What Brain Research Can Teach about Cutting School Budgets / Edition 1

by Karen D. Olsen

Overview

With a strategy-builder chart for reinvesting and reallocating dollars, this unique resource applies brain research to the budgeting process to make decision making more objective.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412980494
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	02/18/2010
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 Months

About the Author

Karen D. Olsen is author, co-author, and contributing editor of two dozen books focusing on using brain research to create schoolwide change. Her most recent book, What Brain Research Can Teach Us About Cutting School Budgets, is also published by Corwin Press. Her experience includes serving as executive director of the Mid-California Science Improvement Program (MCSIP), a ten-year effort funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to improve science education using the ITI/HET model. She also served as executive director of the Bay Area Middle School Program, a project to create model middle schools. Olsen was one of the original founders of the California Institute of School Improvement, a non-profit organization designed to support schools and districts in a wide range of school change issues. As program director, she conducted seminars on a range of topics including implications of recent legislation, schoolwide planning and program quality review processes, and the role of mentor teachers as change agents. Addtional experience includes planning and development for the California State Department of Education.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Susan Kovalik
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Where to $tart
Attitude Is Important
Action Items
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
2. Instruction: Tools
A Brief Summary
Action Items
Brain Research
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
3. Instruction: Organization and Use of Time
Optimizing Organization and Use of Time
Action Items
Brain Research
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
4. Staffing
Action Items
Brain Research
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
5. Professional Development
Professional Development Is a Survival Imperative
Action Items
Brain Research
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
6. The Inseparable Bodybrain Learning Partnership: Movement and Aerobic Exercise
Movement to Enhance Learning
Action Items
Resources
Myths Versus Brain Facts
Endotes
Action Summary Checklist
7. The Inseparable Bodybrain Learning Partnership: Emotion
Impact of Emotion as Gatekeeper to Learning and Performance
Action Items
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
8. Double-Link Curriculum for Two-Step Learning: Link One
A Context for Content
Content for Link-One Curriculum
Action Task 1: Analyze Your Curriculum for Age Appropriateness
Action Task 2: Analyze How Well Your Standards Enhance Pattern Seeking
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
9. Double-Link Curriculum for Two-Step Learning: Link Two
Link-Two Content
Action Items
Resources
Endnotes
Action Summary Checklist
10. Testing: Does the Emperor Wear Clothes?
What Do Tests Test?
Standardized Tests Don't Test Learning
Where and What to Cut
Homegrown Isn't Necessarily Better
Action Items
Resources
Endotes
Action Summary Checklist
Appendix A: Pattern Seeking
Appendix B: Developing Programs
Appendix C: Age Appropriateness
Glossary
List of Figures
About the Author
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"I’m very pleased to see a book bold enough to assert that the realm of brain research should be applied to wherever human brains are working and whatever challenges we face. Not only can and should brain research inform how and what we teach in the classroom, but it should be brought to bear in boardrooms and the school budgeting process. This book is brilliant and groundbreaking. Every school in America should have a copy in its professional library. "

Linda Jordan

"Karen Olsen has put budget topics into perspective so that school administrators can make decisions based on what is best for children, not what is easiest and most efficient for adults. We used this book in our district with all our principals and it was a powerful guide in helping them see through the fog of mandates, policies, and red tape and get to the priority of students! "

Terri Patterson

"Olsen addresses a current national issue with a focus on budget deficits and identifying a process for making decisions about budget cuts. This is definitely a different and unusual approach to budget cutting—a compelling contribution to the field. "

Laurie Emery

"The entire nation is struggling with budget cuts, and this book is a very practical guide, a guide that has longevity and can be used time and time again with the same profound results. I would recommend this text as a must-read for anyone affected by budget cuts in education. "

Lyndon Oswald