A documented volume about what is going on in the classroom - where traditional education is treated as an enemy.

While most children learn to read fairly well, there remain many young Americans whose futures are imperiled because they do not read well enough to meet the demands of our competitive, technology-driven society. This book explores the problem within the context of social, historical, cultural, and biological factors. Recommendations address the identification of groups of children at risk, effective instruction for the preschool and early grades, effective approaches to dialects and bilingualism, the importance of these findings for the professional development of teachers, and gaps that remain in our understanding of how children learn to read. Implications for parents, teachers, schools, communities, the media, and government at all levels are discussed. The book examines the epidemiology of reading problems and introduces the concepts used by experts in the field. In a clear and readable narrative, word identification, comprehension, and other processes in normal reading development are discussed. Against the background of normal progress, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children examines factors that put children at risk of poor reading. It explores in detail how literacy can be fostered from birth through kindergarten and the primary grades, including evaluation of philosophies, systems, and materials commonly used to teach reading.

This book explores various and distinct aspects of environmental health literacy (EHL) from the perspective of investigators working in this emerging field and their community partners in research. Chapters aim to distinguish EHL from health literacy and environmental health education in order to classify it as a unique field with its own purposes and outcomes. Contributions in this book represent the key aspects of communication, dissemination and implementation, and social scientific research related to environmental health sciences and the range of expertise and interest in EHL. Readers will learn about the conceptual framework and underlying philosophical tenets of EHL, and its relation to health literacy and communications research. Special attention is given to topics like dissemination and implementation of culturally relevant environmental risk messaging, and promotion of EHL through visual technologies. Authoritative entries by experts also focus on important approaches to advancing EHL through community-engaged research and by engaging teachers and students at an early age through developing innovative STEM curriculum. The significance of theater is highlighted by describing the use of an interactive theater experience as an approach that enables community residents to express themselves in non-verbal ways.

In this engaging and well crafted book, Change Agents in Science Education situates the science educator in dynamic social, political, and cultural environments where individuals are engaged in science for change. A wide range of educational contexts are described in the book, including urban school settings in the U. S., slum communities in Mumbai, India, an agricultural community in Benin, Africa, a children's educational television program production company in the U. S. In each context, powerful examples of how science was enacted to transform ways of thinking and doing are demonstrated. Each contributor shares experiences with science, and the challenges, triumphs and lessons learned which need to be considered and addressed as part of the role of the science educator. Change, it is argued, needs to be facilitated on a variety of levels in order for learning to take place. Science educators working in a wide range of settings, community-based educational groups, and students and researchers interested in formal and informal science education, will benefit from the perspectives provided in this book.

"If education is to be the learning profession, then we must walk the walk of learners. The bottom line is not perfection, constant success, and high test scores. The bottom line is creating a culture in which learning, innovation, and collaboration are the norms-a learning culture. When adults in schools create such environments, children will thrive." -Lucy West and Antonia Cameron How can teacher leaders cultivate an adult learning environment that will upgrade teaching capacity system-wide, and ultimately improve student learning in every classroom? Lucy West and Toni Cameron turn decades of experience designing and implementing coaching initiatives into a practical resource for transforming school culture and inspiring true learning at every level. Agents of Change provides coaches, administrators, and teacher leaders with specific techniques, tools, and strategies for working with individual classroom teachers to plan and co-teach lessons, reflect on them afterwards, and find evidence of student learning. Lucy and Toni argue that when we infuse rich learning conversations into the professional discourse via coaching, study lessons, and regular meeting times for professionals to work collaboratively, we're able to examine what it takes on a day to day basis to reach every student in our classrooms. The transformative potential of content coaching to improve both teacher and student learning on a school-wide level has never been more clear. Purchase includes free access to an online video case study. Read a sample chapter

This edited volume promotes the capacity for critical thinking and judgement in primary school-aged children in the face of the challenges that schools encounter in today’s society. Foregrounding critical thinking and judgement as essential capacities for children to develop, each chapter offers a space for reflection on the formation of the ability to think and judge in primary school. While presenting a robust conceptual and foundational framework, chapters focus on the educational-didactic practices deemed most authoritative due to their impact on, and their innovative qualities within, the educational landscape today. Themes affecting schools in both the global north and south are discussed, such as social relationships, children’s voices, life skills and digital education, well-being and health, as well as matters of social plurality, inequalities and discrimination, ecology, global economy and the decolonising of education from various international perspectives. Foregrounding real-world experience within the education system, this book will be of relevance to researchers, scholars and post-graduates in the fields of philosophy of education, moral education and child development. It will also be of interest to pre- and in-service primary education practitioners.

In schools, much of the responsibility of implementing interventions to improve outcomes for students falls on teachers, which may lead to capacity and resource issues. One solution to this problem is the use of Peer-Mediated Interventions (PMIs), which include a variety of approaches that utilize similar individuals to the target student (e.g., students in school-based interventions) as interventionists or behavior change agents. Although there is a wealth of research to support the effectiveness of students as interventionists, peers remain an under-utilized resource in school-based intervention delivery. Peers as Change Agents is a comprehensive resource for school-based professionals working to incorporate PMIs across academic, behavioral, and social-emotional interventions. The text synthesizes the current research on school-based PMIs and distills the literature into concrete strategies that can be easily implemented in school-based contexts. Building on the foundational principles of PMIs, the authors reconceptualize this work into three new categories: Peer-Mediated Academic Interventions; Peer-Mediated Behavioral Interventions; and Peer-Mediated Group Supports, to better address students' unique needs. Chapters also highlight the advantages of PMIs, including their potential for cultural relevance. As school staff continue to grapple with the practical challenges of ensuring equity in student outcomes, Peers as Change Agents provides educators, school psychologists, and counsellors effective and efficient tools to support students as change agents in their own learning communities.