Full Description
In the 1950s and 1960s, students practiced ducking under their desks in case of an atomic bomb attack. We know that this was silly and provided no protection and many school practices that are popular today are equally silly. This book explores a wide range of what the authors label "duck and cover" policies—ideas that may have started for good reasons but whose usefulness has declined over time, ideas that may lack sound theoretical foundations or long-term evidence, ideas that violate basic logic and reasoning or cause serious and proven damage. Ginsberg and Zhao explore how and why these policies were adopted, along with the underlining factors that push school leaders to maintain them. They also offer recommendations for reconsidering, replacing, or just removing these dubious strategies from practice. Topics include standardized testing, kindergarten readiness, college and career readiness, social and emotional learning, teaching evaluations, class size, professional development, time management, and much more. Duck and Cover will help readers to think about their schools' policies and practices in new ways, encouraging ongoing consideration and feedback about what actually works.
Book Features:
Invites K-12 educational policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to question the effectiveness of everyday practices.
Shows that some commonly practiced and even sacred beliefs in education are not scientifically sound or even logical.
Points to actions that leaders can take to remove, reconsider, or revise detrimental practices—a duck-and-cover audit guide with questions readers can use to examine what they do.
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments v
Introduction 1Part I: DREAMS, FANTASIES, AND NIGHTMARES
1. Kindergarten Readiness 13
2. College and Career Readiness 20
3. Reading Proficiency by 3rd Grade 27
4. The Achievement Gap 34
5. Social and Emotional Learning 41
6. Foreign-Language Instruction 52
7. Educational Technology 60Part II: OPERATIONAL BUGABOOS
8. Professional Development 71
9. Class Size 78
10. Time 85
11. Dress and Grooming Codes 93
12. Teacher Evaluation 99
13. Gifted and Talented and Exceptional Education 105Part III: SYSTEMIC AND ANALYTIC CONUNDRUMS
14. State Standardized Testing 115
15. Governance by School Board 123
16. How Teachers Are Paid 131
17. Meta-Analysis 141
Conclusion 149References 157
Index 180
About the Authors 185
