David C. Berliner

Written in an accessible style for a broad audience, these essays are designed to be conversation starters about where and how we can best support public education. Throughout his extraordinary career, educational psychologist David Berliner visited hundreds of classrooms in multiple countries. After many such visits, he wrote short notes about what he saw, felt, and imagined as he observed teachers, students, and administrators attempting to make education happen. Intended to provoke readers to think and discuss key ideas in K–12 education, Public Education for Our Nation's Democracy brings together 19 essays on the issues that define the United States public school system, including teacher professionalism and autonomy teacher–student relationships charter, religious, and private schools curricular choice high-stakes testing and equity COVID-19 learning loss multicultural education and parent–teacher relationships. A common theme that runs throughout these essays is appreciation and advocacy for the U. S. public school system—warts and all! Book Features: Commentaries, insights, and recommendations for improving teaching and learning, written by one of the keenest observers of America's schools. Coverage of important topics in education written in a conversational voice to be accessible to a wide audience. Inspiring and thought-provoking essays about one of America's greatest inventions—its huge system of public education.

Written in an accessible style for a broad audience, these essays are designed to be conversation starters about where and how we can best support public education. Throughout his extraordinary career, educational psychologist David Berliner visited hundreds of classrooms in multiple countries. After many such visits, he wrote short notes about what he saw, felt, and imagined as he observed teachers, students, and administrators attempting to make education happen. Intended to provoke readers to think and discuss key ideas in K–12 education, Public Education for Our Nation's Democracy brings together 19 essays on the issues that define the United States public school system, including teacher professionalism and autonomy teacher–student relationships charter, religious, and private schools curricular choice high-stakes testing and equity COVID-19 learning loss multicultural education and parent–teacher relationships. A common theme that runs throughout these essays is appreciation and advocacy for the U. S. public school system—warts and all! Book Features: Commentaries, insights, and recommendations for improving teaching and learning, written by one of the keenest observers of America's schools. Coverage of important topics in education written in a conversational voice to be accessible to a wide audience. Inspiring and thought-provoking essays about one of America's greatest inventions—its huge system of public education.

An evidence-based plan of action to achieve educational justice for K–12 public school students from families whose income is 50% or more below the US poverty threshold. In School Communities of Strength, Peter W. Cookson, Jr., lays out a blueprint for providing equitable educational opportunities for students from all socioeconomic strata, and particularly for the five million American children who live with the extreme material hardship known as deep poverty. This work issues an urgent call to action for K–12 schools to put in place the policies, practices, and programs that enable economically vulnerable students to thrive. Drawing from up-to-date findings in the science of learning and development as well as analyses of schools that serve students in poverty, Cookson pinpoints success strategies that can help schools improve their poverty responsiveness. He shows how these strategies, including whole-child teaching and learning, asset-based approaches, and relationship-centered school culture, can help educators create the culturally responsive, inclusive environments that provide a base of safety from which students can better engage with their education. Offering astute analysis, Cookson notes that school communities of strength require adequate funding and also meaningful collaboration among families, neighborhood partners, and educators. This book amplifies the idea that communities working together can drive transformative change, and it brings into focus three primary policy initiatives—to fully invest in whole students, to fully invest in schools, and to fully invest in eliminating the causes of deep poverty—that can advance educational equity.

This book is guaranteed to spark lively debates and critical thinking in any classroom! Two of the most respected voices in education identify 50 myths and lies that threaten America's public schools. Berliner and Glass argue that many citizens’ conception of K–12 public education in the United States is more myth than reality. Warped opinions about our nation’s public schools include: they are inferior to private schools; they are among the worst in the world in math and science; teachers should be fired if their students don’t score at the national average, and on and on. With more than a little humour, Berliner and Glass separate fact from fiction in this comprehensive look at modern education reform. They explain how the mythical failure of public education has been created and perpetuated in large part by political and economic interests who stand to gain from its destruction. They expose a rapidly expanding variety of organisations and media that intentionally misrepresent facts. Where appropriate, they name the promoters of the hoax and point out how their interests are served by encouraging false beliefs. Their method of debunking these falsehoods is to argue against their logic, criticise the data supporting them, and present more credible contradictory data. This dynamic book features short essays on important topics to provide every teacher, administrator, school board member, and concerned parent with reliable knowledge from authoritative sources.

Two of the most respected voices in education and a team of young education scholars identify 50 myths and lies that threaten America's public schools. With hard-hitting information and a touch of comic relief, Berliner, Glass, and their Associates separate fact from fiction in this comprehensive look at modern education reform. They explain how the mythical failure of public education has been created and perpetuated in large part by political and economic interests that stand to gain from its destruction. They also expose a rapidly expanding variety of organizations and media that intentionally misrepresent facts. Many of these organizations suggest that their goal is unbiased service in the public interest when, in fact, they represent narrow political and financial interests. Where appropriate, the authors name the promoters of these deceptions and point out how they are served by encouraging false beliefs. This provocative book features short essays on important topics to provide every elected representative, school administrator, school board member, teacher, parent, and concerned citizen with much food for thought, as well as reliable knowledge from authoritative sources.

This book is about the energy, substance, hope, and determination that excellent teachers bring to the rhythm of classrooms every day, year in and year out. Balli offers experiences and important lessons about teaching and classroom life at all grade levels, illuminating the perspective of both teachers and students. Knitting teacher and student voices together, this book inspires practicing teachers and those who are learning to teach, with universal insights drawn from elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. Making a Difference in the Classroom is organized into three parts, focusing first on teacher-student relationships, then on how excellent teachers finesse the substance and action of classrooms, and finally on the inestimable worth of teachers as diverse individuals with unique talents to offer as gifts for students to unwrap and experience day after day.