Understanding Education Policy

Author: Tiffany Jones
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400762658
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 76

Book Description
Analysis of education policy often follows a particular orientation, such as conservative or neo-liberal. Yet, readers are often left to wonder the true meaning and conceptual framing behind these orientations. Without this knowledge, the policy analysis lacks true rigor, its value is diminished as the results may prove difficult to reproduce. Understanding Education Policy provides an overarching framework of four key orientations that lie beneath much policy analysis, yet are rarely used with accuracy: conservative, liberal, critical and post-modern. It details each orientation's application to policy making, implementation and overall impact. The book also argues the value of analysing a policy’s orientation to improve the clarity of its analysis and allow broader trends across the education policy field to emerge. The book offers practical examples, key vocabulary and reflection activities which give equitable, yet critical consideration to all education orientations. This allows readers to see the benefits and disadvantages of each perspective and discover their own biases. This introduction to education policy analysis offers theoretically broad, highly practical coverage. It is adaptable to many kinds of policy analysis areas and will appeal to a wide range of readers with an interest in education policy, from students conducting specific research to policy makers looking for a deeper way to re-think their work.

Between the State and the Schoolhouse

Author: Tom Loveless
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781682535912
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description
Between the State and the Schoolhouse examines the Common Core State Standards from the initiative's promising beginnings to its disappointing outcomes. Situating the standards in the long history of state and federal efforts to shape education, the book describes a series of critical lessons that highlight the political and structural challenges of large-scale, top-down reforms. Education policy expert Tom Loveless argues that there are too many layers between the state and the classroom for a national standards approach to be effective. Specifically, he emphasizes the significant gap between states' roles in designing education policy and teachers' roles as implementers of policy. In addition, he asserts that top-down policies are unpredictable, subject to political and ideological pressures, and vulnerable to the pendulum effect as new reforms emerge in response to previous ones. One of the most ambitious education reforms of the past century, the Common Core aimed to raise student success, prepare larger numbers of students for both college and careers, and close achievement gaps. Yet, as Loveless documents, a decade later there remains a lack of significant positive impact on student learning. Between the State and the Schoolhouse marks an important contribution to the debate over the standards movement and the role of federal and state governments in education reform.

Understanding the Power and Politics of Public Education

Author: Janet Mulvey
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1475820895
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 143

Book Description
Understanding the Power and Politics of Public Education researches the history and trends of educating the populace in the United States. Demographic changes and socio-economic diversity have altered the needs for traditional approaches. Policy makers are implored to become familiar with proven educational research to implement policies that service the needs of all youth. Public schools now enroll more minority students than ever before. Diverse languages, cultures and experiences call for pedagogy to meet the needs and educational success for new citizens. Teacher training programs in colleges and universities – along with new curricula - are in need of revision to promote educational success of new generations. Understanding the role of experiential background and its influence on educational success, and social mobility is necessary for a healthy society and democracy. This book examines statistical studies showing the impact of environmental issues on cognitive development and illustrates the educational outcome and effects of poverty through documented research in areas of health care, nutrition, pollution, community and family experiences. It also explores the role of family socio-economic status and compares the educational readiness of the more and less affluent.

The American Education Policy Landscape

Author: Jennifer A. Rippner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317542347
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Book Description
In today’s complex educational environment, it’s critical for educators to understand the policy landscape. Research-based and grounded in a non-ideological perspective, The American Education Policy Landscape is an essential guide for educators, graduate students, and policymakers alike. This accessible resource unpacks complex concepts and provides a comprehensive overview of early childhood, K-12, and higher education policy issues, including governance structures at the local, state, and national levels; the process of policymaking; issues of educational finance; and the impact of stakeholders. The American Education Policy Landscape provides aspiring and practicing educators, analysts, researchers, and policymakers with the foundational knowledge and context for understanding education policy, enabling them to make effective decisions, provide informed advice, and craft critical research questions on education.

Education Policy

Author: Les Bell
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134183860
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
The study of educational leadership makes little sense unless it is in relation to who the leaders are, how they are leading, what is being led, and with what effect. Based on the premise that learning is at the heart of leadership and that leaders themselves should be learners, the Leadership for Learning series explores the connections between educational leadership, policy, curriculum, human resources and accountability. Each book in the series approaches its subject matter through a three-fold structure of process, themes and impact. Series Editors - Clive Dimmock, Mark Brundrett and Les Bell As global pressures focus increasing attention on the outcomes of education policy and on their implications for economic prosperity and social citizenship, the experience of each individual learner is decisively shaped by the wider policy environment. However, there is often an underdeveloped understanding of how education policy is formed, what drives it and how it impacts on schools and colleges. This book explicitly makes these connections and links them to the wider challenges of educational leadership in a modern context. Education Policy is divided into three sections, which examine: the development of policy at the levels of the nation state and individual institutions the forces that shape policies with emphasis on human capital theory, citizenship and social justice and accountability research-based case studies highlighting the application of policy in a range of situations. The book provides a valuable resource for students, practitioners, middle managers and educational leaders in all sectors, both in the UK and internationally, who are engaged on masters and doctoral degrees, or undertaking leadership training and preparation programmes.

Understanding Education Indicators

Author: Mike Planty
Publisher: Teachers College Press
ISBN: 0807771724
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Book Description
In the push to bring data to bear on all of the important education issues of the day, one essential fact is often overlooked: Not all indicators are created equal. This bookprovides a comprehensive approach for understanding how statistical measures of achievement are developed, evaluated, and interpreted. Given the extent to which accountability measures determine outcomes for schools and students, this practical introduction is essential reading for a wide audience that includes school administrators, teachers, policymakers, and the media. The authors strive to increase “statistical literacy” by engaging readers in the process of becoming thoughtful and critical users of data. With the practitioner in mind, this hands-on primer: Outlines a viable approach to interpreting the vast array of available data about education in the United States.Uses clear, jargon-free language with real examples from local, national, and international indicator systems.Offers a website (www.educationindicator.com) with additional resources, examples, and a forum for up-to-the-minute policy discussions.Mike Planty is a statistician at the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Deven Carlson is a Ph.D. candidate in political science and a graduate research fellow at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “Mike Planty and Deven Carlson have taken pity on nonexpert readers of the glut of information about schools and, in this incisive and clearly written book, show how to figure it all out.” —Jay Mathews, Washington Post education columnist “In a data-driven world where competing experts will cite conflicting stats and figures to make their case, Planty and Carlson have penned a volume that will prove invaluable to parents, practitioners, and policymakers trying to separate fact from fiction. If you want to know what’s really going on in education today, read this book.” —Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute “Education researchers, policy analysts, and journalists interested in understanding what really is going on behind the ‘simple’ data that drive the education policy debate need this book.” —Jack Buckley, New York University and former Deputy Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics

Understanding Contemporary Education

Author: Tom O'Donoghue
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317193598
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 435

Book Description
Understanding Contemporary Education offers an essential exploration of key concepts and issues in education that will allow education studies students, as well as trainee and practising teachers to engage in reflection, not only on work at the classroom level, but on education more broadly. Using detailed examples, the book problematises many popular and taken-for-granted views, allowing the reader to challenge and seriously consider the nature of the education enterprise. In each chapter, a concept is carefully considered, with major features, controversies, and strengths and weaknesses highlighted. Key follow-up questions challenge the reader to reflect on specific issues, and encourage involvement, not just in their own teaching, but in the planning and determination of the total programme of their school, and where possible, that of the nation. The book is divided into seven main parts: The Social Context of Education Education Policy Curriculum Teaching and Learning Leadership in Education Teacher Preparation International Developments in Education. Drawing upon a wide variety of theoretical positions, Understanding Contemporary Education provides an accessible introduction to key themes and concepts in education, challenging readers to fully consider the purpose of education and to reflect intelligently on issues that affect all schools. It is a must-read book for those on education studies courses, as well as trainee and practising teachers.

Handbook of Education Policy Studies

Author: Guorui Fan
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 981138343X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Book Description
This open access handbook brings together the latest research from a wide range of internationally influential scholars to analyze educational policy research from international, historical and interdisciplinary perspectives. By effectively breaking through the boundaries between countries and disciplines, it presents new theories, techniques and methods for contemporary education policy, and illustrates the educational policies and educational reform practices that various countries have introduced to meet the challenges of continuous change. This volume focuses on policies and changes in schools and classrooms. The studies on school changes present the differences in the policies and challenges of K-12 schools and universities in different countries and regions, and in connection with the contradictions and conflicts between tradition and modernization, as well as the changing roles of various stakeholders, especially that of teachers. In terms of curriculum and instruction, many countries have undertaken experiments and introduced changes based on two major themes: “what to teach” and “how to teach”. International education assessments represented by PISA not only promote the improvement and extensive application of educational assessment and testing techniques, but have also had far-reaching impacts on education policies and education reforms in many countries. Focusing on the changes in educational policies at the micro level, this volume comprehensively reveals the complex interactions between school organizations, teachers, curricula, teaching and learning, evaluation and other elements within the education system, as well as the latest related reforms worldwide.

Education Policy and Social Reproduction

Author: John Fitz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134552483
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Book Description
This book takes a theoretically informed look at British education policy over the last sixty years when secondary schooling for all children became an established fact for the first time. Comprehensive schools largely replaced a system based on academic selection. Now, under choice and competition policies, all schools are subject to the rigours of local education markets. What impact did each of these successive policy frameworks have on structures of opportunities for families and their children? How and to what extent was the experience of secondary school students shaped and what influenced the qualifications they obtained and their life chances after schooling? The authors locate their work within two broad strands in the sociology of education. Basil Bernstein’s work on the realisation of power and control in and through pedagogic discourse and social reproduction provides a theoretical framework for exploring the character of and continuities and change in education and training policies. The book is an important contribution to debates about the extent to which education is a force for change in class divided societies. The authors also set out to re-establish social class at the centre of educational analysis at a time when emphasis has been on identity and identity formation, arguing for their interdependence. This book will be an important resource for students, policy analysts and policymakers wishing to think through and understand the longer term impact of programmes that have shaped secondary schooling in Britain and elsewhere.

Global Education Policy and International Development

Author: Antoni Verger
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441170901
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Book Description
Exploring the interplay between globalization, education and international development, this book surveys the impact of global education policies on local policy in developing countries. With chapters written by leading international scholars, drawing on a full range of theoretical perspectives and offering a diverse selection of case studies from Africa, Asia and South America, this book considers such topics as: How are global education agendas and policies formed and implemented? What is the impact of such policy priorities as public-private partnerships, child-centred pedagogies and school-based management? What are the effects of political and economic globalization on educational reform and change? How do mediating institutions affect the translation of global policies to particular educational contexts? What are the limitations of globalised policy solutions and what problems do they encounter at local levels? From students of education, development and globalization to practitioners working in developing contexts, this book is an important resource for those seeking to understand how global forces and local realities meet to shape education policy in the developing world.