Excellence Through Equity


Book Description

Excellence Through Equity is an inspiring look at how real-world educators are creating schools where all students are able to thrive. In these schools, educators understand that equity is not about treating all children the same. They are deeply committed to ensuring that each student receives what he or she individually needs to develop their full potential and succeed. To help educators with what can at times be a difficult and challenging journey, Blankstein and Noguera frame the book with five guiding principles of Courageous Leadership: Getting to your core Making organizational meaning Ensuring constancy and consistency of purpose Facing the facts and your fears Building sustainable relationships. They further emphasize that the practices are grounded in three important areas of research that are too often disregarded: (1) child development, (2) neuroscience, and (3) environmental influences on child development and learning. You'll hear from Carol Corbett Burris, Michael Fullan, Marcus J. Newsome, Paul Reville, Susan Szachowicz, and other bold practitioners and visionary thinkers who share compelling and actionable ideas, strategies, and experiences for closing the achievement gap in your classrooms and school. Ensuring that all students receive an education that cultivates their talents and potential is in all our common interest. As Andy Hargreaves writes in the coda: "The opportunity for all Americans is to articulate and believe in an inspiring vision of educational change that is about what the next generation of America and Americans should become, not about a target or ranking that the nation should attain." From the Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "Letting go of a system of winners and losers in favor of what is proposed in this book is a courageous leap forward that we all must take together. Let this bold, practical book be a guide; and may you travel into this new exciting vista, in which every child can succeed."




High-Achieving Latino Students


Book Description

High-Achieving Latino Students: Successful Pathways Toward College and Beyond addresses a long-standing need for a book that focuses on the success, not failure, of Latino students. While much of the existing research works from a deficit lens, this book uses a strength-based approach to support Latino achievement. Bringing together researchers and practitioners, this unique book provides research-based recommendations from early to later school years on “what works” for supporting high achievement. Praise for High-Achieving Latino Students "This book focuses on an important issue about which we know little. There are many lessons here for both scholars and educators who believe that Latino students can succeed. I congratulate the authors for taking on this timely and significant topic." ~ Guadalupe Valdés, Ph.D., Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor in Education, Stanford University. Author of Con Respeto: Bridging the Distances Between Culturally Diverse Families and Schools "This is a must-read book for leaders in institutions of both K-12 and higher education who want to better understand success factors of Latino students in the US. Using a strength-based framework to understand and support Latino achievement is a new paradigm that must be considered by all." ~ Loui Olivas, Ed.D., President, American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education "In addition to being the right book at the right time, these editors should be congratulated for giving us a stellar example of how a research-practice collaboration comes together to produce such a valuable and lasting contribution to the field of school reform and improvement. Those who work in schools, universities, think tanks and policymaking centers have been waiting anxiously for this kind of book, and it’s now here." ~ Carl A. Cohn, Ed.D., Former Executive Director, California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, CA State Board of Education member, and Superintendent "There may not be a silver bullet for solving the so-called problem of Latino underachievement, but well-conceived solutions do exist. This powerful book offers strength- and asset-based frameworks that demonstrate Latino achievement is possible. Read this text to not only get informed, but to also get nurtured and inspired!" ~ Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D., Professor in Education, University of Texas at Austin. Author of Subtractive Schooling: US-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring




Achieving Equity and Excellence


Book Description

"In Achieving Equity and Excellence: Immediate Results From the Lessons of High-Poverty, High-Success Schools, author Douglas Reeves provides a methodology for change based upon identifying, recording, and replicating positive results in the readers' schools and communities. Dr. Reeves notes the need for immediate results and programs that are proven to work within readers' communities, as well as the urgent desire that educators have to create a more just and equitable system for their students. As such, this book serves as a research-backed guide for readers who wish to see their students make dramatic improvements in school in a single semester. Readers will study the mindset of high-poverty, high-success schools and the research that this mindset is founded on. Then, they will see how this mindset translates into a methodology of action for change that is based primarily in daily decisions that the readers will make for the benefit of their students. Through this book, readers will not only realize that a more equitable and just system is possible in their school, but also learn the mindset and practices necessary to make these changes a reality"--




International Summit on the Teaching Profession Equity, Excellence and Inclusiveness in Education Policy Lessons from Around the World


Book Description

This publication identifies some of the steps policy makers can take to build school systems that are both equitable and excellent. The analysis is complemented with examples that illustrate proven or promising practices in specific countries.




Equity and Excellence in Education


Book Description

Throughout the world, equity and excellence in education is a major issue of concern. International comparative studies such as those carried out by OECD (PISA) have launched a worldwide debate on the effectiveness of educational systems (macro level), schools (meso level) and teachers (micro level) in terms of enhancing equity and excellence. Inspired by the OECD research and spurred by national policy-making, quantitative and qualitative research studies have recently been conducted in different parts of the globe aiming to provide deeper insight into the crucial variables that have an impact on equity, excellence or both. Among the variables that have been identified as crucial in this respect are the pupils' gender and their socio-economic and linguistic background, teachers' expectations, cognitions and pedagogical approach in the classroom, parental support, financial aspects, educational policies (e.g. priority policies, multilingual policies, early start policies), and variables related to the structure of the educational structure and system (e.g. compulsory school age, comprehensive systems, support structures, system variables enhancing spread of learners). This volume aims to compile a rich collection of research-based contributions, providing a state-of-the-art resource on what we know about this topic today.




Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership


Book Description

This timely and essential book provides a comprehensive guide for school leaders who desire to engage their school communities in transformative systemic change. Sharon I. Radd, Gretchen Givens Generett, Mark Anthony Gooden, and George Theoharis offer five practices to increase educational equity and eliminate marginalization based on race, disability, socioeconomics, language, gender and sexual identity, and religion. For each dimension of diversity, the authors provide background information for understanding the current realities in schools and beyond, and they suggest "disruptive practices" to replace the status quo in order to achieve full inclusion and educational excellence for every child. Assuming that leadership to create equity is a unique practice, the book offers * Clear explanations of foundational terms and concepts, such as equity, systemic inequity, paradigms and cognitive dissonance, and privilege; * Specific recommendations for how to build support and sustainability by engaging colleagues and other stakeholders in constructive dialogues with multiple perspectives; * Detailed descriptions of routines and roles for building effective equity-leadership teams; * Guidelines and tools for performing an equity audit, including environmental scans; * A change framework to skillfully transform your system; and * Reflection activities for self-discovery, understanding, and personal and professional growth. A call to action that is both passionate and practical, Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership is an indispensable roadmap for educators undertaking the journey toward an education system that acknowledges and advances the worth and potential of all students.




Leaders of Their Own Learning


Book Description

From EL Education comes a proven approach to student assessment Leaders of Their Own Learning offers a new way of thinking about assessment based on the celebrated work of EL Education schools across the country. Student-Engaged Assessment is not a single practice but an approach to teaching and learning that equips and compels students to understand goals for their learning and growth, track their progress toward those goals, and take responsibility for reaching them. This requires a set of interrelated strategies and structures and a whole-school culture in which students are given the respect and responsibility to be meaningfully engaged in their own learning. Includes everything teachers and school leaders need to implement a successful Student-Engaged Assessment system in their schools Outlines the practices that will engage students in making academic progress, improve achievement, and involve families and communities in the life of the school Describes each of the book's eight key practices, gives advice on how to begin, and explains what teachers and school leaders need to put into practice in their own classrooms Ron Berger is Chief Program Officer for EL Education and a former public school teacher Leaders of Their Own Learning shows educators how to ignite the capacity of students to take responsibility for their own learning, meet Common Core and state standards, and reach higher levels of achievement. DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of the e-book file, but are available for download after purchase.




Shifting Self and System


Book Description

The pathway to equity begins with YOU. Good intentions are not enough. To dismantle the structural inequities that continue to plague our schools, dedicated leaders must move beyond buzzword rhetoric to a place of action, where concrete steps trace a path to strategic action and sustainable impact. The authors of this book have made that shift. Drawing from their experiences leading the educational-equity agenda for the nation’s largest school district, they present their model for practical, outcome-oriented antiracist leadership. Features include An original framework built on five interdependent pillars: Self Mastery, Adaptive Leadership, Racial Literacy, Emergence, and Whole-Body Healing Real-life vignettes providing insights into the pillars and how they work together Structured opportunities and tools that support processes at the individual and collective development levels Disrupting and dismantling inequities is a complex, yet urgent, process. If you’re ready to meet this moral leadership challenge, Shifting Self and System will equip you with the knowledge, disposition, and capacity to create equitable schools and systems for all the students you serve.