First Things First! : Creating the New American Primary School

Ruby Takanishi

ISBN 10: 0807756938 / ISBN 13: 9780807756935

Published by Teachers College Press Aug 2016, 2016

About this Item

Neuware - This book draws on a half century of efforts (1960s to the present) to forge a consensus that early education is a public responsibility in the United States. While that consensus has not yet been achieved, recent progress provides a platform for identifying new strategies, based on lessons learned. Transforming the American primary school, starting with threes and fours and ending at age ten (PreK-5) is the focusof First Things First. This book calls attention to the relative neglect of primary or elementary education in the recurring waves of education reform that have targeted middle and high schools. First Things First also points to the chaos generated when PreK is added onto the K-12 grades without attention to its ramifications for the later grades, especially Kindergarten. The book will also briefly address what should happen before PreK (Birth to Three) and after Grade 5, including middle and high school reform, to position the new primary school in an educational enterprise that is committed to life-long learning.

Seller Inventory # 9780807756935

Bibliographic Details

• Title: First Things First! : Creating the New American Primary School
• Publisher: Teachers College Press Aug 2016
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807756938
• ISBN 13: 9780807756935
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 226W x 155H x 10D millimeters 226 millimeters width by 155 millimeters height by 10 millimeters depth
• Weight: 295 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Challenging policymakers, educators, reformers, and citizens to replace piecemeal reforms with fundamental redesign, First Things First! calls for a different way of organizing the American primary school. Ruby Takanishi outlines a new framework for integrating early education with primary education (pre-K–5), including both short- and long-term strategies, that starts with 3- and 4-year-olds. Featuring portraits of primary schools that have successfully integrated pre-K, the book includes resources on dual-language learners, dual-generation family engagement, effective philanthropy, rethinking advocacy, and more. The book centers on four basic questions:

• Why should the United States design a new primary school as children’s first, widely share educational experience?
• How can the educators of the new primary school use new knowledge about how children learn to improve their practice?
• What will it take to create a new primary school that educates all children well?
• How can the design of the new primary school reflect demographic, social, linguistic, and cultural changes and adapt to the requirements of a global economy?

First Things First! reframes the basic structure of traditional primary education, challenging us to get the early years of a 21st-century public education system off to a new and stronger start.

About the Author

Ruby Takanishi is senior research fellow in the Early & Elementary Education Policy Division at New America in Washington, D.C. She has been honored by the American Education Research Association with the 2014 Distinguished Public Service Award.