Paul Preuss

This book will help you understand how to integrate data-based decisions into the daily work of the school. It is a practical and relevant handbook for converting data into wise decision-making and planning. It will give you the skills to successfully--Make data-based decisions -Measure student learning and program effectiveness -Evaluate student progress-Use data to improve instruction -Integrate a "Dynamic Planning" process into the daily operation of your school

Don’t jump from problem to solution without first investigating root causes. This book helps you more accurately focus on school improvement issues, so you can avoid wasting precious time and resources. It is clearly written, contains lots of real examples, and is presented in a style and format designed for the non-expert. It will help you make decisions which will improve learning for all students.

"A terrific novel, I heartily recommend it." —Orson Scott Card After a solar flare accident in orbit, Travis is a hero: the first astronaut to bail out of a spacecraft and live. NASA, however, had advised against the bailout—and as punishment for violating orders, Travis is grounded on earth, never to fly again. Then comes Starfire, an experimental spacecraft that could be capable of interstellar flight. Travis fights a desperate political battle to become a crewmember, and his go-it-alone attitude makes for some rough going. Starfire’s planned maiden voyage is to land on an asteroid that is heading toward a close loop around the sun, stay long enough to explore, then return to Earth by way of a gravity boost around Venus. But during the mission, disaster strikes again: the ship is hit by a huge solar flare and must take shelter in the shadow of the asteroid, even while falling ever closer to the sun. The aim of the mission now becomes desperate survival...

"Mr. Le Carre, meet Dr. Feynman! ... [T]his one really makes the earth move." —Ursula K. Le Guin Returning to the characters and setting of his widely admired novel, BROKEN SYMMETRIES, SECRET PASSAGES is the story of a revolutionary physics experiment. SECRET PASSAGES centers on Manolis Minakis, a shepherd boy who grows up orphaned and wild on the island of Crete. But after a meeting with archaeologist John Pendlebury, who appreciates Minakis’ innate gift for mathematics, he is sent to Cambridge University. There, Minakis becomes a renowned physicist and eventually a successful industrialist, returning to Crete in retirement. Using a cache of Minoan treasures, Minakis lures photographer Anne-Marie Brand and her husband, theoretician Peter Slater, to aid in his experimental attempts to recover the past. Set against the colorful background of the island of Crete, the legendary home of a once-great civilization, earthquakes, love, loss, and the mysterious history of the physicist Minakis make this a fascinating and enthralling novel.

"Mr. Le Carre, meet Dr. Feynman! ... [T]his one really makes the earth move." —Ursula K. Le Guin Returning to the characters and setting of his widely admired novel, BROKEN SYMMETRIES, SECRET PASSAGES is the story of a revolutionary physics experiment. SECRET PASSAGES centers on Manolis Minakis, a shepherd boy who grows up orphaned and wild on the island of Crete. But after a meeting with archaeologist John Pendlebury, who appreciates Minakis’ innate gift for mathematics, he is sent to Cambridge University. There, Minakis becomes a renowned physicist and eventually a successful industrialist, returning to Crete in retirement. Using a cache of Minoan treasures, Minakis lures photographer Anne-Marie Brand and her husband, theoretician Peter Slater, to aid in his experimental attempts to recover the past. Set against the colorful background of the island of Crete, the legendary home of a once-great civilization, earthquakes, love, loss, and the mysterious history of the physicist Minakis make this a fascinating and enthralling novel.

"[W]onderful, enlightened, and convincing beyond any reasonable expectations of what a science fiction novel should be." —Greg Bear Compugen has become a giant player in the tech field overnight by making genetically altered viruses into "biochips" that are replacing silicon chips as the brains of computers. Toby Bridgeman and Adrian Storey are an odd-couple of scientists—Toby, the programmer, and Adrian, the sloppy genius and genetic artist, have formed an enduring friendship and produced Epicell, a biochip so powerful that it will make all others on the market obsolete and save Compugen from financial disaster—if it can be rushed out fast enough. But Epicell, elemental living virus, is so awesome in its capabilities that tests have not yet established any limits to its multiplication or its computing sophistication. Adrian wants more testing—he believes that Epicell is potentially dangerous. Instead, it is rushed to market to save the failing company. Then those in contact with Epicell begin to come down with bad colds—the virus has spread outside computers, living and growing in the human body. Adrian, and perhaps the human race, are doomed unless Toby can reprogram the Epicell inside Adrian—and inside himself.