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Diane Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education, has tracked the U.S. textbook industry for years. In this excerpt from her new book, The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn, Ravitch documents the effect in schools of publishing censorship, self-censorship, and the books that survive.
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In an excerpt from the recently published Making Schools Work, William G. Ouchi, UCLA management professor and advisor to California Secretary for Education Richard Riordan, offers seven "rules of change" that will help revolutionize schools and school districts.
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This excerpt from Christopher T. Cross' new book, Political Education: National Policy Comes of Age, considers the federal role in K-12 public education in the coming half century.
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Many high schools are not able to offer Advanced Placement, honors, or specialized content courses classes that make students more competitive in the tough college entrance process. For schools interested in augmenting their curriculum, online learning programs present a promising option but they also present some unique challenges. This Knowledge Brief identifies key issues related to online learning that, if appropriately addressed, increase the likelihood of student success.
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While states bear the initial responsibility for drafting No Child Left Behind compliance plans, the real onus for implementation is on school districts. WestEd gathered documentation and interviewed district leaders in this Policy Notes, offering promising ideas and practices for NCLB implementation efforts.
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This paper examines the interplay of education management organizations in the context of contemporary American schooling, and in so doing, seeks to understand their recent emergency and possible future.
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The need for alignment has acquired new urgency with the escalating use of student assessment results to determine sanctions and rewards for schools, teachers, and students. This trend is embodied most visibly in the No Child Left behind Act of 2001.
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"This publication introduces a new concept to the field of family support work. We have coined the term 'battered agency' to explain some of the challenges that thwart local or indigenous agencies striving to serve low-income communities. Drawing on intensive field experience and relevant research, we put forward the notion that these agencies are hindered by risk factors remarkably like those facing the families they seek to help." J. Ronald Lally, Co-Director, WestEd's Center for Child and Family Studies
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In a number of big cities, where politics, demographics, and the sheer size of the school district and its budget make the challenges of education improvement that much more complex, stakeholders are questioning the effectiveness of their school board. This brief outlines some current proposals for school board reform in large urban districts.
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The trend is clear: By 2008, half the states are likely to have adopted high school exit exams. How can we ensure the fairness of this policy? This Policy Brief examines the issues and offers policy recommendations.
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Interest in the topic of unequal funding for public schools is widespread in America. This report answers key questions about public school funding and concludes with strategies designed to provide greater funding equity.
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In many schools and districts, improving academic outcomes for underperforming students requires more than ensuring high-quality curriculum and instruction. It requires a commitment to helping address challenges in students' lives outside of school.
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This report answers key questions on class size: What research has appeared on class size to date? What findings have surfaced and how can we explain those findings? Why have those findings provoked controversy? And, what should we conclude about class-size policies based on the research? The report is part of a series funded by the Rockefeller Foundation entitled, In Pursuit of Better Schools: What Research Says.
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Since 1998, prestigious panels have reviewed cognitive, social, emotional, and neuro-physiological research and come to consensus about our current scientific understanding of how children learn and how learning is best facilitated. Few of these findings, however, have been used to drive recently developing school readiness initiatives. This must change if these programs are to succeed.
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What can be learned about the careers and accomplishments of graduate students who participated in the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program?
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"The explosion of knowledge about early development is sending a clear message to policymakers: Children's earliest experiences profoundly influence later intellectual and emotional functioning.... Yet many working parents find that child care, if available at all, is alarmingly substandard and expensive."
from the Policy Brief
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"Many researchers now speak of assessment in the context of prevention...."
from the Knowledge Brief
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"Spending on computer-based technology continues to grow and yet, many educators and policymakers are still unsure of how to get the most return on this investment."
from the Knowledge Brief
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This Policy Brief addresses the question of how and under what circumstances technology can make a difference in instruction and learning.
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"While states and localities have made progress over the past decade in expanding contextual learning choices for all students (e.g., expanding career academies and service learning, creating small learning communities, and using communities as classrooms), a major source of tension is how to ensure these choices are consistent with accountability-driven assessments."
from the paper
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School board associations in four states California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas commissioned this broad-based report about K-12 education along La Frontera, the United States/Mexico border, to identify common issues and questions facing the region's school districts.
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This ongoing evaluation, conducted by WestEd and the American Institutes for Research, is the largest and most comprehensive study of Proposition 227.
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Sound relationships are the essence of Marin City Families First, an early-intervention model designed by WestEds Center for Child and Family Studies to ensure the health and well-being of children in low-income communities. The report describes how home visitors support client families and how, in turn, home visitors receive support from the program supervisor. A case study illustrates how these supportive relationships play out with one family.
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The longstanding challenge of ensuring both teaching quality and adequate teacher supply is underscored by new federal policies requiring a highly qualified teacher in every pubic school classroom. This Policy Brief examines the promise of community colleges to help meet that challenge by attracting, preparing, and supporting a diverse range of teacher candidates. It also identifies policy considerations for those looking to better harness this potential.
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