At a time of bitter national polarization, there is a critical need for leaders who can help us better communicate with one another. In A Search for Common Ground, Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera, who have often fallen on opposing sides of the ideological aisle over the past couple of Read more
Matt Barnum of The 74 recently reviewed research on the importance of curricular materials for student achievement. Excerpts from his article appear below: The idea that schools can get better simply by improving the content of what they teach may seem at once novel and obvious in an education policy Read more
Becoming Brilliant, a new book by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff explores the definition of brilliance in the modern information age. Below, excerpts from a post in the Brookings Blog provide an overview of this new way of thinking: The amount of knowledge available in books and online is Read more
One of the classic questions about education is whether teaching can be taught. Is a teacher born or made? A recently released book, Building a Better Teacher: How Teaching Works (and How to Teach It to Everyone) by Elizabeth Green, answers with a definitive, “Yes, it can be taught!” Green’s Read more
A new book by researchers at the Carenegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching examines the movement towards the changing face of teaching from an “occupation” to one based on scientific scholarship. The movement’s impact on teacher education programs is examined with particular attention. Authors Pat Hutchings, Mary Taylor Huber, Read more
Looking for a change of pace from academic reports and scholarly articles? Chloe Jon Paul, retired educator, has just released a novel detailing the experiences of four educators, Vera Harriss, Deidre Fletcher, Mark Pettingill, and Stu Martel, over the course of a single academic year. What causes Vera, who is Read more
A new book from Yvette Jackson will restore teachers’ belief in their ability to help all students perform at high intellectual levels. Jackson outlines a simple but radical approach to teaching that builds on students’ strengths in order to develop instruction that is both relevant and motivational. The Pedagogy of Read more
In Customized Schooling (Harvard Education Press, 2011), editors Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Bruno V. Manno, senior adviser, K-12 Education Reform Initiative at the Walton Family Foundation, lead a group of education experts to look at “how providers might Read more
Hot off the Brookings Institution press is Terry Moe’s magnum opus on teacher unions, Special Interest – Teachers Unions and America’s Public Schools. At more than 500 pages, it is deeply informative, profoundly insightful, fundamentally depressing, and yet ultimately somewhat hopeful about our children’s educational futures due to the combined forces Read more
A new book released this month by Education|Evolving associate Tim McDonald examines strategies for making schools more cost-effective and productive. Federal stimulus funding for K-12, McDonald argues, has created an impression that schools are suffering today because of the economic downturn. This is true. But the downturn is not the Read more
Four new education titles top my list for must-reads: A New Culture of Learning, The Influence of Teachers, Too Simple to Fail: A Case for Educational Change, and Teaching the Taboo. For those who are looking forward to what schooling might become, “A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination Read more