Improving Student Learning When Budgets Are Tight

Allan R. Odden - University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA
Improving Student Learning When Budgets Are Tight
February 2012 | 208 pages | Corwin
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ISBN: 9781452284026
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Paperback
ISBN: 9781452217086
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Description

A how-to manual for achieving excellence despite budget cuts

How do you stay focused on increasing student learning when budget cuts threaten everything you are striving for? This book offers a comprehensive framework to enhance student achievement in good times and in bad. School reform expert Allan R. Odden outlines a school improvement action plan focused sharply on student learning and then shows how to target resources to implement each strategy in that plan. More than just a "theory" book, this text describes concrete, specific actions that can be taken immediately. Key strategies include

  • Using data to support boosting student performance
  • Focusing on effective instruction
  • Setting goals to drive resource allocation priorities
  • Establishing priorities for situations that require budget cuts
  • Hiring top teachers and providing ongoing professional development
  • Providing needed technology resources

Educators will find a wide range of real-life examples of schools and districts that have implemented these strategies and significantly improved student learning. Also included is research-based guidance for optimizing teacher and principal talent, teacher recruiting and hiring, online learning, and more. This book successfully communicates many years of work and offers well- grounded advice that will help educators move from financial frustration to effective action.

Contents

List of Tables

List of Tables

Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

  • 1. A Plan of Action: Turning Around Low-Performing and Enhancing High-Performing Schools
  • A Strategic Approach to Using the Education Dollar
  • A Plan of Action for Dramatically Improving Student Performance
  • Summary
  • 2. The Resource Needs of the Plan of Action
  • Details of the Resource Needs of the Plan of Action
  • Example of a High-Spending District That Could Cut Spending
  • Linking Table 2.1 to School Finance Adequacy
  • Summary
  • 3. Targeting Resources to Student Learning When Budgets Are Tight
  • Understand and Resist the Cost Increase Pressures on Schools
  • An Example of Strategic Resource Reallocation for a Midwestern Middle School
  • More Detail on Strategic Budgeting
  • Summary
  • 4. Recruiting, Developing, and Compensating Top Educator Talent: Local Practices and Supporting State Policies
  • Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Teacher Talent
  • Teacher Salary Structures
  • Educator Pensions
  • Summary
  • 5. Computers and Technology in Education: Costs and Online Options
  • Costs of Technology Software and Hardware
  • Using Information Technologies for Instruction
  • Summary
  • 6. When Budget Cuts Are Necessary
  • Cost Pressures, Goals, and Principles to Guide Strategic Budgeting
  • Ensuring a Solid Talent Foundation in Tight Fiscal Times
  • Engaging in Strategic Budgeting
  • Summary

References

References

Index

Index

Additional materials

Description

A how-to manual for achieving excellence despite budget cuts

How do you stay focused on increasing student learning when budget cuts threaten everything you are striving for? This book offers a comprehensive framework to enhance student achievement in good times and in bad. School reform expert Allan R. Odden outlines a school improvement action plan focused sharply on student learning and then shows how to target resources to implement each strategy in that plan. More than just a "theory" book, this text describes concrete, specific actions that can be taken immediately. Key strategies include

  • Using data to support boosting student performance
  • Focusing on effective instruction
  • Setting goals to drive resource allocation priorities
  • Establishing priorities for situations that require budget cuts
  • Hiring top teachers and providing ongoing professional development
  • Providing needed technology resources

Educators will find a wide range of real-life examples of schools and districts that have implemented these strategies and significantly improved student learning. Also included is research-based guidance for optimizing teacher and principal talent, teacher recruiting and hiring, online learning, and more. This book successfully communicates many years of work and offers well- grounded advice that will help educators move from financial frustration to effective action.

Contents

List of Tables

List of Tables

Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

  • 1. A Plan of Action: Turning Around Low-Performing and Enhancing High-Performing Schools
  • A Strategic Approach to Using the Education Dollar
  • A Plan of Action for Dramatically Improving Student Performance
  • Summary
  • 2. The Resource Needs of the Plan of Action
  • Details of the Resource Needs of the Plan of Action
  • Example of a High-Spending District That Could Cut Spending
  • Linking Table 2.1 to School Finance Adequacy
  • Summary
  • 3. Targeting Resources to Student Learning When Budgets Are Tight
  • Understand and Resist the Cost Increase Pressures on Schools
  • An Example of Strategic Resource Reallocation for a Midwestern Middle School
  • More Detail on Strategic Budgeting
  • Summary
  • 4. Recruiting, Developing, and Compensating Top Educator Talent: Local Practices and Supporting State Policies
  • Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Teacher Talent
  • Teacher Salary Structures
  • Educator Pensions
  • Summary
  • 5. Computers and Technology in Education: Costs and Online Options
  • Costs of Technology Software and Hardware
  • Using Information Technologies for Instruction
  • Summary
  • 6. When Budget Cuts Are Necessary
  • Cost Pressures, Goals, and Principles to Guide Strategic Budgeting
  • Ensuring a Solid Talent Foundation in Tight Fiscal Times
  • Engaging in Strategic Budgeting
  • Summary

References

References

Index

Index

Additional materials

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Improving Student Learning When Budgets Are Tight

Allan R. Odden
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February 2012 | 208 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 27/02/2023 9781452217086 $42.95
Lifetime 27/02/2023 9781452284026 $39.00

A how-to manual for achieving excellence despite budget cuts

How do you stay focused on increasing student learning when budget cuts threaten everything you are striving for? This book offers a comprehensive framework to enhance student achievement in good times and in bad. School reform expert Allan R. Odden outlines a school improvement action plan focused sharply on student learning and then shows how to target resources to implement each strategy in that plan. More than just a "theory" book, this text describes concrete, specific actions that can be taken immediately. Key strategies include

  • Using data to support boosting student performance
  • Focusing on effective instruction
  • Setting goals to drive resource allocation priorities
  • Establishing priorities for situations that require budget cuts
  • Hiring top teachers and providing ongoing professional development
  • Providing needed technology resources

Educators will find a wide range of real-life examples of schools and districts that have implemented these strategies and significantly improved student learning. Also included is research-based guidance for optimizing teacher and principal talent, teacher recruiting and hiring, online learning, and more. This book successfully communicates many years of work and offers well- grounded advice that will help educators move from financial frustration to effective action.


Table Of Contents:

  • List of Tables
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Author
  • 1. A Plan of Action: Turning Around Low-Performing and Enhancing High-Performing Schools
  • A Strategic Approach to Using the Education Dollar
  • A Plan of Action for Dramatically Improving Student Performance
  • Summary
  • 2. The Resource Needs of the Plan of Action
  • Details of the Resource Needs of the Plan of Action
  • Example of a High-Spending District That Could Cut Spending
  • Linking Table 2.1 to School Finance Adequacy
  • Summary
  • 3. Targeting Resources to Student Learning When Budgets Are Tight
  • Understand and Resist the Cost Increase Pressures on Schools
  • An Example of Strategic Resource Reallocation for a Midwestern Middle School
  • More Detail on Strategic Budgeting
  • Summary
  • 4. Recruiting, Developing, and Compensating Top Educator Talent: Local Practices and Supporting State Policies
  • Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Teacher Talent
  • Teacher Salary Structures
  • Educator Pensions
  • Summary
  • 5. Computers and Technology in Education: Costs and Online Options
  • Costs of Technology Software and Hardware
  • Using Information Technologies for Instruction
  • Summary
  • 6. When Budget Cuts Are Necessary
  • Cost Pressures, Goals, and Principles to Guide Strategic Budgeting
  • Ensuring a Solid Talent Foundation in Tight Fiscal Times
  • Engaging in Strategic Budgeting
  • Summary
  • References
  • Index

Recent Product Reviews:

"This how-to guide from noted ed-school professor and school-budget expert Allan Odden offers some necessary advice for school administrators learning to wield their budget axes deftly (and a number of helpful examples of how districts are doing just that). Odden’s mission—for district leaders to make cuts intelligently rather than clumsily or politically—would lead to a radical shift in the K-12 spending paradigm. And it’s about time."
The Educational Gadfly, Fordham Institute
“This book offers a comprehensive framework to enhance student achievement in good times and in bad. It presents opportunities for schools and government to work together to strategically confront the budgetary challenges facing public education today.”
Deborah H. Cunningham, President, The Association for Education Finance and Policy
“Allan Odden’s book thoughtfully demonstrates that budgetary challenges facing our schools are immense and one that dedicated public servants are meeting with resilience and invention as they retain powerful education improvement strategies that close the achievement gap.”
Rudy Crew, Professor, USC Rossier School of Education
“Any leader who wants to understand school finance and budgeting should begin by learning from Alan Odden. This book combines research on what works to improve performance with resource implications and is filled with clear, comprehensive, and practical advice for school leaders who want to do more with less.”
Karen Hawley Miles, President and Executive Director, Education Resource Strategies, Watertown, MA
“This is the right advice at the right time for schools. Allan Odden has provided practical tips for education leaders to put their resources behind the spending areas that are shown to improve student academic performance. His book is a “how-to manual” for school leaders to improve student performance at a time of limited resources.”
Andrew Benson, Vice President, KnowledgeWorks, Cincinatti, OH

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