The books listed on this guide represent only a sample of the titles available in the library's collection. To find more titles of interest to you, search the library catalog.
Faculty Development and Student Learning by
Colleges and universities across the US have created special initiatives to promote faculty development, but to date there has been little research to determine whether such programs have an impact on students' learning. Faculty Development and Student Learning reports the results of a multi-year study undertaken by faculty at Carleton College and Washington State University to assess how students' learning is affected by faculty members' efforts to become better teachers. Extending recent research in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) to assessment of faculty development and its effectiveness, the authors show that faculty participation in professional development activities positively affects classroom pedagogy, student learning, and the overall culture of teaching and learning in a college or university.
Educating Young Adolescent Girls by
This text for preservice and in-service teacher education courses shows how schools can educate girls and promote their positive self-esteem at the same time. Its purpose is to help teachers facilitate the development of gender-equitable schools and classrooms. Taking a feminist developmental approach, the text draws on an interdisciplinary knowledge base, synthesizing research from psychology, anthropology, sociology, and education. While it is rooted in scholarly research, the focus is on clarifying the connection between theory and practice, with an emphasis on practical applications. The text is organized in two sections--'Growth and Development'and'Teaching and Learning'--and includes a variety of engaging pedagogical features. Underscoring the need for teachers, school administrators, and parents to become aware of the intersection of development and education, Educating Young Adolescent Girls: •combines gender, growth, and development; •demonstrates how schooling can facilitate the total development of young adolescent girls; and •addresses a multiplicity of issues, including adolescent girls of color and young adolescents girls'sexuality.
The Problem with Education Technology (Hint by
Education is in crisis-at least, so we hear. And at the center of this crisis is technology. New technologies like computer-based classroom instruction, online K-12 schools, MOOCs (massive open online courses), and automated essay scoring may be our last great hope-or the greatest threat we have ever faced. In The Problem with Education Technology, Ben Fink and Robin Brown look behind the hype to explain the problems-and potential-of these technologies. Focusing on the case of automated essay scoring, they explain the technology, how it works, and what it does and doesn't do. They explain its origins, its evolution (both in the classroom and in our culture), and the controversy that surrounds it. Most significantly, they expose the real problem-the complicity of teachers and curriculum-builders in creating an education system so mechanical that machines can in fact often replace humans-and how teachers, students, and other citizens can work together to solve it. Offering a new perspective on the change that educators can hope, organize, and lobby for,The Problem with Education Technologychallenges teachers and activists on "our side," even as it provides new evidence to counter the profit-making, labor-saving logics that drive the current push for technology in the classroom.
Pressing Forward by
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 postsecondary 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 ethnically 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—adequatly adress shortcomings in equity and excellence found in American high schools.
Becoming a Teacher by
This fourth edition is inspiring reading for prospective, trainee and new teachers, tutors and mentors, working with young people.
Academic Profiling by
Today the achievement gap is hotly debated among pundits, politicians, and educators. In particular this conversation often focuses on the two fastest-growing demographic groups in the United States: Asian Americans and Latinos. InAcademic Profiling, Gilda L. Ochoa addresses this so-called gap by going directly to the source. At one California public high school where the controversy is lived every day, Ochoa turns to the students, teachers, and parents to learn about the very real disparities-in opportunity, status, treatment, and assumptions-that lead to more than just gaps in achievement.
In candid and at times heart-wrenching detail, the students tell stories of encouragement and neglect on their paths to graduation. Separated by unequal middle schools and curriculum tracking, they are divided by race, class, and gender. While those channeled into an International Baccalaureate Program boast about Socratic classes and stress-release sessions, students left out of such programs commonly describe uninspired teaching and inaccessible counseling. Students unequally labeled encounter differential policing and assumptions based on their abilities-disparities compounded by the growth in the private tutoring industry that favors the already economically privileged.
Despite the entrenched inequality in today's schools,Academic Profilingfinds hope in the many ways students and teachers are affirming identities, creating alternative spaces, and fostering critical consciousness. When Ochoa shares the results of her research with the high school, we see the new possibilities-and limits-of change.
Exam Schools by
What is the best education for exceptionally able and high-achieving youngsters? Can the United States strengthen its future intellectual leadership, economic vitality, and scientific prowess without sacrificing equal opportunity? There are no easy answers but, as Chester Finn and Jessica Hockett show, for more than 100,000 students each year, the solution is to enroll in an academically selective public high school.Exam Schoolsis the first-ever close-up look at this small, sometimes controversial, yet crucial segment of American public education. This groundbreaking book discusses how these schools work--and their critical role in nurturing the country's brightest students.
The 165 schools identified by Finn and Hockett are located in thirty states, plus the District of Columbia. While some are world renowned, such as Boston Latin and Bronx Science, others are known only in their own communities. The authors survey the schools on issues ranging from admissions and student diversity to teacher selection. They probe sources of political support, curriculum, instructional styles, educational effectiveness, and institutional autonomy. Some of their findings are surprising: Los Angeles, for example, has no "exam schools" while New York City has dozens. Asian-American students are overrepresented--but so are African-American pupils. Culminating with in-depth profiles of eleven exam schools and thoughtful reflection on policy implications, Finn and Hockett ultimately consider whether the country would be better off with more such schools.
At a time of keen attention to the faltering education system,Exam Schoolssheds positive light on a group of schools that could well provide a transformative roadmap for many of America's children.
Dropping Out by
Most kids in the developed world finish high school—but not in the United States. More than a million drop out every year, and the numbers are rising. Dropping Out provides answers to fundamental questions: Who drops out, and why? What happens to them when they do? How can we prevent at-risk kids from short-circuiting their futures?