Real School Issues

Real School Issues: Case Studies for Educators shares a series of application-based activities that highlight school issues and that are presented in each chapter with a case study, a brief literature review and guiding discussion questions, to be used with undergraduate and graduate students, and current educators. Across the globe, there are many unforeseen problems throughout our schools, such as issues in Curriculum and Instruction; Assessment and Testing; Classroom Management, Student Discipline and Campus Safety; Educator Ethical Issues; or Parents and Outside Stakeholders. This book uses researched based, problem-solving measures to help graduate and undergraduate students, as well as current educators, construct and develop potential solutions to these problems. The focus of this book is to be used as a tool to assisting learners to use researched based methods to assist them in problem solving “real world” problems in a theoretical, “safe” environment of the classroom where they can be lead and assisted by their colleagues, peers, and instructors.

Schools across the U.S. look very different today than they did a generation ago. Police officers, drug-sniffing dogs, surveillance cameras, and high suspension rates have become commonplace. The Real School Safety Problem uncovers the unintended but far-reaching effects of harsh school discipline climates. Evidence shows that current school security practices may do more harm than good by broadly affecting the entire family, encouraging less civic participation in adulthood, and garnering future financial costs in the form of high rates of arrests, incarceration, and unemployment. This text presents a blueprint for reform that emphasizes problem-solving and accountability while encouraging the need to implement smarter school policies.

Schools across the U.S. look very different today than they did a generation ago. Police officers, drug-sniffing dogs, surveillance cameras, and high suspension rates have become commonplace. The Real School Safety Problem uncovers the unintended but far-reaching effects of harsh school discipline climates. Evidence shows that current school security practices may do more harm than good by broadly affecting the entire family, encouraging less civic participation in adulthood, and garnering future financial costs in the form of high rates of arrests, incarceration, and unemployment. This text presents a blueprint for reform that emphasizes problem-solving and accountability while encouraging the need to implement smarter school policies.Ê

This is a book full of ideas for introducing real world problems into mathematics classrooms and assisting teachers and students to benefit from the experience. Taken as a whole these contributions provide a rich resource for mathematics teachers and their students that is readily available in a single volume. Nowadays there is a universal emphasis on teaching for understanding, motivating students to learn mathematics and using real world problems to improve the mathematics experience of school students. However, using real world problems in mathematics classrooms places extra demands on teachers in terms of extra-mathematical knowledge e.g. knowledge of the area of applications, and pedagogical knowledge. Care must also be taken to avoid overly complex situations and applications. Papers in this collection offer a practical perspective on these issues, and more. While many papers offer specific well worked out lesson type ideas, others concentrate on the teacher knowledge needed to introduce real world applications of mathematics into the classroom. We are confident that mathematics teachers who read the book will find a myriad of ways to introduce the material into their classrooms whether in ways suggested by the contributing authors or in their own ways, perhaps through mini-projects or extended projects or practical sessions or enquiry based learning. We are happy if they do! This book is written for mathematics classroom teachers and their students, mathematics teacher educators, and mathematics teachers in training at pre-service and in-service phases of their careers.

In this study, Katherine Simon analyses the ways teachers address or avoid moral issues that arise in middle and high school classrooms, then explains how morally charged issues may be taught responsibly in a diverse democracy.

The ultimate aim of this book is to identify the conceptual tools and the instructional modalities which enable students and teachers to cross the boundary between school mathematics and real world problem solving. The book identifies, examines, and integrates seven conceptual tools, of which five are constructs (activity theory, narrative, modeling, critical mathematics education, ethnomathematics) and two are contexts (STEM and the workplace). The author develops two closely linked multiple-perspective frameworks: one for learning real world problem solving in school mathematics, which sets the foundations of learning real world problem solving in school mathematics; and one for teaching real world problem solving in school mathematics, which explores the modalities of teaching real world problem solving in school mathematics. “The book is composed as, on the one hand, a high-level theoretical scholarly work on real world problem solving in school mathematics, and, on the other hand, a set of twelve narratives which, put together, constitute a thought-provoking and moving personal and professional autobiography.” - Mogens Niss “These narratives combine aspects of Murad’s personal trajectory as an individual with those points in his professional career at which he became aware of perspectives on and approaches to mathematics education that were both significant in and of themselves, and instrumental for the specific scholarly endeavor presented in the book.” - Mogens Niss

In this insightful look at school reform, Robert Evans examines the real-life hurdles to implementing innovation and explains how the best-intended efforts can be stalled by educators who too often feel burdened and conflicted by the change process. He provides a new model of leadership along with practical management strategies for building a framework of cooperation between leaders of change and the people they depend upon to implement it.

This book presents the first published accounts and evaluations of the first free market in education in the U.S., Arizona charter schools.. The charter school is fast becoming one of the most significant attempts at public education reform in this country. Over 1100 charter schools operate in twenty-seven states, with several hundred more to be added in the next two years. School Choice in the Real World looks at the charter school movement through a highly focused lens: it examines charter schools in Arizona, which currently account for nearly one-quarter of all charter schools. Using this state as a case study, the editors examine the experiences of actual charter school operators, social scientific analysis, policy discussions, and criticism and forecasting for the future. School choice is the most talked about reform of American public education, yet writings about choice remain highly speculative because no state has adopted a free market approach to education--until now. The charter school is fast becoming one of the most significant attempts at public education reform in this country. Over 1100 charter schools operate in twenty-seven states, with several hundred more to be added in the next two years. School Choice in the Real World looks at the charter school movement through a highly focused lens: it examines charter schools in Arizona, which currently account for nearly one-quarter of all charter schools.Since 1994, Arizona has implemented a charter school law with the lowest barriers to entry in the nation. As a result, Arizona has more than 200 charter school campuses. Some districts have even lost more than 10% of their students to charter schools. Using the state of Arizona as a case study, the editors examine the experiences of actual charter school operators, social scientific analysis, policy discussions, and criticism and forecasting for the future. The editors bring together academics, policy-makers, and practicioners, and they explain and evaluate how school choice works in the real world.