Product Description: Book by Neuman, Susan B.

Schools, today, are in the midst of the most major, costly educational reform movement in their history as they grapple with the federal mandates to leave no children behind, says author Susan B. Neuman, former Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education under President George W. Bush. Although some efforts for investing resources will be substantially more productive than others, there is little evidence that, despite many heroic attempts to beat the odds, any of these efforts will close more than a fraction of the differences in achievement for poor minority children and their middleclass peers. As Neuman explains in this insightful, revealing book, schools will fail, not due to the soft bigotry of low expectations, but because there are multitudes of children growing up in circumstances that make them highly vulnerable. Children who come to school from dramatically unequal circumstances leave school with similarly unequal skills and abilities. In these pages, however, Neuman shows how the odds can be changed, how we can break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage for children at risk After laying the critical groundwork for the need for change―excessive waste with little effect―this book provides a vivid portrait of changing the odds for high-poverty children. Describing how previous reforms have missed the mark, it offers a framework based on seven essential principles for implementing more effective programs and policies.Building on successes while being fiscally responsible is a message that has been shown to have wide bipartisan appeal, embraced by both liberals and conservatives. Following Neuman's essential principles, chapters describe programs for changing the odds for children, when the cognitive gaps are beginning to form, in these earliest years of their lives. In a highly readable style, Neuman highlights programs that are making a difference in children's lives across the country, weaving together narratives that tell a compelling story of hope and promise for our most disadvantaged children.

Product Description: How do schools provide instruction that meets the diverse needs of our children? This text frames varying issues in early literacy and describes practices suggested from the existing knowledge base. The focus is on theory and practice appropriate for children between two and eight years...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: This book brings together leaders in the field of literacy, early childhood education, media, and policy to discuss research-based, scientifically-validated strategies for advancing the literacy skills of children who grow up in poverty.

Product Description: Develop self-confidence, independence, and creative freedom in young children. Activities help children acknowledge and examine their feelings about their families, their friends, and themselves, and encourage them to use their five senses to explore the world around them.

Product Description: We all want our children to grow into healthy, self-confident, secure adults. "Exploring Feelings" is just the resource you need to help make it happen. This truly unique and invaluable activity book is the first to focus on emotional development -- on helping young children develop self-confidence, independence and creative freedom...read more

Product Description: Building crucial bridges between theory, research, and practice, this volume brings together leading authorities on the literacy development of young children. The Handbook examines the full range of factors that shape learning in and out of the classroom, from basic developmental processes to family and sociocultural contexts, pedagogical strategies, curricula, and policy issues...read more

Product Description: The National Geographic Readers series has expanded beyond elementary school levels to reach children at the very beginning of their lifelong relationship with reading. Hop Bunny! uses simple vocabulary and fun pictures to capture the interest and help develop the skills of beginning readers...read more

Come along as little puppy goes out exploring in the world. Along the way he meets new friends, big and small, and sees amazing sites, but can't wait to get back home to mom. Told in simple yet lively text built with sight words and using picture icons to aid reading, National Geographic Pre-readers will enchant kids just beginning their journey with books.

Product Description: This text presents an in-depth account of how young children's spoken and written language develops before formal schooling. It emphasizes the integration of speaking, listening, writing and reading: and illustrates how children learn and use these processes to connect with others, understand their world and express themselves...read more

Product Description: Television represents a potent social influence for today's children. Whether it is a positive or negative force, however, continues to be hotly debated. This is the central issue of this second edition. Has television contributed to a decline in literacy skills? Are the charges justified by existing evidence or by the results of current experimentation? Are there certain cultural biases toward television that narrowly define its uses as a learning tool? Can these issues be resolved to take advantage of new opportunities that the television medium presents? Television's influence on literacy and school learning are examined within a framework of four major themes: the displacement hypothesis, whether television influences the way children learn, the public's concern that television affects school-related behaviors, and television's capacity to whet children's academic interests...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: For early childhood educators, high-quality professional development can have an enormous positive impact on teaching practices—and boost young children's outcomes and school readiness. But since early childhood teachers come from diverse backgrounds and educational levels, it can be a challenge to create effective, customized professional development programs for them...read more

Product Description: Great Book