Strong states, weak schools : the benefits and dilemmas of centralized accountability
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Strong states, weak schools : the benefits and dilemmas of centralized accountability
(Research in sociology of education / series editors Bruce Fuller and Emily Hannum, v. 16)
Emerald JAI, 2008
1st ed
Available at 20 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Civic leaders around the globe now press educators to raise the performance of students and schools. Backed by a colorful array of odd bedfellows - from corporate interests to advocates for the poor - politicians seek to narrow the aims of learning, advance routine curricular packages, and tightly align standardized tests. Why are governments pushing to centrally regulate teaching and learning at this historical moment? Do these accountability mechanisms succeed in boosting student achievement? How are teachers responding to top-down rules, incentives, and the recasting of what knowledge counts inside school? These are the hotly contested ideological and empirical questions asked by this volume's contributors, a rich mix of sociologists, applied anthropologists, and education researchers. As public schools struggle to regain public confidence, political actors eagerly try to look strong and forceful. But do centralized accountability policies lift the motivation of teachers and students? Or, is this reform strategy a brilliant political remedy - but one that makes little difference inside the classroom.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Overview: Liberal learning in centralizing states.
Chapter 2 Accountability and teaching practices: School-level actions and teacher responses.
Chapter 3 District leaders eroding school coherence? The interpretation of accountability mandates.
Chapter 4 Tightening the ship or slowly sinking? Reshaping teachers' work conditions.
Chapter 5 Raising achievement or closing gaps? Identifying effective accountability tools.
Chapter 6 High stakes diplomas: Organizational responses to California's high school exit exam.
Chapter 7 District capacity and accountability: professional development as reform tool.
Chapter 8 Exit exams and organizational change in a vocational high school.
Acknowledgments.
About the Authors.
Edited by.
Edited by.
Copyright page.
Subject Index.
by "Nielsen BookData"