Saying "teaching matters most" is easy, and seems obvious. Making it the top priority for school leaders and staff is not so easy--in fact, it's messy. If we want to change how students write, compute, and think, then teachers must change how they teach. They must transform the old "assign-and-assess" model into engaging, compassionate, coherent,…

Overcome budget cuts, lack of leadership, top-down mandates, and other obstacles to professional development by using this book's take-charge approach. Joseph H. Semadeni guides you through a systemic method to professional development that: (1) Motivates teachers to continuously learn and apply best practices; (2) Makes adult learning activities…

An essential part of moving forward with the Understanding by Design[R] framework is to make sure its principles and strategies are reflected in all aspects of your school improvement efforts, including curriculum planning, leadership, teacher professional development, and action research. Here's a book designed to help you. From creating your…

This book is intended for those who are worried about the state of schools and who want to improve them. It focuses on the Authentic Teaching, Learning and Assessment (ATLAS) program, which brought together the most successful ideas and practices of four partner organizations (Education Development Center, School Development Program, Harvard…

This book examines the broader aspects of promoting children's learning and development through the Comer Process. The Comer Process, a schoolwide intervention formulated by James P. Comer, centers on healthy child development as the keystone to academic achievement and life success. The text focuses on the Yale School Development Program (SDP), a…

The School BUS (bottom-up simple) model for school accountability uses local standards-based assessment data to improve schoolwide performance during the year, and from year to year. This system derives its ideas from abundant professional literature about successful school renewal. A local accountability process should link changes in school…

Administrators and their teaching staffs share responsibility for meeting federal, state, and district mandates regarding the delivery of educational services. Assessment and action plans, which grow from the partnership between the principal and teacher, are the key to improving student learning and performance. Year-end improvement plans are…

Complete your review of where science education in the U.S. is heading with this wide-ranging look at secondary-level science curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Through lively examples of classroom practice, interviews with award-winning science teachers and science education experts, and a thorough review of the research, discover how…

This book presents a series of case studies in higher education which demonstrate how teams of academics have improved their practice, skill and conditions of learning and teaching through "action research." Action research is defined as collaborative critical enquiry by academics themselves into their own teaching practice, into problems of…

This volume contains 17 articles on the emergence and potential of "Quality Improvement" (QI) efforts in higher education. Quality Improvement is defined as continuous improvement of processes in a cycle of plan (administration of instructional processes), do/check (assess), act (on the assessment and then continue to), plan-do-check-act. The…

This book deals with six major areas related to vocational instruction: foundations of instruction, curriculum planning and development, instructional strategies, instruction for students with special needs, student organizations as an integral part of instruction, and the appraisal of the instructional process. The foundations of learning section…