Full Description
"Karen Olsen has put budget topics into perspective so that school administrators can make decisions based on what is best for children, not what is easiest and most efficient for adults. This book is a powerful guide in helping our principals see through the fog of mandates, policies, and red tape and get to the priority of students!"
—Terri Patterson, Director of Elementary Education
Waco Independent School District, TX
"This book boldly asserts that brain research should be applied wherever human brains are working. Not only can and should brain research inform how and what we teach in the classroom, it should be brought to bear in boardrooms and the school budgeting process as well."
—Linda Jordan, Associate Professor
Hope College
Make objective budget-cutting decisions that will truly impact student achievement!
In tough economic environments, budget cutting is a daunting but necessary task for many school administrators. Karen D. Olsen takes an exciting, unique approach by applying brain research to budgeting. Now educators can make the decision-making process more objective by using analytical thinking in school budgeting rather than responding to emotion, tradition, or outside influences. Providing a strategy-builder chart, this book
Offers action items for putting the strategies into practice
Helps leaders determine where money should be reinvested or reallocated
Provides specific tips for working within a group decision-making setting
Includes more than 30 analytical charts to aid in gathering needed information
What Brain Research Can Teach About Cutting School Budgets offers principals and district leaders a methodical process for taking subjectivity out of the budgeting process.
Contents
Foreword by Susan Kovalik
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Where to $tart
Attitude Is Important
Action Items
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
2. Instruction: Tools
A Brief Summary
Action Items
Brain Research
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
3. Instruction: Organization and Use of Time
Optimizing Organization and Use of Time
Action Items
Brain Research
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
4. Staffing
Action Items
Brain Research
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
5. Professional Development
Professional Development Is a Survival Imperative
Action Items
Brain Research
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
6. The Inseparable Bodybrain Learning Partnership: Movement and Aerobic Exercise
Movement to Enhance Learning
Action Items
Resources
Myths Versus Brain Facts
Endotes
Action Summary Checklist
7. The Inseparable Bodybrain Learning Partnership: Emotion
Impact of Emotion as Gatekeeper to Learning and Performance
Action Items
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
8. Double-Link Curriculum for Two-Step Learning: Link One
A Context for Content
Content for Link-One Curriculum
Action Task 1: Analyze Your Curriculum for Age Appropriateness
Action Task 2: Analyze How Well Your Standards Enhance Pattern Seeking
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
9. Double-Link Curriculum for Two-Step Learning: Link Two
Link-Two Content
Action Items
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
10. Testing: Does the Emperor Wear Clothes?
What Do Tests Test?
Standardized Tests Don't Test Learning
Where and What to Cut
Homegrown Isn't Necessarily Better
Action Items
Resources
Endotes
Action Summary Checklist
Appendix A: Pattern Seeking
Appendix B: Developing Programs
Appendix C: Age Appropriateness
Glossary
List of Figures
About the Author
References
Index
