Authentic Achievement: Restructuring Schools for Intellectual Quality (Jossey-Bass Education) [Hardcover]

Fred M. Newmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0787903205 | ISBN-13: 978-0787903206 | Edition: 1st

This book presents the findings of a five-year, federally funded study that examined the connection between school restructuring and student achievement. Using a wealth of examples, the authors provide a vivid picture of the conditions under which innovations in a school's organization contribute to achievement. They recommend standards for reaching student intellectual quality and offer evidence of how these standards work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

?Newmann and his colleagues get beyond the slogans about ?high standards' to what must be done in classrooms and schools. They root this analysis in careful research, thereby giving it especially persuasive force.? --Theodore R. Sizer, university professor, Brown University, and chairman, Coalition of Essential Schools

?Fred Newmann, unlike most researchers, pays attention to the critical linkage between reorganizing schools and what happens in classrooms. In these research-based portraits of schools and classrooms, reform-minded policymakers and practitioners will find compelling evidence to never forget the connection between teaching, learning, and restructuring.? --Larry Cuban, professor of education, Stanford University

?Rare is the educational text that takes theory as seriously as practice, that produces as much good news as sobering analyses, that tests for excellence and equity in the same setting. Newmann and Associates demonstrate unequivocally the powerful relation of good teaching to serious learning. This book is a gift to educators, a treat for policymakers, and a treasure for those of us who are starved for images of good educational practice. --Michelle Fine, professor of psychology, City University of New York, Graduate Center

?Administrators, teachers, and parents who are serious about implementing positive change in the educational process for the 21st century will benefit from Authentic Achievement. In a society where educational qualifications are necessary to compete professionally, this book is a roadmap, showing ways we can help young people achieve their goals.? --Floretta Dukes McKenzie, former superintAndent of schools, Washington, D.C., and president, The McKenzie Group, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

Why are some schools more successful than others? This book presents the findings of a five-year, federally funded study that examined the connection between school restructuring and student achievement. Investigating twenty-four elementary and secondary schools from twenty-two districts across the country, the researchers found that restructuring efforts fail when there is too much focus on structure and technique and not enough attention paid to the intellectual quality of student and teacher work and to the vitality of the school community. Using a wealth of examples, the authors provide a vivid picture of the conditions under which innovations in a school's organization contribute to student achievement—extAnding learning beyond rote memorization of isolated facts to thinking, disciplined understanding, and complex communication. Standards for achieving student intellectual quality are recommAnded, and evidence is provided that teaching consistent with these standards greatly contributes to student achievement. The results and recommAndations offer teachers, administrators, and policymakers an important mid-course correction in the process of school restructuring.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (October 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787903205
• ISBN-13: 978-0787903206
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #806,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)