‘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. This book is a powerful guide in helping our principals see through the fog of mandates, policies, and red tape and get to the priority of students!’
—Terri Patterson, Director of Elementary Education
Waco Independent School District, TX
‘This book boldly asserts that brain research should be applied wherever human brains are working. Not only can and should brain research inform how and what we teach in the classroom, it should be brought to bear in boardrooms and the school budgeting process as well.’
—Linda Jordan, Associate Professor
Hope College
Make objective budget-cutting decisions that will truly impact student achievement!
In tough economic environments, budget cutting is a daunting but necessary task for many school administrators. Karen D. Olsen takes an exciting, unique approach by applying brain research to budgeting. Now educators can make the decision-making process more objective by using analytical thinking in school budgeting rather than responding to emotion, tradition, or outside influences. Providing a strategy-builder chart, this book
- Offers action items for putting the strategies into practice
- Helps leaders determine where money should be reinvested or reallocated
- Provides specific tips for working within a group decision-making setting
- Includes more than 30 analytical charts to aid in gathering needed information
What Brain Research Can Teach About Cutting School Budgets offers principals and district leaders a methodical process for taking subjectivity out of the budgeting process.
Table of Content
Foreword by Susan KovalikPreface
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
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.More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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