Almost everyone agrees that America's urban schools are a mess. But while this agreement has fostered widespread support for aggressive reform, Frederick Hess argues that much of what ails urban education is actually the result of continuous or fragmentary reform. Hess explains that political incentives drive school superintendents to promote reforms--to demonstrate that they are "making a difference." Superintendents have to do this quickly, both because their tenure is usually three years or less and because urban communities are anxious to see educational improvement. However, the nature of urban school districts makes it very difficult to demonstrate concrete short-term improvement. The result is what he terms "policy churn," which distracts teachers and principals from efforts to refine classroom teaching while seldom resulting in successful long-term changes. Hess argues that policymakers have misallocated resources by pursuing the "right" structure or the "best" pedagogy while paying insufficient attention to the more mundane--and more important--questions of how to implement, refine, and sustain a particular approach in their particular district. Hess explains that previous research on high-performing schools suggests that the best schools are characterized by focus and by an ability to develop expertise in specific approaches to teaching and learning. To help educators and policymakers adopt and nurture a focused agenda, he recommends institutional changes that increase the effectiveness of performance outcomes and reduce the incentives to emphasize symbolic reform.

Reprinted by popular demand, this study of Canadian spinning wheels in the collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, demonstrates their broad variation by period, region and manufacturer. The discussion focuses on the wheel-driven spindle but also includes the very popular hand-driven spindle. Both Aboriginal and European spinning traditions are described.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Tale of the Spinning Wheel" by Elizabeth C. Barney Buel. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

This story opens in the early nineteen sixties, at a fictional isolated Catholic Convent somewhere in North Wales. As the story gently unfolds, the main characters honestly start to consider the foundations, and tribal marking of organised religion, especially of their own. (Devout Christians will find this book to be a very challenging read.) Calmly they each discard their belief that Christ was the only Son of God. Christ's message however; 'love Thy neighbour as Thyself' is happily acknowledged as the only way of ensuring the continuing survival of the Human Race. Weaving around this main theme are several honest, if rather robust, love stories. At appropriate points, the debilitating effect of loneliness is sympathetically portrayed, and arguments against committing suicide are also presented. Kirkus reviews: - An engaging tale. The story is strong and the erotica is nicely balanced by the humanity of the characters