San Antonio College Library

Provides views on multiple sides of curriculum and instruction issues in America's schools and offers more in-depth resources for further exploration. This volume examines standards and accountability in schools, covering such varied issues as assessment (of students, of teachers), basic-skills testing, high-stakes exams, NCLB and its legacy, pay-for-performance, and standard vs. alternative teacher certification.

The controversial author of "The Bell Curve" returns with a groundbreaking manifesto to transform American education. He presents the four simple truths that parents and educators should confront to precipitate change--that ability varies, that half of the children are below average, that too many people are going to college, and that America's future depends on how we educate the academically gifted. Real Education describes the technological and...

"To understand the current moment in school accountability, one must understand the larger contradictions in education politics, Accountability Frankenstein provides a broader perspective on the school accountability debate by exploring the contradictions inherent in high-stakes testing. Accountability Frankenstein explains the historical and social origins of test-based accountability: the political roots of accountability, why we trust test scores...

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Assessment plays a key role in institutions of higher education. However, many colleges and universities simply add their assessment plans onto other teaching, learning, service, and research activities in order to prepare for an impending accreditation visit. In this important resource, Catherine M. Wehlburg outlines an integrated and ongoing system for assessment that both prepares for an accreditation visit and truly enhances student learning....

"'Testing Students With Disabilities is firmly grounded in the cutting edge research the authors have conducted for nearly three decades. They have done a brilliant job of treating a very complex topic in a most readable, logical, and understandable way.' Donald Deshler, Professor of Special Education University of Kansas "Testing Students With Disabilities is a 'must buy' for individuals involved in the education of students with disabilities, whether...

Today more than ever, we prize academic achievement, pressuring our children to get into the "right" colleges, have the highest GPAs, and pursue advanced degrees. But while students may graduate with credentials, by and large they lack the competencies needed to be thoughtful, engaged citizens and to get good jobs in our rapidly evolving economy. Our school system was engineered a century ago to produce a work force for a world that no longer exists....

Schools are places of learning but they are also workplaces, and teachers are employees. As such, are teachers more akin to professionals or to factory workers in the amount of control they have over their work? And what difference does it make? Drawing on large national surveys as well as wide-ranging interviews with high school teachers and administrators, Richard Ingersoll reveals the shortcomings in the two opposing viewpoints that dominate thought...

While few would quarrel with the goal of the No Child Left Behind legislation, the nation is badly divided over whether the law is having a positive effect on our schools. At the same time, it is also true that most Americans, including many professional educators, have only a limited understanding of the content and scope of the legislation. As we are currently engaged in a national debate about the future role of the federal government in the field...