This book brings together up-to-date, research-based evidence concerning summer learning and provides descriptions and analyses of a range of summer school programs. The chapters present theory and data that explain both the phenomenon of summer learning loss and the potential for effective summer programs to mitigate loss and increase student achievement. Summer Learning: Research, Policies, and Programs: *presents evidence describing variations in summer learning loss and how these learning differences affect equality of educational opportunity and outcomes in the United States; *discusses the development, characteristics, and effects of the most recent wave of summer programs which are designed to play key roles in the recent standards movement and related efforts to end social promotion; *examines the impact of three of the most widespread, replicable summer school programs serving students across the United States; and *considers the characteristics and effects of alternative programs and practices that are designed to combat the problem of summer learning loss head on. Intended for education researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and graduate students, this volume is particularly relevant to those interested in social stratification, equity-minded policies, implications of the current standards movement and high stakes testing, and the development of programs and practices for improving education.

Learning Not Schooling documents 100 years of educational wars between Visionary learning leaders and Traditional school people. Ironically, to win the existing war, both opposing groups must unify to overthrow the control of education by politicians.The script cites the eras when education was in the hands of flexible educators with support, not opposition, from many politicians. President Lyndon Johnson called for Tomorrow's Schools-a vision not yet achieved. The Reagan, Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations transformed education into politics. Traditionalists submitted to one-size-fits-all mandates. Visionaries failed to unify to prevent unjust political requirements.Research is presented which validates the flaws in current school and college rituals. Outlined are venues to overcome political control, offer educational alternatives, and create voluntary personalized choices for all learners.Learning Not Schooling calls for ACTION NOW by visionary critics, educators, parents, and students. The goal is optional learning paths, not mandated schooling systems.

This study explores the dynamic relationship between science, numbers and politics. What can scientific evidence realistically do in and for politics? The volume contributes to that debate by focusing on the role of “numbers” as a means by which knowledge is expressed and through which that knowledge can be transferred into the political realm. Based on the assumption that numbers are constantly being actively created, translated, and used, and that they need to be interpreted in their respective and particular contexts, it examines how numbers and quantifications are made ‘politically workable’, examining their production, their transition into the sphere of politics and their eventual use therein. Key questions that are addressed include: In what ways does scientific evidence affect political decision-making in the contemporary world? How and why did quantification come to play such an important role within democratic politics? What kind of work do scientific evidence and numbers do politically?