Creating the Schools Our Children Need : Why What We are Doing Now Won't Help Much (And What We Can Do Instead)

Improving education in the United States requires school districts to make smart decisions. By examining the gaps between what research says works and what schools actually do, Wiliam provides evidence-based changes to implement for successful school improvement efforts. This book helps districts, school leaders, and stakeholders learn how to become critical consumers of educational research capable of increasing student achievement.

This book will help educators:

• Build a curriculum focused on developing knowledge
• Support a culture where every teacher improves
• Apply a framework for evaluating new district initiatives

Contents:
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Foreword
Introduction
Section 1
Chapter 1: Why We Need to Improve American Education
Section 2
Chapter 2: Getting Smarter People Into Teaching
Chapter 3: Firing Bad Teachers
Chapter 4: Paying Good Teachers More
Chapter 5: Reducing Class Size
Chapter 6: Copying Other Countries
Chapter 7: Expanding School Choice
Section 3
Chapter 8: Moving Forward
Chapter 9: Why Curriculum Matters
Chapter 10: A Knowledge-Rich Curriculum
Chapter 11: Improving the Teachers We Have
Chapter 12: Creating a Learning Environment for Educators
Chapter 13: Pulling It All Together
Appendix
References
Index

Dylan Wiliam is one of the world's foremost education authorities. He has helped to successfully implement classroom formative assessment in thousands of schools all over the world, including the United States, Singapore, Sweden, Australia, and the United Kingdom. A two-part BBC series, The Classroom Experiment, tracked Dr. Wiliam's work at one British middle school, showing how formative assessment strategies empower students, significantly increase engagement, and shift classroom responsibility from teachers to their students so that students become agents of and collaborators in their own learning. Dylan Wiliam is Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment at University College London. After a first degree in mathematics and physics, he taught in urban schools for seven years, during which time he earned further degrees in mathematics and mathematics education. Learn more about Wiliam's research, as well as his products and services at the Learning Sciences Dylan Wiliam Center.