On average, a quarter of a million children in the United States enter foster care every year. Most of these children are placed in non-kinship homes; that is, with people who are complete strangers. In The Neglected Transition, child welfare researcher Monique B. Mitchell explores children's experiences of loss and ambiguity as they transition into foster care, as well as the questions children ask during this critical life transition. Specifically, the author uses child-centered...

Pathways of Human Development uses theoretical perspectives from developmental, social, and behavioral sciences to examine the many ways that individuals, families, and communities intersect and interface. Focusing on the impact of change on human development, including its antecedents, processes, and consequences, the chapters examine a range of topics such as health and adaptation; social anxiety disorder; protective factors and risk behaviors; parent-child relationships; adoles...

This book shows how schools can--and must--develop expertise in "learning variation" (understanding how different kinds of minds learn) and apply this knowledge to classroom instruction in order to address the chronic learning challenges and achievement gap faced by millions of students. Barringer shows how using what we know about learning variation with a focus on discovering learning strengths, not just deficits, can help schools create plans for success for those stud...

**2014 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice"What’s going on in this picture?"**With this one question and a carefully chosen work of art, teachers can start their students down a path toward deeper learning and other skills now encouraged by the Common Core State Standards. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) teaching method has been successfully implemented in schools, districts, and cultural institutions nationwide, including bilingual schools in California, West ...

Can You Tell Learning Fact From Fiction?“Training should be tailored to individual learning styles.” “We only use 10 percent of our brain.” “Multitasking is as simple and efficient as flipping a switch.”Some myths and superstitions have their fervent believers. But unlike everyday misconceptions such as “Bats are blind” or “George Washington had wooden teeth,” these learning myths can cost you. Fortunately, trained skeptic Clark Quinn has once and for all laid them bare bef...

Empowering advice for parents of bright, quirky, socially awkward kids—an educator’s clarion call to better understand, appreciate, and nurture our “left-brainers”Does your child:• Have impressive intellectual abilities but seem puzzled by ordinary interactions with other children?• Have deep, all-absorbing interests or seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of certain subjects?• Bring home mediocre report cards, or seem disengaged at school, despit...

Join Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher as they outline a clear-cut, realistic, and rewarding approach to formative assessment. They explain how four discrete steps work in tandem to create a seamless, comprehensive formative assessment system—one that has no beginning and no end. This ongoing approach enhances an active give-and-take relationship between teachers and students to promote learning.Where am I going?Step 1: Feed-up ensures that students understand the purpose of an...

"Every student deserves a great teacher, not by chance, but by design" — Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, & John HattieWhat if someone slipped you a piece of paper listing the literacy practices that ensure students demonstrate more than a year’s worth of learning for a year spent in school? Would you keep the paper or throw it away?We think you’d keep it. And that’s precisely why acclaimed educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie wrote Visible Learning...

In this follow-up to the best-selling Transformative Assessment, W. James Popham takes you inside the classrooms—and inside the heads—of teachers who are using the formative assessment process to improve student learning.Instead of providing yet another collection of data-gathering techniques, Popham focuses on the real challenge of formative assessment: the decisions involved in its planning and implementation. When does it make the most sense to gather assessment data fo...

Checklists help us work better. They help us manage complex tasks more effectively and ensure we apply what we know correctly and consistently. They've become indispensable for airline pilots and doctors, but can this low-tech approach to planning and problem solving demand a place in the teacher's toolkit? Teaching is complicated, with challenging decisions and important consequences, but it's in the most complex situations that a straightforward checklist can be the most useful.G...

The principles of adult learning underpin all corporate training programs including face-to-face and e-learning. Participants are encouraged to learn and are assisted in their learning by training programs that cater for different learning styles. All adults have a unique combination of preferences that make up their personal learning style. To be trained in contrast to a preferred learning style can result in training that is difficult to understand, poorly paced, and difficult to retain ...

This user-friendly guide shows school leaders how to use formative assessment to improve both student and teacher achievement. With step-by-step information and practical examples, this book will help you develop better assessments that will transform your school. You will learn:The advantages of formative assessmentWhen and why to use formative assessmentHow to develop valid and reliable assessmentsHow to mimic the state assessment schedule...