Motivating Students, Improving Schools (Advances in Motivation and Achievement)

Motivating Students, Improving Schools (Advances in Motivation and Achievement) Review

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For nearly two decades, this series has reflected and chronicled the interests, insights, findings and concerns of motivational researchers. This volume is unique in that it grew out of a conference honoring a major contributor to the motivational literature, Carol Midgley. Yet, it too reflects the richness and variety that exists across motivation research today. While the authors tend to work within a goal theory perspective, they reflect concerns with the range of questions that interest motivation researchers more broadly. True to the tradition established by Carol Midgley, the chapters also exhibit a considered and creative concern with the "real world of achievement". The studies reported or reviewed are largely field-based. The implications drawn have relevance to practitioner as well as theorist.

Especially noteworthy is that this collection of chapters does more than review the past. It points to the future - in several ways: Asking challenging questions, regarding the implications of current motivation theory for school reform, portraying the potential of new research methods, re-examining tried and true conceptions of the nature and nurture of motivation, suggesting new issues and pointing to new venues for application.

All in all, this particular volume stands not only as a testament to the life and work of one major figure in the field, but goes a considerable distance in reflecting the diversity of interests and concerns within motivation research more broadly. It also points to what is missing, what has been overlooked, and what needs to be done. Those who are especially concerned with theory, research methods, or applications will each find something of interest and of worth - regardless of their theoretical perspective or specific research focus.

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Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count

Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count Review

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A bold refutation of the belief that genes determine intelligence.

Who are smarter, Asians or Westerners? Are there genetic explanations for racial differences in test scores? What makes some nationalities excel in engineering and others in music? Will math and science remain a largely male preserve. From the damning research of The Bell Curve to the more recent controversy surrounding geneticist James Watson's statements, one factor has been consistently left out of the equation: culture. In the tradition of The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould, world-class social psychologist Richard E. Nisbett takes on the idea of intelligence as something that is biologically determined and impervious to culture--with vast implications for the role of education as it relates to social and economic development. Intelligence and How to Get It asserts that intellect is not primarily genetic but is principally determined by societal influences. Nisbett's commanding argument, superb marshaling of evidence, and fearless discussions of the controversial carve out new and exciting terrain in this hotly debated field.

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Winning the H Factor: The Secrets of Happy Schools

Winning the H Factor: The Secrets of Happy Schools Review

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The authors explain what the research tells us about happiness, and how to use these findings to improve whole school morale. >

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Strong Staff, Strong Students: Professional Development in Schools and Youth Programs

Strong Staff, Strong Students: Professional Development in Schools and Youth Programs Review

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Good schools start with good teachers, and the thoughtful, positive approach found in this staff-development guide provides teachers, school administrators, and program leaders with step-by-step ways to inspire and motivate. Full of personal inventories and food for thought, this resource provides a comprehensive set of tools for incorporating the Developmental Assets®, a research-based framework for healthy child development, into a school or youth program. A CD-ROM of handouts from the book and supplementary assessment tools, as well as a Power Point presentation, is also included.

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Schools Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies for Reducing Bullying

Schools Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies for Reducing Bullying Review

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Schools Where Everyone Belongs outlines research on effective bullying prevention interventions and presents specific practices and skills that help schools implement that research.

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Leadership Mindsets: Innovation and Learning in the Transformation of Schools (Leading School Transformation)

Leadership Mindsets: Innovation and Learning in the Transformation of Schools (Leading School Transformation) Review

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Leadership Mindsets: Innovation and Learning in the Transformation of Schools (Leading School Transformation) Feature

The evidence is clear - school leaders make a difference to the learning of the pupils they serve. And yet, not all leaders have the same degree of impact. What are the factors that make the difference to student learning? Why are some leaders able to raise student achievement in schools in the most challenging circumstances whilst other leaders struggle to simply maintain the status quo?

Drawing from international case study research over many years, from the experience of hundreds of school leaders serving widely diverse communities, Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser argue that there are six distinct mindsets that characterize the way successful, learning-oriented leaders operate and make sense of their professional world. These leaders are:

• motivated by intense moral purpose
• knowledgeable about current models of learning
• consistently inquiry-oriented
• able to build trusting relationships
• evidence-informed
• able to move to wise action.

This book outlines an alternative way of thinking about school leadership. It examines research evidence that leaders will find most useful and suggests how they might use this evidence to maximise their learning and the learning of their students. Leadership Mindsets has been written specifically for aspiring to newly-appointed school leaders who are determined and motivated to create quality and equality for learners in the schools they serve, through networks of inquiry, learning and support.

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Smart Schools

Smart Schools Review

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Prekins' research indicates that students from the first grade through college often have only the most superficial kind of knowledge even after considerable instruction in a subject. Here he reveals some commonly misguided strategies students use in trying to understand a topic, and why traditional-teaching approaches often fail.

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The Pedagogy of Confidence: Inspiring High Intellectual Performance in Urban Schools

The Pedagogy of Confidence: Inspiring High Intellectual Performance in Urban Schools Review

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''The very in-depth elaboration of psychological, educational, and social concepts Dr. Jackson presents creates a large and ingenious inventory of pedagogical tools to promote the goals of achievement and upward mobility for those students who depend on teachers to make this possible.''
--From the Foreword by Reuven Feuerstein, Chairman and Founder, ICELP, Jerusalem, Israel


''The Pedagogy of Confidence can change the way we approach learning, teaching, and urban school reform. A remarkable achievement, this book should be read by every educator and policymaker truly interested in closing the achievement gap.''
--Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University


''Jackson's unparalleled urban experience, coupled with her strength-based approach to learning, make this book what will become the 'Rosetta Stone' of urban education.''
--Joseph S. Renzulli, Director, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, The University of Connecticut


''The Pedagogy of Confidence is for urban educators who want to know how to be effective in teaching and developing strong relationships with their students. It is an invaluable resource to those who seek to make a difference.''
--Pedro A. Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, New York University


''The Pedagogy of Confidence renews our hope for schools as homes for the fullest development of the mind, classrooms as engaging, mediative environments, and all learners as having the propensity for continued, lifelong intellectual growth.''
--Arthur L. Costa, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Sacramento


In her new book, prominent professional developer Yvette Jackson focuses on students' strengths, rather than their weaknesses, to reinvigorate educators to inspire learning and high intellectual performance. Through the lens of educational psychology and historical reforms, Jackson responds to the faltering motivation and confidence of educators in terms of its effects on closing the achievement gap. The author seeks to ''rekindle the belief in the vast capacity of underachieving urban students,'' and offers strategies to help educators inspire intellectual performance. Jackson proposes that a paradigm shift towards a focus on strengths will reinvigorate educators' passion for teaching and belief in their ability to raise the intellectual achievement of their students. Jackson addresses how educators can systematically support the development of motivation, reflective and cognitive skills, and high performance when standards and assessments are predisposed to non-conceptual methods. Furthermore, she examines challenges and offers strategies for dealing with cultural disconnects, the influence of new technologies, and language preferences of students.

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Teaching Happiness and Well-Being in Schools: Learning to ride elephants

Teaching Happiness and Well-Being in Schools: Learning to ride elephants Review

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There has recently been an explosion of interest in positive psychology and the teaching of well-being and 'happiness' in the PSHE world in schools and many teachers are looking for clear information on how to implement these potentially life-changing ideas in the classroom. This book provides an introduction to the theory of positive psychology and a practical guide on how to implement the theory in (primarily secondary) schools. The American psychologist and writer Martin Seligman, well known for his work on the idea of 'learned helplessness', has more recently been working in the field of positive psychology. He has led training in resilience in a number of UK local authorities. Wellington College, where Ian Morris is head of philosophy, religion and PSHE, is among the first UK schools to introduce a formal well-being and happiness curriculum developed by the author.

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Schools for Thought: A Science of Learning in the Classroom

Schools for Thought: A Science of Learning in the Classroom Review

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If we want to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for all children, we must start applying what we know about mental functioning - how children think, learn, and remember - in our schools. We must apply cognitive science in the classroom. Schools for Thought provides a straightforward, general introduction to cognitive research and illustrates its importance for educational change.Using classroom examples, Bruer shows how applying cognitive research can dramatically improve students' transitions from lower-level rote skills to advanced proficiency in reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Cognitive research, he points out, is also beginning to suggest how we might better motivate students, design more effective tools for assessing them, and improve the training of teachers. He concludes with a chapter on how effective school reform demands that we expand our understanding of teaching and learning and that we think about education in new ways. Debates and discussions about the reform of American education suffer from a lack of appreciation of the complexity of learning and from a lack of understanding about the knowledge base that is available for the improvement of educational practice. Politicians, business leaders, and even many school superintendents, principals, and teachers think that educational problems can be solved by changing school management structures or by creating a market in educational services. Bruer argues that improvement depends instead on changing student-teacher interactions. It is these changes, guided by cognitive research, that will create more effective classroom environments.John T. Bruer is President of the James S. McDonnell Foundation.A Bradford Book

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