PRODUCTS

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education landmark court case arguably changed the landscape of education, particularly for Black youth. Despite the many gains reaped from this monumental decision, what is not often discussed is how this court ruling affected Black educators, and how the disappearance of Black educators has had a long lasting effect on the performance of Black youth. Recognizing the unique obstacles that Black children and educators face in a predominantly White education system, Diversifying the Educator Pipeline explores the need to diversify the educator workforce, particularly as it pertains to expanding the presence of Black educators.

The goal of this text is to explore the need to diversify the educator workforce, particularly as it pertains to expanding the presence of Black educators. To accomplish this, the book starts with an exploration of the historical context as it pertains to Black educators in America to contextualize the discussion and recommendations that follow. The focus of the remainder of the text is on the recruitment, preparation, and retention of Black educators as a means to diversify the educator workforce in an effort to better reflect and support diverse classrooms across the country. Throughout the volume, a synthesis of research, recommendations, and Black educator voices will be skillfully woven to create a compelling argument for the need to recruit, prepare, and retain Black educators as a means to diversify the educator workforce and better support and reflect diverse classrooms of students.

Grounded with the historical context of Black educators in America as a means to contextualize the current conversation, Dr. Marks examines why efforts to diversify the educator pipeline have not yielded the desired results. This is an important book for educators across the pedagogical spectrum, especially for those wishing to create more equitable classrooms for Black students.

What is a fandom, and why do fandoms matter for school?

Fandoms are passionate communities dedicated to appreciating and engaging with texts of interest (movies, TV shows, books, bands, brands, sports teams, etc.) via personally and communally meaningful literacy practices. It is increasingly obvious that scripted literacy curricula and standardized tests fall short of meeting meaningful literacy goals and create culturally destructive learning spaces. Fandoms in the Classroom provides an alternative for educators looking to center passion in their classrooms, individualizing their literacy curricula by building from youth’s interests. The book describes how educators in a wide range of secondary learning contexts can build curricula around students’ already-present fandom interests to support literacy growth. This text supports educators in a range of learning contexts with step-by-step processes for building learning spaces that support navigation of fandom and disciplinary literacies, with a particular focus on common obstacles and roadblocks that teachers have shared with us. It addresses how classrooms doing critical fandom work can address social justice issues across both fandom and disciplinary communities.

This book covers relevant topics such as:

• Why Fandoms? We introduce readers to the concept of fandoms and how engaging students’ experiences in fandoms is not an extra or add-on but instead crucial to flipping the script on literacy learning.
• Bring Your Fandom to Class: Critically Putting Communities in Conversation. The book discusses how to shift ideas of literacy learning contexts from teacher-centric instruction to a community learning model.
• Fostering Engagement & Choosing Texts Together: Teachers are often nervous about teaching what they don’t know. The text provides strategies for making learning ecologies and having kids fill it with their own interests, describing specific step-by-step discussion routines that can support youth’s engagement with critical tools on texts of their choice.
• Building Culturally Responsive Assessments Engaging Youth-Centric Audiences: the book describes how educators can design more expansive literacy assessments with examples of culturally responsive objectives and tasks. The authors include a range of fandom genres and audiences that they have seen in their own work.
• Transforming Your Current Curriculum in Conversation with Fandoms: Supporting educators interested in expanding literature units in conversation with fandom texts, the text describes how to design units that put various discourse communities in conversation without deadening or co-opting youth interests.
• Interdisciplinary Applications: there is a discussion about specific examples of how educators the authors have supported in various contexts have applied this kind of work. It includes a focus on cross-disciplinary literacy, with cases highlighting applications for math, science, social studies and music disciplinary learning.

The Disquisition: An Equity-Driven Capstone for Leadership Preparation Program provides a thoughtful, detailed example of a capstone process and paper (The Disquisition) that employs improvement science, critical theory, and critical praxis to prepare educational leaders to disrupt inequity within their organizations. The chapters in this book represent 12 years of collaborative learning among experienced, respected, and award-winning leadership preparation faculty presently at or formerly from Western Carolina University (WCU). It integrates multiple sources of data from research, student feedback, faculty experiences, capstone committee member input, learnings from the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), and program evaluation data examining the achievement of student learning outcomes.

Following foundational chapters that describe the origin and evolution of the disquisition at WCU and its focus on social justice, faculty present six chapters—each one clearly detailing a primary component of the disquisition process and paper including the problem of practice; a causal analysis; identifying the improvement initiative; designing the improvement initiative; evaluating the improvement initiative and reporting results; and implications, recommendations, and leadership lessons learned. Each of these chapters includes a brief introduction to the component; expectations for students as practitioners (leading the work); expectations for students as scholars (evaluating and writing about the work); an excerpt from the disquisition paper outline relevant to the component; example figures, tables, or text from completed disquisition papers; and scholarly resources for scholar-practitioners. The final chapter of the book presents the process for convening a disquisition committee, a description of the IRB process, and the expectations for defending the disquisition at both the proposal defense and the final defense meeting.  Although this book is written as a guide for students engaging in the disquisition process and writing the disquisition paper, it serves as a strong model for leadership preparation programs and university administrators who seek to build or refine their capstone (and program) in ways that ensure students are prepared to lead justice-driven transformation across their organizations.

Perfect for courses such as: Dissertation-in-Practice Writing; Academic Writing for the Scholar Practitioner; Capstone-Independent Study; Capstone-Student Learning Community; Improvement Science: Data Collection, Analysis & Reporting; Improvement Science: Data Presentation; The Role of the Scholar-Practitioner as Educational Leader

The How and Why of Laboratory Schools: Innovations and Success Stories in Teacher Preparation and Student Learning is an eagerly anticipated exploration crafted by esteemed researchers and practitioners from some of the foremost Laboratory Schools across the United States and Internationally. These institutions, also recognized as demonstration schools or university-affiliated schools, play pivotal roles in the landscape of education, serving as bastions of innovation, research, and professional development. At their core, Laboratory Schools are multifaceted entities, assuming key responsibilities such as teacher training and professional development, serving as hubs for research and innovation, embodying models of best practices, fostering collaboration within university communities, shaping curriculum development and evaluation, and championing inclusion and special education. Their impact reverberates throughout the educational sphere, shaping the future of teaching, learning, and educational policies.

The How and Why of Laboratory Schools serves as a beacon in the realm of education literature, offering an array of accessible examples that inspire and enlighten researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike. With a global perspective, this volume provides a comprehensive snapshot of both the research and practice within Laboratory Schools worldwide, featuring exemplary models not only from the United States but also from various international settings. Spanning an variety of topics including demonstration schools, teacher preparation, innovative pedagogy and curriculum, early childhood education, elementary and primary education, middle and secondary education, STEM-focused initiatives, promotion of democracy, establishment of research laboratories, support for diverse learners, preservice teacher education, collaboration models, and the role of teachers as researchers, this book encompasses the diverse facets of Laboratory Schools' contributions to education.

Moreover, the book serves as a blueprint for the development of new Laboratory Schools, offering insights into various models, funding mechanisms, and strategies for integration into university research and teacher training programs. By showcasing successful examples and providing practical guidance, this book empowers educational institutions to embark on the journey of establishing their own school, enriching both their local communities and the broader educational landscape.

Beyond the present, this book also articulates a compelling case for the future of Laboratory Schools, highlighting their potential to continually innovate, adapt, and lead educational transformation in the years to come. Through its insightful analyses and compelling narratives, The How and Why of Laboratory Schools heralds a future where Laboratory Schools remain at the forefront of educational excellence and innovation, not only domestically but also on the international stage.

Perfect for courses such as: Comparative Education; Education Reform; Professional Development Models; School Improvement; Foundations in Education; Early Childhood Education