The Audacity to Teach!: The Impact of Leadership, School Reform, and the Urban Context on Educational Innovations

The Audacity to Teach! is developed from a study of an inner city, urban elementary school that has undergone serial comprehensive reforms. Each act of reform has promised to bring about certain changes that would/will in return improve this particular school. This book explores critical issues such as: (1) the language of student achievement and accountability, (2) the politics and policies that inform the processes of schooling and school reform, and (3) the role of leadership in schools (including teacher leadership). Each of these evolves from a serious examination of capacity as the dynamic nexus between teaching innovations and student learning. This book is intended for teachers, school administrators, policy makers, and academics who are interested in understanding school improvement and effectiveness; it provides commonsense recommendations for the future direction of American education that aim to promote student success.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Acknowledgements Chapter 3 Introduction Chapter 4 Chapter 1 The Contemporary Context of Urban Schools Chapter 5 Chapter 2 Introducing HIllside Elementary School Chapter 6 Chapter 3 Teachers Defining Teaching and Learning Innovations Chapter 7 Chapter 4 Critical Correspondences of Pedagogical Capacity Chapter 8 Chapter 5 Context and Collaboration as Pedagogical Capacity Chapter 9 Chapter 6 Institutionalization of Teaching and Learning Innovation Chapter 10 Chapter 7 The Multidimensionality of Capacity for Teaching and Learning Innovations Chapter 11 References Chapter 12 Index Chapter 13 About the Author

About the Author :
Jacob Easley II is an associate professor at Mercy College.

Review :
A compelling and thought provoking analysis of the role of teachers in school reform. This book is an excellent resource for policy makers and educators seeking to understand how to create optimal conditions for teaching and learning in schools. …An important and easy-to-read account of important subjects to all those who work within schools —- the importance of relationships between groups within school communities, the possibilities and limitations of educational reform effects, and teachers' capacities within their immediate contexts. As a keen observer of classroom and school life and careful listener to teachers' perspectives, Jacob Easley II provides a thorough and thoughtful account of one school community to surface significant insights about the larger forces at play in educators' efforts toward educational reform. The Audacity to Teach provides a critical understanding for building the capacities needed to bring about effective change in schools. This book is critical to demonstrating why current district and state efforts to create narrow and rigid policy solutions are doomed, unless they are structured to enable innovative practice and collaborative work.