wellfunded school is a better performing school, right
Not according to research results from W, Norton Grubb, author of this book The Money Myth: School Resources, Outcomes, and Equity Russell Sage Foundation,,
Fortunately for the tough times ahead, Grubbs close analysis ofyears of data reveals this good news: schools dont need a major influx of new funds to improve.
They just need to do the right things, which often involves reallocating the funds theyve already got,
With specific, new evidence of what creates healthy, strong schools and successful, educated students, W, Norton Grubba highlyregarded social scientist on education resources, effectiveness and equityshows why some schools thrive and others fail,
Please consider the audiobook version of this as well, I am interested in this topic intellectually and work in a field tangentially related to education but even I have found this to be "eating my vegetables.
" There are some interesting topics in here and the conclusions drawn from statistics contradict much of the political opinions of the left and the right e.
g. relative influence of parents' human capital, small class sizes on outcomes,
However, when the writer has to confess his limitations by advising the reader to skip over certain statisticsintensive parts along the way, you know you need to have a lot of patience.
Unfortunately, even the summary conclusions are not easy to get through and reading a book like this reminds me of how difficult writing is.
So if you are a serious PhD candidate and are used to academicese or a thinktank policy person looking to pluck a piece of education research, there may be material for you.
But if you are a school board member, principal or teacher, I would prepare myself for a tough slog, One of the best books Ive read on school funding and resources, Can money buy highquality education Studies find only a weak relationship between public school funding and educational outcomes, In The Money Myth, W, Norton Grubb proposes a powerful paradigm shift in the way we think about why some schools thrive and others fail, The greatest inequalities in Americas schools lie in factors other than fiscal support, Fundamental differences in resources other than moneyfor example, in leadership, instruction, and tracking policiesexplain the deepening divide in the success of our nations schoolchildren.
The Money Myth establishes several principles for a bold new approach to education reform, Drawing on a national longitudinal dataset collected over twelve years, Grubb makes a crucial distinction between “simple” resources and those “compound,” “complex,” and “abstract” resources that cannot be readily bought.
Money can buy simple resourcessuch as higher teacher salaries and smaller class sizesbut these resources are actually some of the weakest predictors of educational outcomes.
On the other hand, complex resources pertaining to school practices are astonishingly strong predictors of success, Grubb finds that tracking policies have the most profound and consistent impact on student outcomes over time, Schools often relegate lowperforming studentsparticularly minoritiesto vocational, remedial, and special education tracks, So even in wellfunded schools, resources may never reach the students who need them most, Grubb also finds that innovation in the classroom has a critical impact on student success, Here, too, Americas schools are stratified, Teachers in underperforming schools tend to devote significant amounts of time to administration and discipline, while instructors in highly ranked schools dedicate the bulk of their time to “engaged learning,” using varied pedagogical approaches.
Effective schools distribute leadership among many instructors and administrators, and they foster a sense of both trust and accountability, These schools have a clear mission and coherent agenda for reaching goals, Underperforming schools, by contrast, implement a variety of fragmented reforms and practices without developing a unified plan, This phenomenon is perhaps most powerfully visible in the negative repercussions of No Child Left Behind, In a frantic attempt to meet federal standards and raise test scores quickly, more and more schools are turning to scripted “off the shelf” curricula.
These practices discourage student engagement, suppress teacher creativity, and hold little promise of improving learning beyond the most basic skills,
Grubb shows that infusions of money alone wont eradicate inequality in Americas schools, We need to address the vast differences in the way school communities operate, By looking beyond school finance, The Money Myth gets to the core reasons why education in America is so unequal and provides clear recommendations for addressing this chronic national problem.
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Gain Money Myth, The: School Resources, Outcomes, And Equity: School Resources, Outcomes, And Equity Conceived By W. Norton Grubb EBook
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