The authors of this volume visited 25 small school districts in the US to meet, observe and interview students, teachers, principals and administrators. Here they present research that connects with reality. Through their fascinating description of the physical and educational landscape, the authors capture life in nonurban schools `as it is', and present information that is brutally honest. They provide the beginnings of a road map to help small, nonurban districts and communities begin their own journey on the road to better schools.
This book focuses on future leadership challenges for school administrators and contains practical strategies for improving decision making skills. The book concisely summarizes the contemporary views of leadership and decision making and then reveals the kinds of problems schools will face as we enter the 21st century. All three authors are former school administrators and speak in concrete terms from many years of experience. Specific direction is provided on how administrators can use creative thinking to solve their problems.
This book offers school administrators and teachers step-by-step procedures and practical guidance for conducting sensible assessments and evaluations of school programmes, recording and measuring progress and communicating findings.
What can educational leaders and teachers do to assist at-risk students? This volume examines educators' responsibility for students who fail, the dropout issue and school reform; contributors also explore learning differences, technologies available for learning, effective classroom environments, specific methods for improving leadership, training programmes for education professionals and action plans for quality education.
The authors discuss how educational alienation is created and fostered by factors in the school, the community and the world. They attack some contemporary school reforms for addressing the wrong problems and propose their own solutions to minimizing alienation. Links between student dropout and teacher burnout are made in this volume. The authors consider them not as separate phenomena, but as stemming from the same process of alienation. The book is intended for professionals and researchers in education, the sociology of education, educational psychology and urban studies.
Casanova - a former elementary school principal - examines the role of the school secretary, bringing recognition to a person who has been too long under-valued, under-paid and under-appreciated. She has broken new ground with an exploration of an occupation where women are the dominant force and on whom everyone depends, from students and parents to teachers and administrators.
What makes a good, committed teacher, one who comes up with new teaching strategies, ideas and programmes that improve the way children learn? This volume considers this question and such issues as minimum performance standards for teachers, ways of encouraging teachers to do more and whether a radical increase in salary will improve their performance. Contributors examine the how and why of current school standards, with suggestions for future research and, importantly, potential solutions to current problems.
