In praise of the greatest job in the world... The right book at the right time: an impassioned defense of teachers and why we need them now more than ever. Teacher turned teacher’s advocate Taylor Mali inspired millions with his original poem “What Teachers Make,” a passionate and unforgettable response to a rich man at a dinner party who sneeringly asked him what teachers make. Mali’s sharp, funny, perceptive look at life in the classroom pays tribute to the joys of teaching…and explains why teachers are so vital to our society. What Teachers Make is a book that will be treasured and shared by every teacher in America—and everybody who’s ever loved or learned from one.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A groundbreaking history of 175 years of American education that brings the lessons of the past to bear on the dilemmas we face today—and brilliantly illuminates the path forward for public schools. “[A] lively account." —New York Times Book Review In The Teacher Wars, a rich, lively, and unprecedented history of public school teaching, Dana Goldstein reveals that teachers have been embattled for nearly two centuries. She uncovers the surprising roots of hot button issues, from teacher tenure to charter schools, and finds that recent popular ideas to improve schools—instituting merit pay, evaluating teachers by student test scores, ranking and firing veteran teachers, and recruiting “elite” graduates to teach—are all approaches that have been tried in the past without producing widespread change.

Is your school system considering teacher merit pay? Now is the time to understand the potential benefits and pitfalls of performance-based teacher pay, as well as how today's most successful programs were developed. Drawing on substantial research with school districts, Gary Ritter and Joshua Barnett provide a step-by-step approach to setting up a merit pay system in your school district. Readers will find, An overview of existing merit pay programs and their strengths and weaknesses, A review of the 12 most common myths about merit pay and how school leaders can respond, Six guiding principles for designing a merit pay program, along with how-to's and timelines for every phase, Guidance on creating balanced assessments based on multiple measures of teacher effectiveness, developed in collaboration with teachers, Ensure that-your district's merit pay program supports teachers' professional growth, schoolwide progress, and student achievement. Book jacket.

This is a thought-provoking and insightful guide written by Black educators, for educators from all backgrounds and at all levels within the education system. With contributions from Black professionals within education, from all levels, it offers smart guidance for daily life in schools and on boosting your teaching career, combined with challenging insights into the experiences of Black educators in the UK. How have Black educators survived and thrived in an education system that lacks diversity at all staff levels, especially so in leadership positions? How can their knowledge and experience benefit your journey? Explore contentious issues that directly affect Black teachers and the children they teach, including: Why are there so few Black male teachers? What drives drop-out rates among Black teachers? Why do Black teachers get stereotyped and fetishised? How can you use networking and professional learning to move your teaching career forward?

Effective and practical coaching strategies for new educators plus valuable online coaching tools Many teachers are only observed one or two times per year on average—and, even among those who are observed, scarcely any are given feedback as to how they could improve. The bottom line is clear: teachers do not need to be evaluated so much as they need to be developed and coached. In Get Better Faster: A 90-Day Plan for Coaching New Teachers, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo shares instructive tools of how school leaders can effectively guide new teachers to success. Over the course of the book, he breaks down the most critical actions leaders and teachers must take to achieve exemplary results. Designed for coaches as well as beginning teachers, Get Better Faster is an integral coaching tool for any school leader eager to help their teachers succeed. Get Better Faster focuses on what's practical and actionable which makes the book's approach to coaching so effective. By practicing the concrete actions and micro-skills listed in Get Better Faster, teachers will markedly improve their ability to lead a class, producing a steady chain reaction of future teaching success. Though focused heavily on the first 90 days of teacher development, it's possible to implement this work at any time. Junior and experienced teachers alike can benefit from the guidance of Get Better Faster while at the same time closing existing instructional gaps. Featuring valuable and practical online training tools available at http://www.wiley.com/go/getbetterfaster, Get Better Faster provides agendas, presentation slides, a coach's guide, handouts, planning templates, and 35 video clips of real teachers at work to help other educators apply the lessons learned in their own classrooms. Get Better Faster will teach you: The core principles of coaching: Go Granular; Plan, Practice, Follow Up, Repeat; Make Feedback More Frequent Top action steps to launch a teacher’s development in an easy-to-read scope and sequence guide It also walks you through the four phases of skill building: Phase 1 (Pre-Teaching): Dress Rehearsal Phase 2: Instant Immersion Phase 3: Getting into Gear Phase 4: The Power of Discourse Perfect for new educators and those who supervise them, Get Better Faster will also earn a place in the libraries of veteran teachers and school administrators seeking a one-stop coaching resource.

Students, established teachers making a change, and those switching careers all have the same questions about getting a teaching job: How do you get interviews? What questions will be asked? What are employers looking for? Carlos Heleno, an educator with almost thirty years of experience in the classroom and as an administrator, offers proven strategies for landing a job as a teacher in this guide. Learn how to: • prepare a compelling portfolio that gets noticed; • craft responses to common interview questions; • develop a personal brand that resonates with employers; and • hone teaching skills that will help you succeed in the classroom; Heleno also shares the top ten features of an outstanding cover letter, ten tips for writing an exceptional resume, and how to impress potential employers when you meet them face to face. Packed with tips on navigating each stage of the interview process and more than a hundred practice questions in eighteen different areas, the strategies in this guide are your express ticket to landing the teaching job you want.

How might school funds be spent more effectively in today’s uncertain environment? This up-to-date volume explores a range of ideas to help schools and districts better manage their resources, including: how to rethink staffing and management to get more value for employee compensation; how policymakers might revisit pension arrangements in ways that control costs while putting more teacher compensation in the form of take-home pay; how educators and policymakers can leverage technology as a performance-enhancer and not just a cost-cutting opportunity; and how districts might frame spending options differently in order to more properly assess the needs and preferences of students and families. As American education enters the next decade of challenges, including shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Getting the Most Bang From the Education Buck will be a valuable guide for how to spend dollars wisely and well. Contributors: Chad Aldeman, Bryan Hassel, Emily Hassel, Matthew Ladner, Nathan Levenson, Michael Q. McShane, Scott Milam, Karen Hawley Miles, Katie Morrison-Reed, Marguerite Roza, Carrie Stewart, and Adam Tyner. “Finally, a book that gets beyond the academic debate about whether money matters in education (spoiler alert: It does) to offer suggestions for how to make scarce education dollars matter more. This book offers practical solutions to real-world problems like outdated staffing models, declining enrollments, and increasing special education costs, along with frameworks for tackling other tough resource-allocation challenges.” —Carrie Conaway, senior lecturer on education, Harvard Graduate School of Education