A Framework for K-12 Science Education and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) describe a new vision for science learning and teaching that is catalyzing improvements in science classrooms across the United States. Achieving this new vision will require time, resources, and ongoing commitment from state, district, and school leaders, as well as classroom teachers. Successful implementation of the NGSS will ensure that all K-12 students have high-quality opportunities to learn science. Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards provides guidance to district and school leaders and teachers charged with developing a plan and implementing the NGSS as they change their curriculum, instruction, professional learning, policies, and assessment to align with the new standards. For each of these elements, this report lays out recommendations for action around key issues and cautions about potential pitfalls. Coordinating changes in these aspects of the education system is challenging. As a foundation for that process, Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards identifies some overarching principles that should guide the planning and implementation process. The new standards present a vision of science and engineering learning designed to bring these subjects alive for all students, emphasizing the satisfaction of pursuing compelling questions and the joy of discovery and invention. Achieving this vision in all science classrooms will be a major undertaking and will require changes to many aspects of science education. Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards will be a valuable resource for states, districts, and schools charged with planning and implementing changes, to help them achieve the goal of teaching science for the 21st century.

The time of exclusive top-down leadership is over! Only teachers can transform education from inside the classroom, and this book defines best practices of collaborative teacher leadership. Specific techniques, supporting research, expert insight, and real classroom stories illustrate how to work together for student learning, create a guaranteed and viable curriculum, and use data to inform instruction.

This book provides a collection of theoretical, application, and research-based information regarding a variety of viewpoints and strategies that educator preparation program (EPP) faculty, educational leadership faculty, P-12 general and special education teachers, administrators, and related service providers must be cognizant of in order to meet the varied and individualized needs of novice teachers so that the academic, behavioral, and/or social emotional needs of their students are effectively supported.

Building on both cutting-edge research and professional learning practice, Amanda Datnow and Vicki Park explore how professional collaboration can support deeper learning for students and teachers alike. While many schools and systems support teacher collaboration, they often fall short of their intended goals of improving teaching and learning. This book provides concrete guidance for creating the conditions for collaboration in which teachers are moved toward—rather than repelled—by joint work. The authors explore how collaborative settings can provide a space for working through the inevitable challenges that accompany the changing nature of teaching in the age of accountability and show the motivation, inspiration, and energy that teachers personally--and collectively--gain from collaborating to improve student learning. Ultimately, they show how teacher empowerment towards working together builds equitable and excellent learning environments.

Musician-Teacher Collaborations: Altering the Chord explores the dynamics between musicians and teachers within educational settings, illustrating how new musical worlds are discovered and accessed through music-in-education initiatives. An international array of scholars from ten countries present leading debates and issues—both theoretical and empirical—in order to identify and expand upon key questions: How are visiting musicians perceived by various stakeholders? What opportunities and challenges do musicians bring to educational spaces? Why are such initiatives often seen as "saving" children, music, and education? The text is organized into three parts: Critical Insights presents new theoretical frameworks and concepts, providing alternative perspectives on musician-teacher collaboration. Crossing Boundaries addresses the challenges faced by visiting musicians and teaching artists in educational contexts while discussing the contributions of such music-in-education initiatives. Working Towards Partnership tackles some dominant narratives and perspectives in the field through a series of empirically-based chapters discussing musician-teacher collaboration as a field of tension. In twenty chapters, Musician-Teacher Collaborations offers critical insights into the pedagogical role music plays within educational frameworks. The geographical diversity of its contributors ensures varied and context-specific arguments while also speaking to the larger issues at play. When musicians and teachers collaborate, one is in the space of the other and vice versa. Musician-Teacher Collaborations analyzes the complex ways in which these spaces are inevitably altered.

Teachers as Collaborative Partners assists future and inservice teachers in developing a research-based framework for understanding the dynamics of school, family, and community relations. It provides foundational knowledge important for understanding families and communities, while exploring conditions that influence family-school-community interactions. The text is designed to engage the critical reflective capability of teachers in ways that will support their ability to work with diverse families in a variety of teaching contexts.Part I focuses first on the social, cultural, and historical roots of the family, with specific attention to the evolution of public schools and the family as interdependent social institutions, and then on the multiple ways families conceive of and conduct family life, as well as the impact of community attributes on the work of families and schools.Part II explores the relationship among families, communities, and schools within social, political, legal, and educational contexts.Part III addresses educational practices that respond to authentic partnerships with families and communities.The goals of the text are supported by pedagogical tools that provide opportunities for readers to make connections between information in each chapter and realistic family-community-school situations.Case Studies are embedded in most chapters. These serve to complement research-based with authentic and personally articulated experiences of parents. Teachers then have the opportunity to make connections between theory and lived experiences.Each chapter includes Inquiry and Reflection questions and Guided Observations to engage readers in case study analysis, situated learning exercises, and classroom and community observations and reflections.The Family-Community-School Profile introduced in this text as a teacher-generated summary allows for evaluation of

Help ELLs achieve success with an integrated, collaborative program! Teacher collaboration and co-teaching are proven strategies for helping students with diverse needs achieve academically. Now this practical resource provides a step-by-step guide to making collaboration and co-teaching work for general education teachers and English as a second language (ESL) specialists to better serve the needs of English language learners (ELLs). The authors address the fundamental questions of collaboration and co-teaching, examine how a collaborative program helps ELLs learn content while meeting English language development goals, and offer information on school leaders' roles in facilitating collaboration schoolwide. Featuring six in-depth case studies, this guide helps educators: Understand the benefits and challenges of collaborative service delivery Choose from a range of strategies and configurations, from informal planning and collaboration to a fully developed co-teaching partnership Use templates, planning guides, and other practical tools to put collaboration into practice Evaluate the strategies' success using the guidelines, self-assessments, and questionnaires included Collaboration and Co-Teaching helps ESL, ELL, and general education teachers combine their expertise to provide better support for their ELLs!