Pressing Forward: Increasing and Expanding Rigor and Relevance in America's High Schools is organized to place secondary education, specifically the goals of preparing young adults to be college and career ready, in contemporary perspective, emphasizing the changing global economy and trends in policy and practice. High school students must be equipped with tools they need during and beyond high school for mapping their futures in a global and flat world that demands workers prepared to take up 21st century careers. Following Thomas Freidman and other writers on the topic, this book takes as its core premise that the world has been irrevocably altered by technology and that technology takes a prominent role in shaping post-secondary education and career opportunities. The challenges facing education and educators in a flattened world can best be addressed by creating opportunities for students who are ready for a world in which they are expected to pursue learning throughout their lifetimes, understand and use technology, engage in active civic lives, function well in diverse workplace settings, and be willing to take risks. Most of all, however, these individuals must be very well prepared during high school by taking advanced level mathematics, science and other challenging coursework, while at the same time actively engaging in collaborative, creative endeavors that prepare them to continuously reinvent themselves to stay ahead of automation and outsourcing. The book will be a unique and useful contribution to the education reform and policy literature as it examines secondary education at an historical moment-the convergence of significant education spending and focus on high school reform. Developed from diverse authors' research programs on secondary education, the chapters in this volume highlight both changing and steadfast features of high schools, questioning if attempts to foster change-whether tinkering around the edges or inventing a new way-adequately address shortcomings in equity and excellence found in American high schools.

Product Description: In Education Reform in Florida, sociologists and historians evaluate Governor Jeb Bush s nation-leading school reform policies since 1999. They examine the startlingly broad range of education policy changes enacted in Florida during Bush s first term, including moves toward privatization with a voucher system, more government control of public education institutions with centralized accountability mechanisms, and a superboard for all public education...read more

Entries document issues important to the secondary education of American students, covering such topics as the historical development of schools, student clubs and alliances, state-mandated testing, and violence in schools.

Many new approaches to school improvement are being proposed in the current climate of assessment and school accountability. This book explores one of these approaches, a new model of leadership training known as Learner-Centered Leadership (LCL). It is built around the fundamental idea that learning and learning communities are natural processes that, when properly harnessed, can lead to the highest levels of professional engagement and problem solving. Key features of this exciting new approach to school leadership include the following: Broad-based and Generative—The book’s narratives vividly illustrate the extraordinary ability of LCL to generate new approaches to leadership development. For example, encouraging and assisting school leaders to reflect on their own leadership attributes relative to the implementation of the school mission to ensure high teacher efficacy and student learning. In this respect the volume contributes significantly to the field of school leadership and professional development by extending above and beyond a narrow focus on instructional leadership.  Practice Oriented—By creating communities that encourage conversation and analysis the new data-driven models of school improvement are more likely to be successfully implemented. Without analytical discourse, the process of interpreting school data and transforming it into practice would be largely lost.  Conceptually Appropriate—The realization that everyone within a school (students, teachers, administrators) belongs to the same learning community minimizes status differences and encourages teamwork. The LCL administrator is much less likely to be authoritarian and power-oriented and much more likely to be transformative and student outcome focused.   This book is appropriate for master’s level courses and certification seminars, and for inservice workshops dealing with school leadership. 

Product Description: Summarizes findings of a long-term study of math and science education reforms in Chicago, El Paso, Memphis, and Miami.Based on a three-year study of the National Science Foundation's Urban Systemic Initiative, Meaningful Urban Education Reform is an overview of recent attempts to change teaching in mathematics and science in urban environments...read more

Research has consistently documented the failure of schools to reach students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. One reason suggested for this failure is teachers' lack of understanding and appreciation for students' home backgrounds, while most teachers are eager to becvome informed and supportive of their diverse students many have lacked the opportunity to develop the knowedge and skills appropriate to working with such students. Ethnic Diversity examines how migration and settlement patterns have varied for these populations throughout U.S. history, documenting what researchers have learned about Latino, Native American, African American, urban Appalachian, and Asian American families, neighborhoods, and communities as these relate to children's learning through case studies (in the form of vignettes) and suggests how schools, communites, and universities can address the needs of culturally diverse students and their families.

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Product Description: This book is organized into eight parts: systemic reform; sociology and educational policy; national content standards and assessments; opportunity-to-learn standards; school to work; school, parent, and community support; professional development; safe, disciplined, and drug free schools; and the implications of federal legislation...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: This text addresses the issues underlying the restructuring of American schools at the family, school and community level. It presents a balance of the theoretical issues underlying reform and the practical ways in which specific groups are wrestling with these issues.

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Product Description: This volume critiques current federal and state education reform initiatives, and addresses a number of important questions: What are the major themes of these initiatives? How are they different from previous reform efforts? What are the political implications of the reform initiatives and the expected impact on schools and communities? The underlying conceptual framework of this book contends that reform efforts must be comprehensive in order to work Entire communities must value and adopt the importance of education...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: This volume focuses on Appalachians as a case study of internal migration in developed countries. Since World War II, Appalachian miners have left the coal towns of their mountain region for the car towns of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Although the problems of educating disadvantaged youth often seem overwhelming, this volume provides optimistic insights on the subject. All of the contributors are committed to the principle that disadvantaged children can be served by schools...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Book by Borman, Kathryn M.

Book by Borman, Kathryn M., Swami, Piyush, Wagstaff, Lonnie D., Swami, Piyush D., Wagstaff, Lonnie, Borman, Kathryn M.

Product Description: This volume constitutes a unique contribution to the cross-disciplinary field of family studies. It focuses on issues brought about by the movement of large numbers of women with children into the workplace; the impact of their employment on men's and women's traditional responsibilities and family roles; and the implications of these changing roles for public policy, employers, and social service agencies...read more

Product Description: First published in 1984. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.