Schools Of Opportunity

Author : Prudence L. Carter,Kevin G. Welner
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2013-04-26
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780199983001

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Closing the Opportunity Gap by Prudence L. Carter,Kevin G. Welner Pdf

While the achievement gap has dominated policy discussions over the past two decades, relatively little attention has been paid to a gap even more at odds with American ideals: the opportunity gap. Opportunity and achievement, while inextricably connected, are very different goals. Every American will not go to college, but every American should be given a fair chance to be prepared for college. In communities across the U.S., children lack the crucial resources and opportunities, inside and outside of schools that they need if they are to reach their potential. Closing the Opportunity Gap offers accessible, research-based essays written by top experts who highlight the discrepancies that exist in our public schools, focusing on how policy decisions and life circumstances conspire to create the "opportunity gap" that leads inexorably to stark achievement gaps. They also describe sensible policies grounded in evidence that can restore and enhance opportunities. Moving beyond conventional academic discourse, Closing the Opportunity Gap will spark vital new conversations about what schools, parents, educators, and policymakers can and should do to give all children a fair chance to thrive.

Author : Adam York,Kevin Welner,Linda Molner Kelley
Publisher : Teachers College Press
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2023-01-27
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780807768365

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Schools of Opportunity by Adam York,Kevin Welner,Linda Molner Kelley Pdf

Schools of Opportunity builds an argument for shifting the way that excellent schools are recognized and built. The National Education Policy Center's Schools of Opportunity project was designed to highlight public high schools that are using research-based practices for closing opportunity gaps in student learning. The project recognizes schools working to address the needs of all students, whether or not those schools have high average test scores. This approach thus embraces a shift away from the nation's myopic focus on outcomes. This follows from research findings that schools alone cannot fix the problems created by the stark inequalities in our society. Instead, schools should be expected to do their part by responding to inequities with research-based practices. With these shifts in mind, this book provides case studies of schools that demonstrate key criteria that other schools can emulate, such as an inclusive school climate, support for language-minority students, performance-based assessment, teacher professionalism, a commitment to detracking, and supports for students in need. Book Features: Provides accounts of school reform, jointly told by researcher-practitioner teams, connecting current research with successful efforts of educators to create outstanding learning environments. Brings together the voices of principals and school leaders who share stories of how their work has unfolded in their school, district, and state contexts. Identifies the school leadership and teacher practices that close opportunity gaps for student learning, and what it takes to implement them.

Author : William Schmidt,Curtis McKnight
Publisher : Teachers College Press
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2015-04-17
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780807771082

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Inequality for All by William Schmidt,Curtis McKnight Pdf

Inequality for All makes an important contribution to current debates about economic inequalities and the growing achievement gap, particularly in mathematics and science education. The authors argue that the greatest source of variation in opportunity to learn is not between local communities, or even schools, but between classrooms. They zero in on one of the core elements of schooling—coverage of subject matter content—and examine how such opportunities are distributed across the millions of school children in the United States. Drawing on data from the third TIMMS international study of curriculum and achievement, as well as a six-district study of over 500 schools across the United States, they point to Common Core State Standards as being a key step in creating a more level playing field for all students. William H. Schmidt is University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University and co-director of the Education Policy Center. Curtis C. McKnight is emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Oklahoma.

Author : Greg J. Duncan,Richard J. Murnane
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
Page : 573 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2011-09-01
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781610447515

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Whither Opportunity? by Greg J. Duncan,Richard J. Murnane Pdf

As the incomes of affluent and poor families have diverged over the past three decades, so too has the educational performance of their children. But how exactly do the forces of rising inequality affect the educational attainment and life chances of low-income children? In Whither Opportunity? a distinguished team of economists, sociologists, and experts in social and education policy examines the corrosive effects of unequal family resources, disadvantaged neighborhoods, insecure labor markets, and worsening school conditions on K-12 education. This groundbreaking book illuminates the ways rising inequality is undermining one of the most important goals of public education—the ability of schools to provide children with an equal chance at academic and economic success. The most ambitious study of educational inequality to date, Whither Opportunity? analyzes how social and economic conditions surrounding schools affect school performance and children’s educational achievement. The book shows that from earliest childhood, parental investments in children’s learning affect reading, math, and other attainments later in life. Contributor Meredith Phillip finds that between birth and age six, wealthier children will have spent as many as 1,300 more hours than poor children on child enrichment activities such as music lessons, travel, and summer camp. Greg Duncan, George Farkas, and Katherine Magnuson demonstrate that a child from a poor family is two to four times as likely as a child from an affluent family to have classmates with low skills and behavior problems – attributes which have a negative effect on the learning of their fellow students. As a result of such disparities, contributor Sean Reardon finds that the gap between rich and poor children’s math and reading achievement scores is now much larger than it was fifty years ago. And such income-based gaps persist across the school years, as Martha Bailey and Sue Dynarski document in their chapter on the growing income-based gap in college completion. Whither Opportunity? also reveals the profound impact of environmental factors on children’s educational progress and schools’ functioning. Elizabeth Ananat, Anna Gassman-Pines, and Christina Gibson-Davis show that local job losses such as those caused by plant closings can lower the test scores of students with low socioeconomic status, even students whose parents have not lost their jobs. They find that community-wide stress is most likely the culprit. Analyzing the math achievement of elementary school children, Stephen Raudenbush, Marshall Jean, and Emily Art find that students learn less if they attend schools with high student turnover during the school year – a common occurrence in poor schools. And David Kirk and Robert Sampson show that teacher commitment, parental involvement, and student achievement in schools in high-crime neighborhoods all tend to be low. For generations of Americans, public education provided the springboard to upward mobility. This pioneering volume casts a stark light on the ways rising inequality may now be compromising schools’ functioning, and with it the promise of equal opportunity in America.

Author : Fernando Reimers
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 490 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Education
ISBN : UTEXAS:059173007687075

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Unequal Schools, Unequal Chances by Fernando Reimers Pdf

The contributors to this volume discuss current policies and issues in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States, as they explore the nature of the relationship among education, poverty, and inequality. The book provides evidence linking school participation, the quality of education for poor children in the Americas, and the impact of education policies to promote social justice.

Author : Patricia M. McDonough
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 1997-11-13
Category : Education
ISBN : 0791434788

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Choosing Colleges by Patricia M. McDonough Pdf

Examines the everyday experiences of high school seniors as they choose their colleges and demonstrates that college choice is a more complex social and organizational reality than has been previously understood.

Author : James E. Ryan
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2010-08-06
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780199745609

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Five Miles Away, A World Apart by James E. Ryan Pdf

How is it that, half a century after Brown v. Board of Education, educational opportunities remain so unequal for black and white students, not to mention poor and wealthy ones? In his important new book, Five Miles Away, A World Apart, James E. Ryan answers this question by tracing the fortunes of two schools in Richmond, Virginia--one in the city and the other in the suburbs. Ryan shows how court rulings in the 1970s, limiting the scope of desegregation, laid the groundwork for the sharp disparities between urban and suburban public schools that persist to this day. The Supreme Court, in accord with the wishes of the Nixon administration, allowed the suburbs to lock nonresidents out of their school systems. City schools, whose student bodies were becoming increasingly poor and black, simply received more funding, a measure that has proven largely ineffective, while the independence (and superiority) of suburban schools remained sacrosanct. Weaving together court opinions, social science research, and compelling interviews with students, teachers, and principals, Ryan explains why all the major education reforms since the 1970s--including school finance litigation, school choice, and the No Child Left Behind Act--have failed to bridge the gap between urban and suburban schools and have unintentionally entrenched segregation by race and class. As long as that segregation continues, Ryan forcefully argues, so too will educational inequality. Ryan closes by suggesting innovative ways to promote school integration, which would take advantage of unprecedented demographic shifts and an embrace of diversity among young adults. Exhaustively researched and elegantly written by one of the nation's leading education law scholars, Five Miles Away, A World Apart ties together, like no other book, a half-century's worth of education law and politics into a coherent, if disturbing, whole. It will be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered why our schools are so unequal and whether there is anything to be done about it.

Author : Ludger Woessmann,Paul E. Peterson
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 339 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780262232579

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Schools and the Equal Opportunity Problem by Ludger Woessmann,Paul E. Peterson Pdf

Leading researchers from the United States and Europe report on new findings on the effect of education on equal opportunity, using economic and statistical techniques to assess the results of education policy reform in countries including the United States, Britain, Sweden, Germany, and Italy. Much educational research today is focused on assessing reforms that are intended to create equal opportunity for all students. Many current policies aim at concentrating extra resources on the disadvantaged. The state-of-the-art research in Schools and the Equal Opportunity Problem suggests, however, that even sizeable differential spending on the disadvantaged will not yield an equality of results. In this CESifo volume, leading scholars from the United States and Europe use the tools of economics to assess the outcome of efforts to solve education's equal opportunity problem in a range of countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany, Sweden, and Italy. The evidence shows some routes for advancement--testing with high performance standards, for example, and well-designed school choice--but also raises considerable doubts about whether many current school policies are effective in dramatically altering the opportunity structure. The evidence presented also calls into question the idea that causal peer effects are very strong. The contributors examine such topics as the link between education and parental income, the problematic past research on peer effects, tracking, the distribution of educational outcomes, human capital policy aimed at disadvantaged students, and private/public school choice. The research suggests that achieving universal primary and secondary education is both urgently needed and feasible. Will the international community commit the necessary economic, human, and political resources? The challenge, say the editors, is "as inspiring and formidable... as any extraterrestrial adventures--and far more likely to enrich and improve life on earth."

Author : Floraline I. Stevens
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 76 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Academic achievement
ISBN : UIUC:30112070069502

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Opportunity to Learn by Floraline I. Stevens Pdf

Author : Wagma Mommandi,Kevin Welner
Publisher : Teachers College Press
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780807779804

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School’s Choice by Wagma Mommandi,Kevin Welner Pdf

Access issues are pivotal to almost all charter school tensions and debates. How well are these schools performing? Are they segregating and stratifying? Are they public and democratic? Are they fairly funded? Can apparent successes be scaled up? Answers to all these core questions hinge on how access to charter schools is shaped. This book describes the incentives and pressures on charter schools to restrict access and examines how charters navigate those pressures, explaining access-restricting practices in relation to the ecosystem within which charter schools are created. It also explains how charters have sometimes responded by resisting the pressures and sometimes by surrendering to them. The text presents analyses of 13 different types of practices around access, each of which shapes the school’s enrollment. The authors conclude by offering recommendations for how states and authorizers can address access-related inequities that arise in the charter sector. School’s Choice provides timely information on critical academic and policy issues that will come into play as charter school policy continues to evolve. Book Features: Examines how charter schools control who gains and retains access.Explores policies and practices that undermine equitable admission and encourage opportunity hoarding.Offers a set of policy recommendations at the state and federal level to address access-related issues.

Author : William H. Schmidt,Curtis C. McKnight
Publisher : Teachers College Press
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2012-07-06
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780807753415

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Inequality for All by William H. Schmidt,Curtis C. McKnight Pdf

Inequality for All makes an important contribution to current debates about economic inequalities and the growing achievement gap, particularly in mathematics and science education. The authors argue that the greatest source of variation in opportunity to learn is not between local communities, or even schools, but between classrooms. They zero in on one of the core elements of schooling—coverage of subject matter content—and examine how such opportunities are distributed across the millions of school children in the United States. Drawing on data from the third TIMMS international study of curriculum and achievement, as well as a six-district study of over 500 schools across the United States, they point to Common Core State Standards as being a key step in creating a more level playing field for all students.

Author : Thomas Hatch,Jordan Corson,Sarah Gerth van den Berg
Publisher : Corwin Press
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2021-01-19
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781071838501

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The Education We Need for a Future We Can′t Predict by Thomas Hatch,Jordan Corson,Sarah Gerth van den Berg Pdf

Improve Schools and Transform Education In order for educational systems to change, we must reevaluate deep-seated beliefs about learning, teaching, schooling, and race that perpetuate inequitable opportunities and outcomes. Hatch, Corson, and Gerth van den Berg challenge the narrative when it comes to the "grammar of schooling"--or the conventional structures, practices, and beliefs that define educational experiences for so many children—to cast a new vision of what school could be. The book addresses current systemic problems and solutions as it: Highlights global examples of successful school change Describes strategies that improve educational opportunities and performance Explores promising approaches in developing new learning opportunities Outlines conditions for supporting wide-scale educational improvement This provocative book approaches education reform by highlighting what works, while also demonstrating what can be accomplished if we redefine conventional schools. We can make the schools we have more efficient, more effective, and more equitable, all while creating powerful opportunities to support all aspects of students’ development. "You won’t find a better book on system change in education than this one. We learn why schools don’t change; how they can improve; what it takes to change a system; and, in the final analysis, the possibilities of system change. Above all, The Education We Need renders complexity into clarity as the writing is so clear and compelling. A powerful read on a topic of utmost importance." ~Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, OISE/Universtiy of Toronto "I cannot recommend this book highly enough – Tom tackles long-standing and emerging educational issues in new ways with an impressive understanding of the challenging complexities, but also feasible possibilities, for ensuring excellence and equity for all students." ~Carol Campbell, Associate Professor, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

Author : Ken Robinson,Lou Aronica
Publisher : Penguin Books
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2016-04-19
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780143108061

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Creative Schools by Ken Robinson,Lou Aronica Pdf

At a time when standardized testing businesses are raking in huge profits, when many schools are struggling, and students and educators everywhere are suffering under the strain, Ken Robinson argues for an end to our outmoded industrial educational system. He proposes instead a highly personalized, organic approach that draws on today's unprecedented technological and professional resources to engage all students, develop their love of learning, and enable them to face the real challenges of the twenty-first century. Filled with anecdotes, observations, and recommendations from professionals on the front line of transformative education, case histories, and groundbreaking research, Creative Schools aims to inspire teachers, parents, and policy makers alike to rethink the real nature and purpose of education.

Author : Fernando M. Reimers
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 467 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2021-09-14
Category : Education
ISBN : 9783030815004

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Primary and Secondary Education During Covid-19 by Fernando M. Reimers Pdf

This open access edited volume is a comparative effort to discern the short-term educational impact of the covid-19 pandemic on students, teachers and systems in Brazil, Chile, Finland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. One of the first academic comparative studies of the educational impact of the pandemic, the book explains how the interruption of in person instruction and the variable efficacy of alternative forms of education caused learning loss and disengagement with learning, especially for disadvantaged students. Other direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic diminished the ability of families to support children and youth in their education. For students, as well as for teachers and school staff, these included the economic shocks experienced by families, in some cases leading to food insecurity and in many more causing stress and anxiety and impacting mental health. Opportunity to learn was also diminished by the shocks and trauma experienced by those with a close relative infected by the virus, and by the constrains on learning resulting from students having to learn at home, where the demands of schoolwork had to be negotiated with other family necessities, often sharing limited space. Furthermore, the prolonged stress caused by the uncertainty over the resolution of the pandemic and resulting from the knowledge that anyone could be infected and potentially lose their lives, created a traumatic context for many that undermined the necessary focus and dedication to schoolwork. These individual effects were reinforced by community effects, particularly for students and teachers living in communities where the multifaceted negative impacts resulting from the pandemic were pervasive. This is an open access book.

Author : Ted Dintersmith
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 261 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2018-04-10
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780691180618

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What School Could Be by Ted Dintersmith Pdf

An inspiring account of teachers in ordinary circumstances doing extraordinary things, showing us how to transform education What School Could Be offers an inspiring vision of what our teachers and students can accomplish if trusted with the challenge of developing the skills and ways of thinking needed to thrive in a world of dizzying technological change. Innovation expert Ted Dintersmith took an unprecedented trip across America, visiting all fifty states in a single school year. He originally set out to raise awareness about the urgent need to reimagine education to prepare students for a world marked by innovation--but America's teachers one-upped him. All across the country, he met teachers in ordinary settings doing extraordinary things, creating innovative classrooms where children learn deeply and joyously as they gain purpose, agency, essential skillsets and mindsets, and real knowledge. Together, these new ways of teaching and learning offer a vision of what school could be—and a model for transforming schools throughout the United States and beyond. Better yet, teachers and parents don't have to wait for the revolution to come from above. They can readily implement small changes that can make a big difference. America's clock is ticking. Our archaic model of education trains our kids for a world that no longer exists, and accelerating advances in technology are eliminating millions of jobs. But the trailblazing of many American educators gives us reasons for hope. Capturing bold ideas from teachers and classrooms across America, What School Could Be provides a realistic and profoundly optimistic roadmap for creating cultures of innovation and real learning in all our schools.