For more than a decade, economist Ronald F. Ferguson has investigated the myriad factors that combine to create racial disparities in academic performance, ranging from school policies and practices to informal interactions between children and their parents and peers. Toward Excellence with Equity brings together Ferguson's most important articles and most recent thinking on these ideas. Taken together, these essays show that closing achievement gaps is more urgent today than ever before--and that dramatic success is possible. "This book issues an urgent call to action to anyone concerned about the lagging success rates among minority children in American schools and the repercussions for our country's future. Ronald Ferguson not only surveys the bleak terrain surrounding the achievement gap, but provides all of us with a road map to reach higher ground." -- Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO, Harlem Children's Zone "Toward Excellence with Equity is an important book written by one of the nation's foremost experts on education and economic development. Ronald Ferguson's pioneering work on black/white disparities in student skill levels and achievement-test scores has significant public policy implications. This book is a must-read for anyone concerned about narrowing the racial gap in educational attainment and earnings." -- William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University "This book combines high-quality research, judicious insights, brilliant speculation, and common sense to set forth strategies to reduce the achievement gap dramatically. It is particularly compelling in calling for a comprehensive social movement that will not only transform schools but establish strong communities, effective parenting, and powerful peer cultures." -- Henry M. Levin, William H. Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University "Ferguson conducts an authoritative review to show that disparities in academic performance can be closed by strong parental engagement and by parents working in partnership with schools around a shared vision of success for their children. The reality is that educators can't do it alone. This highly intelligent book gives policymakers, educators, and parents essential tools for closing achievement gaps between high-performing and low-performing schools." -- Susan Zelman, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ohio Department of Education "Toward Excellence with Equity is essential reading for any businessperson who cares about the well-being of children and the future quality of the American workforce." -- Bridgette Heller, Chairman of the Executive Leadership Council and Global President of Johnson & Johnson's Baby, Kids, and Wound-Care Division Ronald F. Ferguson is the faculty cochair and director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University and the founder and director of the Tripod Project for school improvement.

Guide your school through its cultural proficiency transformation Despite the best efforts of equity leaders, our schools suffer from persistent inequities. Guiding Teams to Excellence with Equity is a must-read for anyone who values equity and excellence and supports the professional learning of adults in our schools. Author John Krownapple helps readers develop as culturally proficient facilitators, and equips them with the skills, tools, and techniques to navigate the obstacles that arise during systemic equity transformations. Includes a powerful, running vignette that illustrates common challenges, principles, and solutions Focuses on mental models for managing group energy Is grounded in a systems model for personal and organizational transformation Provides a range of tools for planning culturally proficient learning experiences This is the book leaders need to learn how to facilitate a group’s journey from awareness to commitment to action in support of inclusion and equity. "What John has done here is remarkable. He′s taken the intuitive art of facilitation, illustrated it with a story, and explained it with theory, data and graphic examples. It′s clear, cohesive, comprehensive, and integrated. I like that we follow one story throughout, and that a plethora of facilitation techniques are embedded in that story. I particularly like how facilitation is contrasted with training. John has broken the facilitation rubric into bite-sized pieces, which makes it useful to leaders of professional learning. I love this book; Guiding Teams to Excellence with Equity is a book we′ve all been waiting for." Kikanza Nuri-Robins, Author of Fish Out of Water "Based in abundant research, this valuable book contains myriad strategies and protocols for building collective efficacy in educational teams. It is a must for those who wish to perfect their facilitation skills, who desire a deeper understanding of the emotional and cognitive transformation during the human journey of personal enlightenment, and for those who believe that the future of our democracy depends on equity and cultural proficiency." Arthur L. Costa, Professor Emeritus California State University, Sacramento

Excellence Through Equity is an inspiring look at how real-world educators are creating schools where all students are able to thrive. In these schools, educators understand that equity is not about treating all children the same. They are deeply committed to ensuring that each student receives what he or she individually needs to develop their full potential—and succeed. To help educators with what can at times be a difficult and challenging journey, Blankstein and Noguera frame the book with five guiding principles of Courageous Leadership: - Getting to your core - Making organizational meaning - Ensuring constancy and consistency of purpose - Facing the facts and your fears - Building sustainable relationships They further emphasize that the practices are grounded in three important areas of research that are too often disregarded: (1) child development, (2) neuroscience, and (3) environmental influences on child development and learning. You’ll hear from Carol Corbett Burris, Michael Fullan, Marcus J. Newsome, Paul Reville, Susan Szachowicz, and other bold practitioners and visionary thinkers who share compelling and actionable ideas, strategies, and experiences for closing the achievement gap in your classrooms and school. Ensuring that all students receive an education that cultivates their talents and potential is in all our common interest. As Andy Hargreaves writes in the coda: “The opportunity for all Americans is to articulate and believe in an inspiring vision of educational change that is about what the next genera¬tion of America and Americans should become, not about a target or ranking that the nation should attain.”

Literacy is arguably the most important goal of schooling as, to a large extent, it determines young children’s educational and life chances and is fundamental in achieving social justice. New Zealand’s literacy education programme has long been regarded as one of the world’s most successful approaches to teaching literacy skills to young children. Excellence and Equity in Literacy Education questions this widely held assumption. In the late 1990s the New Zealand government developed a national literacy strategy aimed at reducing persistently large inequities in literacy achievement outcomes. The chapters in this edited volume present evidence indicating that the national literacy strategy has failed, examine the major factors responsible for the continuation of New Zealand’s comparatively wide spread of scores in literacy achievement, and describe the most effective strategies for reducing the literacy achievement gap and achieving excellence and equity in New Zealand literacy education.

This book offers a comprehensive picture of high-performing East Asian education systems, beyond their outstanding achievements in international assessments, such as PISA and TIMSS. Situating “excellence” within discussions of “equity”, it contextualises the conceptions and pursuits of equity amid the development of education systems, policy and curricula in selected East Asian societies. While parallels could be observed across the systems, including high-stakes assessment culture, increasing credentialism and high investment of family educational resources, there are also divergences in approaches and outcomes relating to equity policies and practices. In light of the challenges presented by low fertility rates, ageing populations, migration, and the economic demands of the 21st century, the book addresses these systems’ attempts to cater to further diversified student populations and maintain equity in excellence. As the international community relentlessly seeks to enhance equity in education, there is much these East Asian education systems can share. This book has appeal internationally to researchers, policymakers, educators, and anyone interested in East Asian education and equity.

This book presents a 'Quality School Improvement' (QSI) framework for overcoming the conflict that exists between excellence, equity, and efficiency and provides recommendations for principals and policymakers to meet the demands for accountability and continuous improvement based upon that framework.

This publication identifies some of the steps policy makers can take to build school systems that are both equitable and excellent. The analysis is complemented with examples that illustrate proven or promising practices in specific countries.

"It brings into focus the many aspects of equity and equality in one source. It makes an excellent base for some meaningful discussion of these issues by those working with aspiring educator leaders, as well as those already in the field." Deborah A. Drugan, Principal General John J. Stefanik Elementary School, Chicopee, MA When true equity prevails, all students can be successful students! Do you dream of success for every student? Do you dream of raising achievement for each and every child to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act? Historically, underserved students—children of color, children from low-income families, English language learners—all deserve to live this dream. Creating an equitable learning environment in which all students thrive is possible—with this guide you can turn dreams into reality for your school. Leadership for Equity and Excellence encourages school leaders and teachers to develop creative strategies for student advancement using tools such as accountability, equity audits, and proactive redundancy. Scheurich and Skrla demonstrate how deeply held beliefs manifest as biases, preventing educators from unlocking their students′ potential. The authors also examine the U.S. education achievement gap, and suggest several concepts for overcoming this gap, such as: Eliminating "can′t" from your vocabulary Using creativity, perseverance, and persistence Envisioning educators as civil rights workers Moving beyond harmful, but entrenched, biases Understanding the cultures and backgrounds of each student Children of color excelling in school . . . children from low-income homes thriving academically . . . classrooms, communities, and even a nation of people becoming truly equal—this is the living dream of today′s educators.

Throughout the world, equity and excellence in education is a major issue of concern. International comparative studies such as those carried out by OECD (PISA) have launched a worldwide debate on the effectiveness of educational systems (macro level), schools (meso level) and teachers (micro level) in terms of enhancing equity and excellence. Inspired by the OECD research and spurred by national policy-making, quantitative and qualitative research studies have recently been conducted in different parts of the globe aiming to provide deeper insight into the crucial variables that have an impact on equity, excellence or both. Among the variables that have been identified as crucial in this respect are the pupils' gender and their socio-economic and linguistic background, teachers' expectations, cognitions and pedagogical approach in the classroom, parental support, financial aspects, educational policies (e.g. priority policies, multilingual policies, early start policies), and variables related to the structure of the educational structure and system (e.g. compulsory school age, comprehensive systems, support structures, system variables enhancing spread of learners). This volume aims to compile a rich collection of research-based contributions, providing a state-of-the-art resource on what we know about this topic today.