How Schools Really Matter

Author : Douglas B. Downey
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 176 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2020-12-07
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780226733364

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How Schools Really Matter by Douglas B. Downey Pdf

Most of us assume that public schools in America are unequal—that the quality of the education varies with the location of the school and that as a result, children learn more in the schools that serve mostly rich, white kids than in the schools serving mostly poor, black kids. But it turns out that this common assumption is misplaced. As Douglas B. Downey shows in How Schools Really Matter, achievement gaps have very little to do with what goes on in our schools. Not only do schools not exacerbate inequality in skills, they actually help to level the playing field. The real sources of achievement gaps are elsewhere. A close look at the testing data in seasonal patterns bears this out. It turns out that achievement gaps in reading skills between high- and low-income children are nearly entirely formed prior to kindergarten, and schools do more to reduce them than increase them. And when gaps do increase, they tend to do so during summers, not during school periods. So why do both liberal and conservative politicians strongly advocate for school reform, arguing that the poor quality of schools serving disadvantaged children is an important contributor to inequality? It’s because discussing the broader social and economic reforms necessary for really reducing inequality has become too challenging and polarizing—it’s just easier to talk about fixing schools. Of course, there are differences that schools can make, and Downey outlines the kinds of reforms that make sense given what we know about inequality outside of schools, including more school exposure, increased standardization, and better and fairer school and teacher measurements. ? How Schools Really Matter offers a firm rebuke to those who find nothing but fault in our schools, which are doing a much better than job than we give them credit for. It should also be a call to arms for educators and policymakers: the bottom line is that if we are serious about reducing inequality, we are going to have to fight some battles that are bigger than school reform—battles against the social inequality that is reflected within, rather than generated by—our public school system.

Author : Douglas B. Downey
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2020
Category : Educational equalization
ISBN : OCLC:1296541262

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How Schools Really Matter by Douglas B. Downey Pdf

Most of us assume that public schools in America are unequal--that the quality of the education varies with the location of the school and that as a result, children learn more in the schools that serve mostly rich, white kids than in the schools serving mostly poor, black kids. But it turns out that this common assumption is misplaced. As Douglas B. Downey shows in How Schools Really Matter, achievement gaps have very little to do with what goes on in our schools. Not only do schools not exacerbate inequality in skills, they actually help to level the playing field. The real sources of achievement gaps are elsewhere. A close look at the testing data in seasonal patterns bears this out. It turns out that achievement gaps in reading skills between high- and low-income children are nearly entirely formed prior to kindergarten, and schools do more to reduce them than increase them. And when gaps do increase, they tend to do so during summers, not during school periods. So why do both liberal and conservative politicians strongly advocate for school reform, arguing that the poor quality of schools serving disadvantaged children is an important contributor to inequality? It's because discussing the broader social and economic reforms necessary for really reducing inequality has become too challenging and polarizing--it's just easier to talk about fixing schools. Of course, there are differences that schools can make, and Downey outlines the kinds of reforms that make sense given what we know about inequality outside of schools, including more school exposure, increased standardization, and better and fairer school and teacher measurements. ​ How Schools Really Matter offers a firm rebuke to those who find nothing but fault in our schools, which are doing a much better than job than we give them credit for. It should also be a call to arms for educators and policymakers: the bottom line is that if we are serious about reducing inequality, we are going to have to fight some battles that are bigger than school reform--battles against the social inequality that is reflected within, rather than generated by--our public school system.

Author : Alfie Kohn
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Page : 356 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Education
ISBN : 0618083456

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The Schools Our Children Deserve by Alfie Kohn Pdf

Arguing against the tougher standards rhetoric that marks the current education debate, the author of No Contest and Punished by Rewards writes that such tactics squeeze the pleasure out of learning. Reprint.

Author : Nikki Grimes
Publisher : Astra Publishing House
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2022-03-01
Category : Young Adult Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781635925623

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Ordinary Hazards by Nikki Grimes Pdf

Michael L. Printz Honor Book Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor Book Boston Globe/Horn Book Nonfiction Honor Book Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for Teens Six Starred Reviews—★Booklist ★BCCB ★The Horn Book ★Publishers Weekly ★School Library Connection ★Shelf Awareness A Booklist Best Book for Youth * A BCCB Blue Ribbon * A Horn Book Fanfare Book * A Shelf Awareness Best Children's Book * Recommended on NPR's "Morning Edition" by Kwame Alexander "This powerful story, told with the music of poetry and the blade of truth, will help your heart grow."–Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak and Shout "[A] testimony and a triumph."–Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way Down In her own voice, acclaimed author and poet Nikki Grimes explores the truth of a harrowing childhood in a compelling and moving memoir in verse. Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night - and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki's notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this accessible and inspiring memoir that will resonate with young readers and adults alike, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards - ordinary and extraordinary - of her life.

Author : Susan E. Mayer,Paul E. Peterson
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
Page : 378 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2010-12-01
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780815708056

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Earning and Learning by Susan E. Mayer,Paul E. Peterson Pdf

A Brookings Institution Press and Russell Sage Foundation publication Education is one of the largest sectors of the U.S. economy--yet scholars, educators, policymakers, and parents do not agree about what the money spent on education really buys. In particular, they do not agree on how much education improves children's ability to learn or whether the things children learn in school truly improve their chances for success as adults. If schooling increases how much students know and what they know does pay off later, then it is important to ask what schools can do to increase students' learning and earning. The essays in this book report estimates of the effects of learning on earnings and other life outcomes. They also examine whether particular aspects of schooling--such as the age at which children begin school, classroom size, and curriculum--or structural reform--such as national or statewide examinations or school choice--affect learning. Taken together, their findings suggest that liberals are correct in saying that more investment is needed in early education, that class sizes should be further reduced, and that challenging national or state standards should be established. But they also provide support for conservatives who ask for a more demanding curriculum and greater school choice. Contributors include John Bishop, Eric Hanushek, James Heckman, Christopher Jencks, Caroline Minter Hoxby, Fred Mosteller, and Christopher Winship.

Author : Suzanne Bouffard
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2017-09-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780399184949

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The Most Important Year by Suzanne Bouffard Pdf

An eye-opening look inside pre-K in America and what it will take to give all children the best start in school possible. At the heart of this groundbreaking book are two urgent questions: What do our young children need in the earliest years of school, and how do we ensure that they all get it? Cutting-edge research has proven that early childhood education is crucial for all children to gain the academic and emotional skills they need to succeed later in life. Children who attend quality pre-K programs have a host of positive outcomes including better language, literacy, problem-solving and math skills down the line, and they have a leg up on what appears to be the most essential skill to develop at age four: strong self-control. But even with this overwhelming evidence, early childhood education is at a crossroads in America. We know that children can and do benefit, but we also know that too many of our littlest learners don’t get that chance—millions of parents can’t find spots for their children, or their preschoolers end up in poor quality programs. With engrossing storytelling, journalist Suzanne Bouffard takes us inside some of the country’s best pre-K classrooms to reveal the sometimes surprising ingredients that make them work—and to understand why some programs are doing the opposite of what is best for children. It also chronicles the stories of families and teachers from many backgrounds as they struggle to give their children a good start in school. This book is a call to arms when we are at a crucial moment, and perhaps on the verge of a missed opportunity: We now have the means and the will to have universal pre-kindergarten, but we are also in grave danger of not getting it right.

Author : Jeanne H. Ballantine,Joan Z. Spade
Publisher : SAGE
Page : 504 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2014-02-21
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781452275833

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Schools and Society: A Sociological Approach to Education by Jeanne H. Ballantine,Joan Z. Spade Pdf

Undergraduate students of the sociology of education, education and society and education studies.

Author : Ronald J. Newell,Van Mark J. Ryzin
Publisher : R&L Education
Page : 129 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2009-01-16
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781578869701

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Assessing What Really Matters in Schools by Ronald J. Newell,Van Mark J. Ryzin Pdf

Since the 1960s, efforts to reform education—including various curricular changes, reading approaches, teacher preparation, money for the disadvantaged, and different instructional approaches—have failed to bring about true systemic change because the reforms fail to deal with a different definition of learning. The Hope Study was created to discover whether a radically different learning environment would achieve different outcomes. In detailing the outcome of the Hope Study, Assessing What Really Matters in Schools gives hope to innovative and progressive schools, to new and different accountability systems, while changing the conversation from an achievement discourse to a human development discourse.

Author : Saul Cooperman
Publisher : Open Court Publishing
Page : 190 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : Education
ISBN : 0812693353

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How Schools Really Work by Saul Cooperman Pdf

In this book, a with nearly 40 years' experience in education gives a crisp, clear explanation of what makes schools succeed or fail. He shows how a parent, administrator, or concerned observer can easily measure the school's performance, and act to improve the school. The author also explains the various ploys by which inept school administrations deflect criticism and demands for reform, quieting parents without addressing their concerns. "A plain English guide from a hands-on educator. Saul Cooperman knows America's schools. His book will help you know whether your school is right for your child". -- Lamar Alexander Former U.S. Secretary of Education "I receive many letters from people who want to know how to make their schools better. How Schools Really Work tells them how, in useful, clear detail... The thing I like best about this book is that it is so practical. It tells how education works, so that anyone can understand the problems and solutions, not just the symptoms". -- Joyce D. Brothers Psychologist and Syndicated Columnist "How Schools Really Work is a marvelous guide for parents, board members, administrators, and the community at large. It is written in language that anyone can understand. I only wish that I had had a copy of How Schools Really Work when I started to become involved in my children's education". -- Maude Dahme President, National Association of State Boards of Education

Author : Perfection Learning Corporation
Publisher : Turtleback
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1663608199

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Last Lecture by Perfection Learning Corporation Pdf

Author : Ben Levin
Publisher : Corwin Press
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2011-11-30
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781452296449

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More High School Graduates by Ben Levin Pdf

A proven system to boost high school graduation rates This guide helps school leaders and government policymakers boost high school graduation rates. Drawing from his knowledge as an education official and professor, author Ben Levin presents a system to turn around secondary schools that is adaptable for local-, district-, and state-level decision making. Components include: Keeping track of all students’ progress and intervening early to prevent failure Establishing curriculum and graduation requirements that support increased student success Improving teaching and learning Connecting with the community to engage families, local businesses, and other stakeholders in improving graduation rates Implementing methods for planning, communicating, and winning support

Author : Bryant G. Garth,Austin Sarat
Publisher : Northwestern University Press
Page : 276 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Law
ISBN : 0810114356

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How Does Law Matter? by Bryant G. Garth,Austin Sarat Pdf

The question of how law matters has long been fundamental to the law and society field. Social science scholarship has repeatedly demonstrated that law matters less, or differently, than those who study only legal doctrine would have us believe. Yet research in this field depends on a belief in the relevance of law, no matter how often gaps are identified. The essays in this collection show how law is relevant in both an instrumental and a constitutive sense, as a tool to accomplish particular purposes and as an important force in shaping the everyday worlds in which we live. Essays examine these issues by focusing on legal consciousness, the body, discrimination, and colonialism as well as on more traditional legal concerns such as juries and criminal justice.

Author : Deborah Meier
Publisher : Beacon Press
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2003-08-01
Category : Education
ISBN : 0807031518

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In Schools We Trust by Deborah Meier Pdf

We are in an era of radical distrust of public education. Increasingly, we turn to standardized tests and standardized curricula-now adopted by all fifty states-as our national surrogates for trust. Legendary school founder and reformer Deborah Meier believes fiercely that schools have to win our faith by showing they can do their job. But she argues just as fiercely that standardized testing is precisely the wrong way to that end. The tests themselves, she argues, cannot give the results they claim. And in the meantime, they undermine the kind of education we actually want. In this multilayered exploration of trust and schools, Meier critiques the ideology of testing and puts forward a different vision, forged in the success stories of small public schools she and her colleagues have created in Boston and New York. These nationally acclaimed schools are built, famously, around trusting teachers-and students and parents-to use their own judgment. Meier traces the enormous educational value of trust; the crucial and complicated trust between parents and teachers; how teachers need to become better judges of each others' work; how race and class complicate trust at all levels; and how we can begin to 'scale up' from the kinds of successes she has created.

Author : John Warner
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 285 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2018-12-03
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781421427119

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Why They Can't Write by John Warner Pdf

An important challenge to what currently masquerades as conventional wisdom regarding the teaching of writing. There seems to be widespread agreement that—when it comes to the writing skills of college students—we are in the midst of a crisis. In Why They Can't Write, John Warner, who taught writing at the college level for two decades, argues that the problem isn't caused by a lack of rigor, or smartphones, or some generational character defect. Instead, he asserts, we're teaching writing wrong. Warner blames this on decades of educational reform rooted in standardization, assessments, and accountability. We have done no more, Warner argues, than conditioned students to perform "writing-related simulations," which pass temporary muster but do little to help students develop their writing abilities. This style of teaching has made students passive and disengaged. Worse yet, it hasn't prepared them for writing in the college classroom. Rather than making choices and thinking critically, as writers must, undergraduates simply follow the rules—such as the five-paragraph essay—designed to help them pass these high-stakes assessments. In Why They Can't Write, Warner has crafted both a diagnosis for what ails us and a blueprint for fixing a broken system. Combining current knowledge of what works in teaching and learning with the most enduring philosophies of classical education, this book challenges readers to develop the skills, attitudes, knowledge, and habits of mind of strong writers.

Author : Amanda Ripley
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2014-07-29
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781451654431

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The Smartest Kids in the World by Amanda Ripley Pdf

Following three teenagers who chose to spend one school year living in Finland, South Korea, and Poland, a literary journalist recounts how attitudes, parenting, and rigorous teaching have revolutionized these countries' education results.