilitate change, and encourage community involvement. We were delighted with the responses from colleagues around the world who were eager to share their research dealing with how leaders are functioning effectively within a high-accountability environment. The nine chapters in this volume provide empirical evidence of the strategies school leaders use to cope with problems and negotiate external demands while improving student performance. In particular, the voices and actions of principals, superintendents, and school board members are captured in a blend of quantitative and qualitative studies. The breadth of studies is impressive, ranging from case studies of individual principals to cross-district comparisons to national data from the National Center for Education Statistics. To highlight important findings, we have organized the book into five sections. The first section (Chapters 2, 3, and 4) highlights the problem-solving strategies used by principals and superintendents when pressured to turn around low-performing schools. In the second section (Chapters 5 and 6), attention is devoted to ways in which school leaders act as “buffers” by reducing the impact of external demands within their local school contexts. Next, Chapters 7 and 8 explore creative ways in which financial analyses can be used to assess the cost effectiveness of programs and services. Chapters 9 and 10 examine how principals enact their instructional leadership roles in managing curriculum reforms and evaluating teachers. Finally, in the last section (Chapter 11), Kenneth Leithwood synthesizes the major themes and ideas emerging across these chapters, paying particular attention to practical issues influencing school leaders in this era of school reform and accountability as well as promising areas for future research.

Almost every major American city is experimenting with school choice—a deeply controversial idea that is dramatically reshaping public education. Will the wider array of school options help parents and educators identify better strategies for helping all children learn? Or will the high stakes of the marketplace end up privatizing this most public of institutions? Education activist Sam Chaltain believes that before we can answer these questions, we must put a human face on the modern landscape of teaching and learning. Our School documents a year in the life of two schools in the nation’s capital—one a new charter school just opening its doors, the other a neighborhood school that first opened in 1924. Chaltain weaves together the observations and emotions of the people whose lives intersect there, and the triumphs and the challenges they experience. The result is an unsettling, complex portrayal of American public education. Our School is important reading for educational policymakers, administrators, parents, the media, and anyone who aspires to be a teacher. Book Features: Specific recommendations for creating a healthy, high-functioning school. A detailed account of what school choice actually looks and feels like to the people who experience it. A vivid description of the modern classroom and what it’s really like to teach in public school. An important focus on the humanity of teachers (their personal histories, their reasons for entering the profession, their day-to-day challenges). An intimate look at the inner lives of children (their biggest fears and needs, their moments of triumph and understanding). Sam Chaltain is a national educator and organizational change consultant based in Washington, DC. He was the National Director of the Forum for Education and Democracy and the founding director of the Five Freedoms Project. Visit his blog at samchaltain.com. “What Our School shows with passion and precision is that education is about real people leading real lives in real places. If school doesn’t engage them, it doesn’t work, no matter what the accountants and policymakers may say. That’s what this book is really about and why it’s so important for anyone who genuinely cares about schools, communities, and their children.” —From the Foreword by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned author and educator “This is an important book. Our School is vibrant and alive. Sam Chaltain’s keen insights and warm, readable prose invite readers to experience the complex, challenging, often frustrating, and occasionally triumphant lives of four caring teachers and their students. I urge you to accept the invitation.” —John Merrow, education correspondent, PBS NewsHour, and president and executive producer, Learning Matters , Inc. “Sam Chaltain is one of the most important voices in public education today, and he writes wonderfully well. In Our School, Sam puts a human face on urban education, showing us what it’s like to be a teacher, student, or parent in the Brave New World of school choice. Parents, educators, and policymakers should read this book. The result will be a more informed and creative conversation about what public education ought to be, and how to make it that way.” —Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy, The Courage to Teach, and Let Your Life Speak