Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher's Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap

A road map for teachers who strive to be highly effective leaders in our nation's classrooms

Teach For America has fought the daunting battle of educational equity for the last twenty years. Based on evidence from classrooms across the country, they've discovered much about effective teaching practice, and distilled these findings into the six principles presented in this book. The Teaching As Leadership framework inspires teachers to: Set Big Goals; Invest Students and Their Families; Plan Purposefully; Execute Effectively; Continuously Increase Effectiveness; Work Relentlessly. The results are better educational outcomes for our nation's children, particularly those who live in low-income communities.

• Inspires educators to be leaders in their classrooms and schools
• Demystifies what it means to be an effective teacher, describes key elements of practice and provides a clear vision of success
• Addresses the challenges every teacher, in every classroom, faces on a daily basis

An accompanying website includes a wealth of tools, videos, sample lessons, discussion boards, and case studies.

Price: $22.95

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The Black-White Achievement Gap: Why Closing It Is the Greatest Civil Rights Issue of Our Time

When it comes to race in America, we must face one uncomfortable but undeniable fact. Almost 50 years after the birth of the civil rights movement, inequality still reigns supreme in our classrooms. At a time when African-American students trail their white peers on academic tests and experience high dropout rates, low college completion rates, and a tendency to shy away from majors in hard sciences and mathematics, the Black-White achievement gap in our schools has become the major barrier to racial equality and social justice in America. In fact, it is arguably the greatest civil rights issue of our time.

The Black-White Achievement Gap is a call to action for this country to face up to and confront this crisis head on. Renowned former Secretary of Education Rod Paige believes we can close this gap. In this thought-provoking book, he and Elaine Witty trace the history of the achievement gap, discuss its relevance to racial equality and social justice, examine popular explanations, and offer suggestions for the type of committed leadership and community involvement needed to close it. African-American leaders need to rally around this important cause if we are to make real progress since students’ academic performance is a function not only of school quality, but of home and community factors as well. The Black-White Achievement Gap is an unflinching and long overdue look at  the very real problem of racial disparity in our schools and what we must do to solve it.

Price: $22.00

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Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in America's Classrooms (Multicultural Education (Paper)) (Multicultural Education Series)

While race and culture remain important variables in how young people experience schools, they are often misunderstood by educators and school personnel. Building on the work of three studies that investigated schools successful in closing the achievement gap, Tyrone Howard shows how adopting greater awareness and comprehensive understanding of race and culture can improve educational outcomes. Important reading for anyone who is genuinely committed to promoting educational equity and excellence for all children, this accessible book outlines the changing racial, ethnic, and cultural demographics in U.S. schools and calls for educators to pay serious attention to how race and culture play out in school settings.

Price: $27.95

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