"The Art of Coaching Teams" is the manual you never received when you signed on to lead a team. Being a great teacher is one thing, but leading a team, or team development, is an entirely different dynamic. Your successes are public, but so are your failures--and there is no specific rubric or curriculum to give you direction. Team…

It's up to school leaders to shift the momentum away from conversations based on misperceptions and toward those that study critical issues about school improvement. "Crucial Conversations About America's Schools" talks about how to do this and provides examples of how to reframe conversations on the hot-button but important topics of…

"Sound-Bite Saboteurs" examines the emergence of a multifaceted, multimedia culture that encourages the use of sound bites to silence one's opponents at the expense of democratic deliberation and debate. No simple partisan phenomenon or mere attempt to "spin" a particular issue, sound-bite sabotage is, the authors argue, a…

The number of staff members serving American higher education institutions has more than doubled in the past twenty years, as occupations in technology, development, government relations, and even athletic administration have grown as never before in the history of the academy. As the number, variety, and importance of these positions have grown,…

The founders of the United States envisioned education as providing for all citizens the necessary apprenticeship in the understanding and practice of democracy. To make democracy safe there must be universal schooling; to make schooling safe for education there must be democracy. But since the founding of the country, the study and practice of…

"Blue-ribbon" commissions are an increasingly common feature of the American political landscape. This book examines the roles that blue-ribbon commissions and their reports have played in educational policymaking. The book begins with a foreword by Paul E. Peterson and an introductory chapter, "Commissions and Change" by Rick Ginsberg and David…

This book analyzes the notions that are "fashionable" in the humanities today, arguing against the orthodoxy that has installed race, gender, and class perspectives at the center of college humanities curricula. The book contends that humanistic education today, far from being historically aware, relies on anachronistic thinking; far…

The reading-focused reform environment of the new millennium is fertile ground for strengthening the link between research and public policy. This compilation of papers by presenters at International Reading Association's Reading Research 2000 Conference offers a compelling case for increased investment in teacher preparation for reading…

Whenever educators gather to achieve a common goal, every participant should arrive with a sense of purpose and leave with a feeling of accomplishment. This book explains how to make meetings more efficient and effective. It outlines: (1) the correlation between excellent meetings and excellent results; (2) how to plan, open, conduct, and follow…

This book contends that diversity is often to be highly valued, but not always. It should be remembered that many forms of social and religious diversity are at odds with basic commitments to liberty, equality, and civic ideals. The book argues that liberalism has an important but neglected civic dimension, and liberal democrats must take care to…

This volume provides an overview of the tensions, dilemmas, issues, and possibilities that characterize educational research. The contributions of more than 20 researchers examine the state of educational research, its future directions, and some of the major trends that have affected the field. The contributions are: (1) "An Auspicious Moment for…

A subcommittee of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) was charged with the task of developing a national agenda for America's cities and regions. This report consists of the working paper developed by the co-chairs of the subcommittee and the position papers committee members produced. It is intended to be a starting point for…

Site-based management is a concept whose time has come. This book was designed to introduce the concept of teaming, elaborate the decision-making process, and describe the skills and processes needed for a variety of decision-making situations. Chapter 1 introduces the concept of teaming and discusses the decision-making process in depth. Chapters…

This report is the culmination of a process that began in 1994, at a planning meeting to determine whether there was a sufficient knowledge base to inform the development of a research agenda on the education of language minority children. A committee was established to review what is known about the linguistic, cognitive, and social processes…

Some of the most critical and troubling issues in juvenile justice are addressed to serve as a catalyst and resource for developing sound juvenile justice public policy decisions. The following chapters examine juvenile court policies, special issues, and cost-effective interventions, and present findings of a national survey of public attitudes…