Best Federal Education Legislation
From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools. Refusing to embrace the formulas of left and right, she attacks politically correct speech codes as intelligently as she criticizes the free-market faith in competition. And this skepticism animates her broader critique in Reign of Error , a book that dispels the clouds of reform rhetoric to reveal the destructiveness of the privatization agenda.” —Jackson Lear, Commonweal. “No matter what side of the debate the reader is on, Ms. Ravitch provides a thought-provoking look at some of the major challenges facing public education today.” — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Ravtich’s critique of the corporate reformers’ manufactured agenda, along with the truly progressive alternatives she offers, shows us a way to begin the long haul toward improving democracy’s classrooms.” —Joseph Featherstone, The Nation. “Diane Ravitch [is] arguably our leading historian of primary and secondary education.” —Andrew Delbanco, The New York Review of Books. Ravitch’s candor stands in stark contrast to the bromides of the corporate reformers, who have pretty much left any attempts at integration out of their schemes.” —NEA.org (National Education Association). You will never find a more succinct and compelling book than Reign of Error , with a crystal clear analysis of the way in which our schools are being driven into the ground by the Billionaire Boys club of Gates, Broad, Walton, Murdoch, and Bloomberg, and other ideologues and opportunists eager to join in. Buy the book.” — The Huffington Post “I knew a lot about what happened to black public schools in Mississippi, but had concerns about how to go about building a better system. In Reign of Error , she reveals the shocking lack of evidence behind many of the radical experiments being forced on our public school children and families by tragically misguided politicians and non-educators. Most important, she lays out a vision of evidence-based, authentic education reforms that hold great promise for America to lead and inspire the world again. What Silent Spring and The Fate of the Earth did for the environmental and antinuclear movements, this book should do for the cause of improving America's public schools." “Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error takes the myths surrounding public education head on and provides her readers with logic and reasoning sorely missing from the current debate. Ravitch also takes on the Billionaire Boys Club with swipes at their handmaidens of destruction, including Michelle Rhee, Joel Klein, and Wendy Kopp, and the book provides the solutions that will change the trajectory away from so-called destructive innovation towards equitable, high quality education for all children.”. —Karen GJ Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"She also calls for small class size, banning for-profit charter schools, cooperation between charter schools and other public schools and providing the social and medical services poor children need to do well in school."
"Ms. Ravitch has my vote for Superintendent of Schools, has my support to become the next Education Department Secretary, and has my thanks for tirelessly working to correct the mistakes caused by educational privatization, online "education," and modern forms of charters that are misleading and abusive towards public schools."
""Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Dangers to America's Public Schools. ". Even despite the fact it was a bit dry and tedious on occasions, I found a lot of good information in it. I don't think there is anything wrong with Public Schools that a little time, money and interested people can't fix. All of my family have attended them from my Mother and Father both, in the early part of the last century to my Grandchildren the last of whom graduated in 2010. Then the privatization vultures move in for the kill and shove part of those funds to 'for profit schools' which they tout as being a cure-all for something they have deliberately created (an educational crisis). They are deliberately setting public schools up to fail when they start taking funds away. It's one the politician's oldest tricks when they want to get rid of a public institution...start starving it to death of funds to operate. Only a complete fool would try and sell the idea that economic advantages and poverty doesn't have something to do with children's abilities to learn. Where a lot of these people think Government can't do anything right...as far as I am concerned private businesses are far bigger screw ups. And there have been some huge ones from the privatization of the Iraq war that cost the taxpayer billions in wasted tax dollars that were thrown at a nonexistent problem, to the disaster I see in education these days."
"As a public school teacher and a strong advocate for public education, I believe this information must reach the general public."
The go-to legal resource for principals, fully updated! This approach to the legal aspects of the day-to-day operations of a school is a useful planning guide as well as a resource when questions arise. It also has a unique design that can assist practicing school administrators deal with legal issues but not require the school administrator to become a lawyer."--Dr. This approach to the legal aspects of the day-to-day operations of a school is a useful planning guide as well as a resource when questions arise. It also has a unique design that can assist practicing school administrators deal with legal issues but not require the school administrator to become a lawyer." This approach to the legal aspects of the day-to-day operations of a school is a useful planning guide as well as a resource when questions arise. It also has a unique design that can assist practicing school administrators deal with legal issues but not require the school administrator to become a lawyer.- --Dr. Thomas J. McCormack, Professor and Chair of the Counseling, Foundations, and Leadership Department.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very detailed yet to the point."
"The booked was exactly as advertised!"
"My experience is this book lives up to the expectations I had for it."
"Love that i could access this on my kindle for class, makes it so much easier!"
"My book is missing pages 269-316!"
In his book, Poor Students, Rich Teaching: Mindsets for Change, discover practical and research-based strategies to ensure all students, regardless of circumstance, are college and career ready. 3 Secrets of the Relational Mindset. 4 Personalize the Learning. 5 Connect Everyone for Success. 6 Show Empathy. 7 Lock in the Relational Mindset. 8 Secrets of the Achievement Mindset. 9 Set Gutsy Goals. 10 Have the Right Attitude. 11 Give Fabulous Feedback. 12 Persist With Grit. 13 Lock in the Achievement Mindset. 14 Secrets of the Rich Classroom Climate Mindset. 15 Engage Voice and Vision. 16 Set Safe Classroom Norms. 17 Foster Academic Optimism. 18 Lock in the Rich Classroom Climate Mindset. 19 Secrets of the Engagement Mindset. 20 Engage for Maintenance and Stress. 21 Engage for Setup and Buy-In. 22 Engage to Build Community. 23 Lock in the Engagement Mindset. Appendix: Resources for Getting Started. Eric Jensen has provided a brilliant road map and a set of practical tools for any educator who truly desires to help the underprivileged student rise above his or her circumstances.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I have come to expect well written, practical and research based work from Eric Jensen."
"What an important topic."
"Wonderful read."
"A must read for teachers and school administrators."
"Good resource with some helpful strategies."
"Very good book and great help for teachers."
"Easy read and makes a lot of sense!"
Best Charter Schools
Born to Rise is the inspiring account of Deborah Kenny’s pursuit of social justice for our nation’s most vulnerable children. “One woman’s tragedy turns into triumph for hundreds of Harlem schoolchildren in Kenny’s personal and professional memoir… the anecdotes of successful teachers (Kenny’s “rock stars”) at work and students whose lives were truly turned around by her work prove persuasive and uplifting.” ( Publishers Weekly ). “Parents and principals trying to understand what makes successful schools work ought to read Born to Rise.” ( New York Times ).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I just finished the book and did two uncharastristic things: I grabbed a box of kleenex and went to Amazon to write a review. TY, and Mel for his generations of mentorships, has created scores of unbelievalable leaders, scholars, and business people."
"When will NYSED start really listening to people like Deborah Kenny and implement changes in the public school system that truly work to empower teachers and students alike? After a decade of poor professional development, little or no administrative support, dwindling family & parent involvement, and shrinking budgets, I feel tired of swimming upstream. Now, after all this time, they may implement some of these changes, but I am afraid it may bring an end to music and the arts in our school, as they are not valued as much as "core" subjects."
"While Deborah Kenny's personal story is moving in its own right, the book is important because it also raises crucial questions about the failure of our school systems."
"Now, when I think of charter schools, I smile and think of Deborah Kenny and Born to Rise."
"This was a very inspirational boojk and I applaud the author and her dedicated staff and her children for sharing this journey with the reader Some who cares very deeply about the educational welfare of her children and the students in NYC and the country didn't give up despite the hassles and the bureaucratic red tapes she went to to make her mission a huge realizaion for the future of education in this country and found a wonderful group of people who were able to teach these wonderful young people and give them hope for their successful future!!!"
"I think this is a great example of how as a leader, she invests in her team members and creates a great learning community."
"She, like many other entrepreneurs with laser like focus (which Deborah has), has managed to run schools that are successful for teachers and students that fit the mold of the school they created."
Best School Safety
you will learn about: • The early warning signs of abuse. • The nature of abusive thinking. • Myths about abusers. • Ten abusive personality types. • The role of drugs and alcohol. • What you can fix, and what you can’t. • And how to get out of an abusive relationship safely. Bancroft, a former codirector of Emerge, the first U.S. program for abusive men, and a 15-year veteran of work with abusive men, reminds readers that each year in this country, two to four million women are assaulted by their partners and that at least one out of three American women will be a victim of violence by a husband or boyfriend at some point in her life.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"In short, I wasted 35 years of my life with this man, who distorted reality and everything I knew to be true and tried his best to make me feel small and unworthy. He moved out of the house last week (I bought him out) and I have to say ... it is sad, but I've never felt more at peace with the decision and I am ALREADY much, much happier. NO ONE should have to live with someone who treats you like a child, or curses you out "just because that's the way he's feeling," or will not respect you or your career, or refuses to stop drinking or drugging, or who physically harms or threatens you."
"This book will stop making you feel sorry for your abuser."
"So, with a title like "angry and controlling men," they are more likely to pick up the book, thinking, "Hey, this might apply to the confusing situation I am facing." He can routinely blame her for everything that goes wrong in his life, or he can constantly critique her and tear her down, or he can call her names that when I tried to put them in this review, got it banned from Amazon. Abuse is not a binary kind of behavior that is only invoked when the fists fly, but a deeply ingrained, unrepentant attitude of ownership, entitlement, contempt and resentment that a man displays, not toward most people in his life, but toward "his" woman (including past women). This confusion is created by the abuser himself, in his highly successful attempts to justify himself to himself, to his victim, and to the people around him. Bancroft did not did start out with this assumption, by the way, but came to it after years of working with abusers in mandatory counseling groups. When he started out, he believed what the abusers told him about how their behavior was caused by their wives' failings, their traumatic childhoods, their unemployment, or the hurts done them by past girlfriends; that they didn't know what they were doing; that they "lost control." The abuser, meanwhile, is functional in his life at large (except when it comes to treating his wife well), and appears to be a sane, trustworthy person. Small wonder, then, that the abused woman, her friends, and society at large cannot figure out what her problem is. If they start from the assumption that the abuser is a decent guy who means well, they will never figure out the situation. For example, in one chapter Bancroft examines in some detail a frustrating conversation between a whiny, controlling man and his wife, which ends with him insisting on walking home in the cold, even though she would be willing to drive him. Of course, his main motive is to maintain the role of victim, to keep himself in the right and his wife in the wrong, so that he can tell himself (and tell everyone else later) how she "left him" to walk home in the cold. There is a fascinating, counterintuitive warning (late in the book), that women in abusive situations should not seek couples' counseling. The reassuring presence of the counselor might get the wife to open up and say things to, or about, her husband that she would never otherwise dream of uttering."
"Anger management will not help these people; they need to be in an abuse program. Because most abusers never change, the abuse program needs to consider the victims as their real clients, because they are the ones who will benefit most by feeling supported and validated, and they are a necessary component of the program to keep the abuser accountable. Interesting that the day after I read this in the book, I saw it on Facebook as a meme."