This interdisciplinary guide encourages faculty to use both formal and informal writing to promote deeper learning and problem solving. Using concentric thinking as a theoretical framework, the text outlines a systematic set of cognitive tasks that guide faculty to create and link writing assignments in ways that promote learning and deepen student understanding. Chapters are designed to be participatory and faculty are guided to apply the concentric thinking framework to a real course the...

Interrupt the status quo of activity-based PD to enable real professional learning by focusing on learning, collaborative inquiry, and instructional leadership in schools.

Go beyond traditional paper-and-pencil tests!The Common Core State Standards clearly define the skills students need for success in college and the 21st century workplace. The question is, how can you measure student mastery of skills like creativity, problem solving, and use of technology? Laura Greenstein demonstrates how teachers can teach and assess 21st century skills using authentic learning experiences and rigorous, varied assessment strategies. Bas...

In Conducting Action Research, Coghlan and Shani explain how action research differs from more detached research methods and provides expert guidance on how to engage effectively with it, helping the reader to complete both a successful research project and produce findings that are useful in an organizational context.Ideal for Business and Management students reading for a Master’s degree, each book in the series may also serve as reference books for doctoral stud...

Why, despite years of trying, have efforts to achieve lasting, effective school reform fallen short? What curricular and policy elements must be in place to move forward? How should the roles of teachers and education leaders be defined to best support the point of school?Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and other questions in Schooling by Design: Mission, Action, and Achievement. Building on the premise of Understanding by Design, their acclaimed framework for c...

"With each turn of the page I found myself nodding ′exactly!′ Whether as a class text assigned by faculty or as a self-study resource used by students, this book will resonate with readers."—Doug Leigh, Associate Professor of EducationPepperdine UniversityUse these focused guidelines to help you through every stage of the dissertation process!Writing a dissertation requires focus and commitment. The Education Diss...

Try going a week without hearing a call for a massive overhaul of our educational system. Parents, students, educators, bureaucrats, pundits . . . everyone says something must be done. But what? And who should do it?In this environment, school leaders must build bridges for change. As the system now stands, many students spend great portions of their lives feeling inferior if they struggle, invisible if they already know the material, problematic if they're not a child of ...

Design thinking is a method of problem-solving that relies on a complex set of skills, processes and mindsets that help people generate novel solutions to problems. Taking Design Thinking to School: How the Technology of Design Can Transform Teachers, Learners, and Classrooms uses an action-oriented approach to reframing K-12 teaching and learning, examining interventions that open up dialogue about when and where learning, growth, and empowerment can be triggered. While design th...

This book contains a collection of essays related to assessment and supervision within the teaching profession.

The fully updated Third Edition of Focus Groups: Theory and Practice offers a unique blend of focus group theory and practice in a single, easy-to-read source. It provides systematic treatment to the design, conduct, and interpretation of focus group data within the context of social science research and theory. Known for accessibility and step-by-step guidance, comprehensive treatment, and historical perspective, the book examines every facet of focus gro...

A laser-beam focus on improving instruction to improve learningSaying "teaching matters most" is easy, and seems obvious. Making it the top priority for school leaders and staff is not so easy—in fact, it′s messy. If we want to change how students write, compute, and think, then teachers must change how they teach. They must transform the old "assign-and-assess" model into engaging, compassionate, coherent, and rigorous instruction. The authors show school...

Thinking Collaboratively is a theoretical and practical guide to thinking and learning in deep and meaningful ways within purposeful communities of inquiry. Critical thinking has long been recognized as an important educational goal but, until now, has largely been conceived and operationalized as an individual attitude and ability. Increasingly, however, a more relevant and complete cognitive construct has been emerging: thinking collaboratively. Thinking collaboratively...