Battling the Student Engagement Front

Fresh Tactics in a Tortured Turnaround Struggle

By (author) Justin A. Collins

Publication date:

04 June 2014

Length of book:

226 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781610487535

The school finance debate has profoundly shaped the educational reform landscape over the past four decades. Most conspicuously, judges level billion dollar decrees based on scant and conflicting findings. This book sought to explore whether school funding practices satisfy the equity and adequacy standards delineated by policymakers and judges, and demanded by the broader public. A funding formula myopia, the book argues, has left student engagement largely overlooked. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that vast funding enhancements have introduced disappointing outcomes results. The book argues the front of the classroom must become and remain the epicenter of reform activity: and that transforming instructional and engagement behaviors are effort-intensive endeavors that very little in pecuniary terms. In the end, an eye on the student engagement/pedagogical ball over the long run will deliver the results that cash infusions simply cannot. The book concludes by documenting how educational leaders can go about driving such desirable learning/instructional behaviors, and the quantified test score gains that can be expected to follow.

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
1: Grand Promises, Austere Means
Survival of the Fittest
Large Returns on Large Investments
The Economic Bedrock
It’s Raining Outside
The Funding Maze
Fixing Broken Schools by Fixing Broken Finance Systems?
2: The Fairness of the Playing Field: Funding Equity and Adequacy
Passion Finds the Classroom
Taking a Look Under the Finance Hood
Big Four Funding Practices
Kentucky and Ohio Revisited
3: Robe Policymaking
Slaying the Messenger
Bench Players
Swirling Sociological Winds
The Jurisprudential Crystal Ball
4: Changing Schools Through Changed Pedagogy
What’s Going Through Teachers’ Minds
What Money Can’t Buy
The Instructional Practices Inventory Described
Understanding Not Just the Machinery, But the Underlying Processes
Surveys Showing the Promise of Change
Appreciating Building-Level Differences in Numerical Terms
Reform Mechanics by the Numbers : How Excellent Schools Do It
5: Spare the Flying Cars
Prepare for Takeoff
Gaping Disparities
If It’s Not Broken, Fix It?
The Power of One
Options in the Accountability Age

With over 25 years invested in public education, I can attest that Justin Collin's insight is right on target! School reform must begin in the classroom with a focus on student engagement for sustainable change. Without 21st Century critical thinking skills as the paramount focus in public education, students will not be ready for our fast-paced ever-changing world. This will be a must-read for all front-line educators -- the teachers!