Preserving The Public In Public Schools

The question that 23-year old Amalia Hastings wants the answer to is: What happens to men when they move to Manhattan? Life in the city gives Amalia a ride she is not expecting. As she tries to find her way on the little island that never sleeps, she discovers she has a harder time navigating through life then she does the streets of Greenwich Village and finds herself truly lost in the complex world of men, graduate school, money, family, and friendship. She thought she had everything she wanted - a new apartment in Manhattan, a first-rate education at NYU, a group of trusted friends and Nicholas, a boyfriend who she once believed was her soul-mate. But somehow, it isn't enough. Stumbling through her relationships, Amalia encounters Michael. An attractive classmate who quickly moves from being one of her close friends, to an inconsistent friend-with-benefits. After all, the only thing consistent about New York is its beauty. After getting terribly lost searching for love in all the wrong places, Amalia finds herself torn between the possibility of a relationship, and an adventure she's been planning all along. She eventually realizes that solely chasing love closes her off to all of the other good things life has to offer. Now she must decide - what is worth the chase? "Chase" is the debut novel from author Jill Knapp-Zitron and the first in the "Chase" series of novels.

"Saving Our Schools exposes the ugly side of President George Bush's "No Child Left Behind" mandate, which has threatened to close more than 6,000 public schools, to the detriment of dedicated teachers and disadvantaged children alike. Revealing how NCLB forces schools with strictly limited resources to teach its children test-taking skills in a desperate bid to pass high-stakes standardized testing, and how the government blacklists successful professors, institutions, and methods that balk the NCLB party line, and much more, Saving Our Schools warns of an immediate threat to the integrity of public education and urges the reader to take action. An eye-opening social commentary, of keen importance in determining the nation's future. -Midwest Book Review

The American republic will survive only if its citizens are educated--this was an article of faith of its founders. But seeking common civic ground in public schools has never been easy in a society where schoolchildren followed different religions, adhered to different cultural traditions, spoke many languages, and were identified as members of different "races." In this wise and enlightening book, filled with vivid characters and memorable incidents that make history but don't always make history books, David Tyack describes how each American generation grappled with the knotty task of creating political unity and social diversity. Seeking Common Ground illuminates puzzles about democracy in education and chronic conflicts that continue to make news. Americans mistrusted government, yet they entrusted the civic education of their children to public schools. American history textbooks were notoriously dull, but they were also highly controversial. Although the people liked local control of schools, educational experts called it "democracy gone to seed" and campaigned to "take the schools out of politics." Reformers argued about whether it was more democratic to teach all students the same subjects or to tailor curriculum to individuals. And what was the best way to "Americanize" immigrants, asked educators: by forced-fed assimilation or by honoring their ethnic heritages? With a broad perspective and an eye for telling detail, Tyack lets us see that debates about the civic purposes of schools are an essential part of a democratic culture, and integral to its future.

ABSTRACT The public school is a building unlike any other in the scope of its reach and impact as part of the built environment of a community. In cities, villages, and rural areas across the country, public schools are vital community anchors. Yet in New York State, these buildings do not have the protections that are offered other types of historic and culturally significant properties. The public schools of Auburn, New York state are part of a state-mandated system by which public funds are used to subsidize major capital projects and additions. This system of construction underwriting, combined with an inherently anti-preservation mindset, presents challenges to preserving and protecting active historic public school buildings. The purpose of this work is to provide a framework for school boards to think about how best to address the judicial, legal, and public perception challenges arrayed against the preservation of public school buildings. It illustrates the fallacy of the commonly held belief that newer school buildings produce higher student achievement and are therefore better. It reveals the way in which the current building aid structuring favors new construction projects and incentivizes the deferment of proper school maintenance. It suggests both general approaches and specific ways in which school districts like Auburn’s can help to protect its historic school buildings. It is hoped that the introduction of measures that encourage preservation of historic schools through proper maintenance will be supported by New York State’s Education Department.

A heated debate is raging over our nation’s public schools and how they should be reformed, with proposals ranging from imposing national standards to replacing public education altogether with a voucher system for private schools. Combining decades of experience in education, the authors propose an innovative approach to solving the problems of our school system and find a middle ground between these extremes. Reinventing Public Education shows how contracting would radically change the way we operate our schools, while keeping them public and accessible to all, and making them better able to meet standards of achievement and equity. Using public funds, local school boards would select private providers to operate individual schools under formal contracts specifying the type and quality of instruction. In a hands-on, concrete fashion, the authors provide a thorough explanation of the pros and cons of school contracting and how it would work in practice. They show how contracting would free local school boards from operating schools so they can focus on improving educational policy; how it would allow parents to choose the best school for their children; and, finally, how it would ensure that schools are held accountable and academic standards are met. While retaining a strong public role in education, contracting enables schools to be more imaginative, adaptable, and suited to the needs of children and families. In presenting an alternative vision for America’s schools, Reinventing Public Education is too important to be ignored.

Excerpt from Helping School Children: Suggestions for Efficient Cooperation With the Public Schools As I know social workers, school superintendents, law yers, ministers, editors, and public-spirited women, they need and will Welcome this record of practical interest shown by individuals and organized outsiders in their local public schools. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Public Schools and Public Opinion: An Apology for Certain Methods in English Higher Education I can offer no adequate excuse for the publication of these essays. They were meant for private circulation. But when I set about getting them printed I chanced to find a generous publisher, who has enabled me to put them into the hands of those for whom they were written without further trouble. My object in writing them was to explain my position to those who send their boys to me to be prepared for the public schools. Ever since the appearance of the Blue-book on preparatory schools, issued by the Government some time ago, I have wanted to make this explanation. The impression left on the mind after reading the essays by certain preparatory schoolmasters in that book is, that the public schools offer a contemptible training-ground for a boy's intellect. I do not hold this view. If I did, I certainly could not go on training little boys for the public schools. No system of education can be anything but very imperfect. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The 2000 presidential campaign is ushering in a renewed focus on public education. The question is, what would be best for our children?This volume of essays seeks to restore the notion that public education should be an engine for social mobility, a concern that animated Brown v. Board of Education and the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It identifies the leading sources of inequality —both in the home and in school —and proposes concrete public policy remedies. The authors also examine the strengths and weaknesses of summer schooling, federal aid to education, standards, teacher enhancement, charter schools, and zero tolerance policies. The contributors include Doris Entwisle, Karl Alexander, and Linda Olson, Johns Hopkins University; Richard Rothstein, Economic Policy Institute and Occidental College; Adam Gamaron, University of Wisconsin; Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University; Amy Stuart Wells, Jennifer Jellison Holme, Alejandra Lopez, and Camille Wilson Cooper, University of California at Los Angeles; Paul Barton, Educational Testing Service; and Ruy Teixeira, The Century Foundation.

From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools. In a chapter-by-chapter breakdown she puts forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve our public schools. She makes clear what is right about U.S. education, how policy makers are failing to address the root causes of educational failure, and how we can fix it.