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Improving Student Learning at Scale: A How-To Guide for Higher Education
by Keston H. Fulcher Caroline PrendergastThis book is a step-by-step guide for improving student learning in higher education. The authors argue that a fundamental obstacle to improvement is that higher educators, administrators, and assessment professionals do not know how to improve student learning at scale. By this they mean improvement efforts that span an entire program, affecting all affiliated students. The authors found that faculty and administrators particularly struggle to conceptualize and implement multi-section, multi-course improvement efforts. It is unsurprising that ambitious, wide-reaching improvement efforts like these would pose difficulty in their organization and implementation. This is precisely the problem the authors address. The book provides practical strategies for learning improvement, enabling faculty to collaborate, and integrating leadership, social dynamics, curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and faculty development. In Chapter 2, the authors tell a program-level improvement story from the perspective of a faculty member. Chapter 3 inverts Chapter 2. Beginning from the re-assess stage, the authors work their way back to the individual faculty member first pondering whether she can do something to impact students’ skills. They peel back each layer of the process and imagine how learning improvement efforts might be thwarted at each stage. Chapters 4 through 9 dig deeper into the learning improvement steps introduced in Chapters 2 and 3. Each chapter provides strategies to help higher educators climb each step successfully. Chapter 10 paints a picture of what higher education could look like in 2041 if learning improvement were embraced. And, finally, Chapter 11 describes what you can do to support the movement.
Improving Student Learning When Budgets Are Tight
by Dr Allan R. OddenA how-to manual for achieving excellence despite budget cuts This book offers a comprehensive framework to enhance student achievement in good times and in bad. The author provides a school improvement action plan and then shows how to target resources to implement that plan. More than just a “theory” book, this text describes concrete, specific actions that can be taken immediately. Key strategies include: Using data to support boosting student performance Focusing on effective instruction Setting goals to drive resource allocation priorities Setting priorities for situations that require budget cuts Hiring top teachers and providing ongoing professional development Providing needed technology resources
Improving Student Retention in Higher Education: The Role of Teaching and Learning
by Liz Thomas Glenda Crosling Margaret HeagneyImproving Student Retention in Higher Education provides a practical, curriculum-based response to the current situation in higher education, where participating students emanate from a range of backgrounds; international and lower socioeconomic backgrounds, mature aged students, students with disabilities as well as those for whom higher education is the first family experience. Underpinned by research indicating that students are more likely to continue with higher education if they are engaged in their studies and have developed networks and relationships with their fellow students, this book presents best practice examples of innovative and inclusive curriculum, from a range of countries.
Improving Students' Writing, K-8: From Meaning-Making to High Stakes!
by Diane Barone Joan M. TaylorThis manual for teaching all aspects of writing provides examples, rubrics, and how-to's for helping students grow in skills and write for high stakes and "constructed response" tests.
Improving Subject Teaching: Lessons from Research in Science Education (Improving Learning)
by John Leach Robin Millar Jonathan Osborne Mary RatcliffeIn many countries, questions are being raised about the quality and value of educational research. This book explores the relationship between research and practice in education. It looks at the extent to which current practice could be said to be informed by knowledge or ideas generated by research and at the extent to which the use of current practices or the adoption of new ones are, or could be, supported by research evidence. Science education is used as a case study but the issues considered apply to the teaching and learning of any curriculum subject. The book draws on the findings of four inter-related research studies and considers: how research might be used to establish greater consensus about curriculum; how research can inform the design of assessment tools and teaching interventions; teachers’ and other science educators’ perceptions of the influence of research on their teaching practices and their students’ learning; the extent to which evidence can show that an educational practice ‘works’.
Improving Survey Methods: Lessons from Recent Research (European Association of Methodology Series)
by Uwe Engel Ben Jann Peter Lynn Annette Scherpenzeel Patrick SturgisThis state-of-the-art volume provides insight into the recent developments in survey research. It covers topics like: survey modes and response effects, bio indicators and paradata, interviewer and survey error, mixed-mode panels, sensitive questions, conducting web surveys and access panels, coping with non-response, and handling missing data. The authors are leading scientists in the field, and discuss the latest methods and challenges with respect to these topics. Each of the book’s eight parts starts with a brief chapter that provides an historical context along with an overview of today’s most critical survey methods. Chapters in the sections focus on research applications in practice and discuss results from field studies. As such, the book will help researchers design surveys according to today’s best practices. The book’s website www.survey-methodology.de provides additional information, statistical analyses, tables and figures. An indispensable reference for practicing researchers and methodologists or any professional who uses surveys in their work, this book also serves as a supplement for graduate or upper level-undergraduate courses on survey methods taught in psychology, sociology, education, economics, and business. Although the book focuses on European findings, all of the research is discussed with reference to the entire survey-methodology area, including the US. As such, the insights in this book will apply to surveys conducted around the world.
Improving Surveys with Paradata
by Frauke KreuterExplore the practices and cutting-edge research on the new and exciting topic of paradataParadata are measurements related to the process of collecting survey data.Improving Surveys with Paradata: Analytic Uses of Process Information is the most accessible and comprehensive contribution to this up-and-coming area in survey methodology.Featuring contributions from leading experts in the field, Improving Surveys with Paradata: Analytic Uses of Process Information introduces and reviews issues involved in the collection and analysis of paradata. The book presents readers with an overview of the indispensable techniques and new, innovative research on improving survey quality and total survey error. Along with several case studies, topics include:Using paradata to monitor fieldwork activity in face-to-face, telephone, and web surveysGuiding intervention decisions during data collectionAnalysis of measurement, nonresponse, and coverage error via paradataProviding a practical, encompassing guide to the subject of paradata, the book is aimed at both producers and users of survey data. Improving Surveys with Paradata: Analytic Uses of Process The book also serves as an excellent resource for courses on data collection, survey methodology, and nonresponse and measurement error.
Improving Teacher Education Practice Through Self-study
by Tom Russell John LoughranSelf-study in teacher education is a growing field and a natural progression from the concept of reflective practice for pre-service teachers. This book is designed to introduce teacher educators to the theory and practice of self-study, in order to explore, understand and improve their teaching about teaching.With studies from an international range of contributors, this book illustrates a variety of approaches to self-study. It describes the issues that teacher educators have chosen to study, how they carried out their research and what the learning outcomes were. Throughout, the emphasis is on placing teacher educators' knowledge and practice at the centre of their academic work.This book will be of interest to all teacher educators wishing to improve their knowledge and practice.
Improving Teacher Education through Action Research (Routledge Research in Education)
by Ming-Fai Hui David L. GrossmanThere has been a dearth of studies on teacher educators using action research to improve their own practice. This book is the first systematic study of a group of teachers examining and enhancing their own practice through the inquiry process of action research. This book presents a broad overview of a variety of methodologies that can be used to improve teacher preparation and professional development programs. It is a ‘must read’ book for those educators who are new to the college teaching profession and for those who are aspired to be outstanding and successful lecturers.
Improving Teacher Knowledge in K-12 Schooling: Perspectives On Stem Learning
by Xiaoxia A. NewtonThis volume examines how several key components of the mathematics education system in the United States fail to provide teachers with adequate and effective tools to teach mathematics in K-12 classrooms. These components consist of teachers’ own learning experiences as students in K-12 classrooms, their undergraduate or graduate trainings in mathematics, and their in-service professional development trainings. Newton argues that unless we improve these system components as a whole and recognize the importance of teaching future mathematics teachers explicitly and rigorously the topics they are expected to teach, teachers will continue to recycle a body of incoherent and incomprehensible mathematical knowledge to their students, because these are the only types of mathematical knowledge they have at their disposal, both in terms of what they themselves have learned as K-12 students and in terms of the mathematical resources available to them, including the textbooks they rely on to teach as mathematics teachers.
Improving Teacher Morale and Motivation: Leadership Strategies that Build Student Success
by Ronald Williamson Barbara R. BlackburnImproving Teacher Morale and Motivation discusses a key issue for school leaders: motivating teachers to improve learning for students. Immense and unprecedented changes in education—primarily with the pandemic and "great resignation"—have affected all areas of teaching and learning, including teacher morale and motivation. This engaging book takes an in-depth focus on student learning as it relates to teacher motivation, providing specific examples of how to motivate teachers during challenging times. Specific tools, templates, and strategies are incorporated throughout the book to help leaders understand and act on issues of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, collaboration and trust, growth mindset, effective feedback, and more. Further, this text incorporates a broader look at how school leaders can shape their school and make it a place where teachers want to work, where they are committed to the success of students, and where they see themselves remaining well into the future. This timely book is appropriate for all school leaders, including teacher-leaders and district leaders.
Improving Teacher Quality
by Ellen Behrstock-Sherratt Molly Lasagna Sabrina W. LaineTechniques for the difficult task of improving teacher qualityNo one stakeholder group can realize lasting change on their own; nor can any reform initiative focusing on just one type of strategy create the workplace conditions needed to truly build capacity within the education profession. Rather, stakeholders must focus on collaborating, reaching common understanding, and prioritizing for ultimate impact on the quality of teachers and teaching. This book discusses research and concrete examples of practice tied to teacher quality intended to improve eight key interrelated factors: Preparation; Recruitment; Hiring; Induction; Professional Development; Compensation and Incentives; Working Conditions; and Performance Management. Offers a framework and strategies for understanding the issues that make up the teacher quality question Written for educational leaders, superintendents, district administrators, teacher leaders, and principals, as well as policy-makers and other stakeholdersFilled with illustrative examples teacher qualityThe author addresses the most important factor that affects student achievement-the quality of the teacher.
Improving Teaching and Learning in the Arts
by Gloria Callaway Mary KearCovers the contribution of arts to children's learning from Art and Design, Design for Technology to Drama and Music. The book also looks at the state of the arts in primary schools, and includes an evaluation of the relationships between the arts and those moral, spiritual, cultural and social values which impinge on all aspects of the arts and arts education. Each subject within the arts curriculum is considered separately to illustrate the general and specific issues which influence the work of the class teacher. The book also takes on the current thorny issue of assessment, recording and reporting, offering strategies for ways of responding to children's work, and suggestions for accumulating evidence on which to base assessment.
Improving Teaching and Learning In the Core Curriculum
by John Lee Kate Ashcroft Professor Kate AshcroftFocusing on the core subjects of Mathematics, English and Science, the book addresses the political agenda in which the core curriculum takes place, and provides practical information and guidance on teaching the three subjects. The book briefly traces the history of these core subjects, examines what is meant by 'curriculum knowledge', takes apart the classroom and educational issues before offering advice on handling curriculum change and tackling new approaches to teaching. It helps teachers develop their skills through enquiry tasks, case studies, questions and suggested further reading.
Improving Teaching and Learning in the Humanities
by Martin AshleyFocuses on religious education, history, geography and cross-curricular planning in the primary school. It includes discussion of the purpose of education, and how the humanities fit with this purpose, with particular reference to the 1998 Education Act and 1994 National Curriculum Review. The book deals with the themes of time, place, values, communication, responsibilities and decision-making. These link the chapters, and are fully complemented with case studies. For each concept there are suggestions for practical classroom activities. The reader will find the book invaluable in integrating the subjects across the National Curriculum.
Improving Teaching Effectiveness: The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching Through 2013–2014
by Abby Robyn Brian M. Stecher Deborah Holtzman Eleanor S. Fulbeck Elizabeth D. Steiner Iliana Brodziak de los Reyes Jay Chambers Jeffrey Poirier Laura S. Hamilton Michael S. GaretTo improve the U.S. education system through more-effective classroom teaching, in school year 2009–2010, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced its Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching. Researchers from the RAND Corporation and the American Institutes for Research evaluated implementation of key reform elements of the program in three public school districts and four charter management organizations.
Improving Teaching through Observation and Feedback: Beyond State and Federal Mandates
by Alyson L. Lavigne Thomas L GoodIn response to Race to the Top, schools nationwide are rapidly overhauling their teacher evaluation processes. Often forced to develop and implement these programs without adequate extra-institutional support or relevant experience, already-taxed administrators need accessible and practical resources. Improving Teaching through Observation and Feedback brings cutting-edge research and years of practical experience directly to those who need them. In five concise chapters, Thomas Good and Alyson Lavigne briefly outline the history of RttT and then move quickly and authoritatively to a discussion of best practices. This book is a perfect resource for administrators reworking their processes for new evaluation guidelines.
Improving Testing: Process Tools and Techniques to Assure Quality
by Cheryl L. Wild Rohit RamaswamyThe primary purpose of this book is to demonstrate how proven quality assurance tools and methods that have been applied successfully in the manufacturing and service industries for the past 20 years can be applied in the testing industry. It defines what is meant by the term "quality" in testing and reviews how three business process concepts – standards, process planning and design, and continuous improvement – can be used to improve the way in which tests are designed, administered, scored and reported so that errors can be eliminated.
Improving Testing For English Language Learners
by Rebecca KoprivaMore than any book to date, this one provides a comprehensive approach to designing, building, implementing and interpreting test results that validly measure the academic achievement of English language learners. It scaffolds the entire process of test development and implementation and discusses essential intervention points. The book provides the type of evidence-based guidance called for in federal mandates such as the NCLB legislation. Key features of this important new book include the following… Comprehensive – This book recommends methods for properly including ELLs throughout the entire test development process, addressing all essential steps from planning, item writing and reviews to analyses and reporting. Breadth and Depth of Coverage– Coverage includes discussion of the key issues, explanations and detailed instructions at each intervention point. Research Focus – All chapters include an extensive review of current research. Emerging Trends – The chapters summarize guidance appropriate for innovative computer-based assessments of the future as well as the paper-and-pencil tests of today. This book is appropriate for anyone concerned with the development and implementation of fair and accurate testing programs for English language learners. This includes university based researchers, testing personel at the federal, state and local levels, teachers interested in better assessing their diverse student populations and those involved in the testing industry. It is also appropriate for instructors teaching undergraduate and graduate courses devoted to testing the full range of students in todays schools.
Improving the Context for Inclusion: Personalising Teacher Development through Collaborative Action Research (Improving Learning)
by Andy Howes S.M.B. Davies Sam FoxThis timely book addresses the need for increasing multi-agency capacity in schools, as the success of initiatives such as ‘Every Child Matters’ or ‘personalised learning’ depends on teachers understanding the challenges faced by young people in learning effectively and happily in their school. The authors of this thought-provoking book present and analyse case studies of collaborative action research, illustrating what is needed in practice for teachers to engage with inclusion for the benefit of their pupils and themselves. The essential elements of success with inclusion are revealed, including: the importance of identifying issues that teachers see as relevant; how teachers can achieve meaningful collaboration in addressing the issues; the necessity of paying careful attention to the consequences of the changes that they make; incorporating practical considerations such as critical support from outsiders; the role of facilitators such as educational psychologists in working with groups of teachers to support their development through action research; how to facilitate change through making use of resources that are already available in the education system. Improving the Context for Inclusion is fascinating reading for all students of education, especially those with an interest in inclusion. Teachers, school leaders and those working in education services will gain an invaluable insight in to how to create an inclusive school environment.
Improving the Evaluation of Scholarly Work: The Application of Service Theory
by Evert Gummesson Montserrat Díaz-Méndez Michael SarenThis book aims to stimulate debate in the growing and highly controversial area of measuring scholarly work. The authors examine key aspects of this topic through the lens of the latest theoretical developments in service science and associated fields. It includes chapters explaining the theoretical developments and methodological aspects of measuring the quality of academic teaching and research, while other chapters provide a review and analysis of various types of scholarly work metrics and processes with examples from several countries, cultures, and educational systems. The current growing concern about higher education (HE) quality has prompted institutions to divide university teachers’ work into different areas and to design methods aimed at measuring the productivity of these areas. It is widely accepted that the need to evaluate HE service quality is a relevant issue for any society. However, the authors argue that most of the current practices used in the pursuit of this objective are jeopardizing the future of the university as a place of knowledge generation, science evolution and professional education.
Improving the First Year of College: Research and Practice
by Robert S. FeldmanThe first year of college represents an enormous milestone in students' lives. Whether attending a four-year or two-year institution of higher education, living on campus or at home, or enrolled in a highly selective school or a college with an open-admissions policy, students are challenged in unique and demanding ways during their first year.Although many students rise to the challenges they face, for some the demands are too great. Retention rates beyond the first year are disappointing: one third of first-year students seriously consider leaving college during their first term, and ultimately one half of all students who start college complete it.What are the factors that impact students during their first year? How can the academic and social experiences of first-year students be optimized? What can we do to improve retention rates to maximize the number of students who complete college? Improving the First Year of College employs a variety of perspectives from leading researchers and student-service providers to address these questions and examine the first year of college.This volume also highlights the development of learning communities and coaching, as well as how technology impacts students' first year. Perhaps most important, the book provides examples of "best practices," as determined through research by leaders in the field, to permit educators to draw on their experiences.
Improving the Odds for America's Children: Future Directions in Policy and Practice
by Marian Wright EdelmanThis landmark volume commemorates the fortieth anniversary of the Children&’s Defense Fund, which has been an uncompromising champion of American youth for all of those years. Yet the book looks not to the past but at our current circumstances—and at the challenges we must meet now and in the future on behalf of our young people. The book examines critical issues—prenatal and infant health and development, early child care and education, school reform, the achievement gap, vulnerable children, juvenile justice, and child poverty—and highlights crucial practical and policy measures we need to consider and undertake if we are to better serve American children. An invaluable survey of the conditions facing American youth—and a call to action at the local, state, and national levels—Improving the Odds for America&’s Children is an urgent, informative, and inspired volume that addresses shortcomings and challenges we cannot afford to ignore. Contributors include Sara Rosenbaum, Partow Zomorrodian, Jack P. Shonkoff, Joan Lombardi, Deborah Jewell- Sherman, Jal Mehta, Robert B. Schwartz, Jerry D. Weast, Greg J. Duncan, Richard J. Murnane, Michael S. Wald, Jane Waldfogel, Robert G. Schwartz, Laurence Steinberg, Arloc Sherman, Robert Greenstein, Sharon Parrott, and Eric Dearing.
Improving the Odds for America's Children: Future Directions in Policy and Practice
by George Miller Hirokazu Yoshikawa Kathleen Mccartney Laurie B. Forcier Marian Wright EdelmanThis landmark volume commemorates the fortieth anniversary of the Children’s Defense Fund, which has been an uncompromising champion of American youth for all of those years. Yet the book looks not to the past but at our current circumstances—and at the challenges we must meet now and in the future on behalf of our young people. The book examines critical issues—prenatal and infant health and development, early child care and education, school reform, the achievement gap, vulnerable children, juvenile justice, and child poverty—and highlights crucial practical and policy measures we need to consider and undertake if we are to better serve American children. An invaluable survey of the conditions facing American youth—and a call to action at the local, state, and national levels—Improving the Odds for America’s Children is an urgent, informative, and inspired volume that addresses shortcomings and challenges we cannot afford to ignore. Contributors include Sara Rosenbaum, Partow Zomorrodian, Jack P. Shonkoff, Joan Lombardi, Deborah Jewell- Sherman, Jal Mehta, Robert B. Schwartz, Jerry D. Weast, Greg J. Duncan, Richard J. Murnane, Michael S. Wald, Jane Waldfogel, Robert G. Schwartz, Laurence Steinberg, Arloc Sherman, Robert Greenstein, Sharon Parrott, and Eric Dearing.
Improving the Pedagogy of Islamic Religious Education in Secondary Schools: The Role of Critical Religious Education and Variation Theory (Routledge Research in Religion and Education)
by Ayse Demirel UcanThis timely book focusses on the central issues and questions which emerge in relation to the teaching and learning of Islam in confessional and constructivist religious education. Considering the consequences of a lack of diversity in the Islamic Religious Education curriculum, the text also explores the challenges faced by Muslim pupils in connection with secularism and radical Islam. Through rich analysis of research carried out across Muslim and public secondary schools in the UK, this book develops a meaningful pedagogy of Islamic Religious Education. In particular, the volume investigates the benefits of Critical Religious Education and Variation Theory frameworks on student learning in Religious Education classrooms and illustrates how these didactic frameworks can help to ameliorate distinct problems seen across Islamic Religious Education. Chapters identify discrete pedagogical issues that arise in the confessional and constructivist approaches to Islamic Education, such as students’ difficulties in relating to concept of Islam, and progressive approaches taken in public schools. In addressing these, the text proposes a new theoretical and pedagogical approach to the teaching of Islam, which draws on the philosophy of Critical Realism, the theories of Critical Religious Education, and Variation Theory. This book will be of great interest to postgraduate students, researcher scholars and academics in the fields of religion and education and Islamic studies. In addition, it will be of interest to social equity professionals and public policy decision makers.