Making Schools Work
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Making Schools Work
Author: Eric A. Hanushek
language: en
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Release Date: 2010-12-01
Educational reform is a big business in the United States. Parents, educators, and policymakers generally agree that something must be done to improve schools, but the consensus ends there. The myriad of reform documents and policy discussions that have appeared over the past decade have not helped to pinpoint exactly what should be done. The case for investment in education is an economic one: schooling improves the productivity and earnings of individuals and promotes stronger economic growth and better functioning of society. Recent trends in schooling have, however, lessened the value of society's investments as costs have risen dramatically while student performance has stayed flat or even fallen. The task is to improve performance while controlling costs. This book is the culmination of extensive discussions among a panel of economists led by Eric Hanushek. They conclude that economic considerations have been entirely absent from the development of educational policies and that economic reality is sorely needed in discussions of new policies. The book outlines an improvement plan that emphasizes changing incentives in schools and gathering information about effective approaches. Available research and analysis demonstrates that current central decisionmaking has worked poorly. Concentrating on inputs such as pupil-teacher ratios or teacher graduate degrees appears quite inferior to systems that directly reward performance. Nonetheless, since experience with such alternatives is very limited, a program of extensive evaluation appears to be in order. Attempts to institute radical change on the basis of currently available information involve substantial risks of failure. Many people today find proposals such as charter schools, expanded use of merit pay, or educational vouchers to be appealing. Yet there is little evidence of their effectiveness, and widespread adoption of these proposals is sure to run into substantial problems of im
Making Schools Work
"This book is about the threats to education quality in the developing world that cannot be explained by lack of resources. It reviews the observed phenomenon of service delivery failures in public education: cases where programs and policies increase the inputs to education but do not produce effective services where it counts - in schools and classrooms. It documents what we know about the extent and costs of such failures across low and middle-income countries. And it further develops the conceptual model posited in the World Development Report 2004: that a root cause of low-quality and inequitable public services - not only in education - is the weak accountability of providers to both their supervisors and clients.The central focus of the book, however, is a new story. It is that developing countries are increasingly adopting innovative strategies to attack these problems. Drawing on new evidence from 22 rigorous impact evaluations across 11 developing countries, this book examines how three key strategies to strengthen accountability relationships in developing country school systems have affected school enrollment, completion and student learning. The book reviews the motivation and global context for education reforms aimed at strengthening provider accountability. It provides the rationally and synthesizes the evidence on the impacts of three key lines of reform: (1) policies that use the power of information to strengthen the ability of clients of education services (students and their parents) to hold providers accountable for results; (2) policies that promote school-based management?that is increase schools? autonomy to make key decisions and control resources, often empowering parents to play a larger role; (3) teacher incentives reforms that specifically aim at making teachers more accountable for results, either by making contract tenure dependent on performance, or offering performance-linked pay. The book summarizes the lessons learned, draws cautious conclusions about possible complementarities across different types of accountability-focused reforms if they are implemented in tandem, considers issues related to scaling up reform efforts and the political economy of reform, and suggests directions for future work."
Making Schools Work
Author: Kathy Hirsh-Pasek
language: en
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Release Date: 2022
If we teach in the way that human brains learn, both students and their teachers will thrive! This book aligns evidence from the learning sciences on how and what students need to learn with classroom practice (pre-K–12). It demonstrates, with hands-on examples, how a change in educational mindset (rather than in curriculum) can improve student outcomes on both standardized tests and a breadth of 21st-century skills skills. Written collectively by classroom teachers, administrators, parents, and learning scientists, this book shows readers how to co-construct and reimagine an optimal educational system. Making Schools Work offers three case studies of schools, including a statewide system, that are all realizing a 6 Cs approach to learning focused on collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creative innovation, and confidence. The text documents the ever-evolving implementation process, as well as outcomes and the ongoing work of stakeholders. Readers can use this resource to create an education for all children that is culturally responsive, inclusive, effective, and fun. Book Features: Helps educators teach in the way that human minds learn.Jointly written in accessible language by teachers, administrators, parents, and learning scientists.Offers hands-on ways to reimagine classrooms without investing in new curricula.Puts teachers in the driver’s seat, reminding them of why they teach.Provides culturally responsive, inclusive, effective, and fun strategies.Offers children the possibility of learning the skills they will need for 21st-century skills success. “Most of us agree that it is critical at this moment in time to reimagine what school could be. This reimagination must be informed by the best available science and built on current educational wisdom found in our schools. This book does just that and makes clear that more playful learning across the K–12 school system would be the most natural way to help all students learn the 21st-century knowledge and skills they need in life.” —From the Foreword by Pasi Sahlberg, author of Finnish Lessons 3.0: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? and professor of education, Southern Cross University, Lismore, Australia