The Global Fourth Way ─ The Quest for Educational Excellence

Building upon the arguments presented in their previous book, The Fourth Way: The Inspiring Future for Educational Change, the authors (both of the Lynch School of Education at Boston College) continue to promote their "fourth way" model of educational change. The model is built upon collectively decided and not politically imposed system targets for achievement, the engagement of a broader range of learning beyond literacy and mathematics, the use of data to inform rather than drive teacher inquiry and decision making, the use of testing to sample the progress of systems without distorting the way they operate, the engagement of teachers in curriculum development within and across schools as opposed to teachers as mere vehicles of curriculum developed elsewhere, and a concept of leadership that revolves around collective responsibility rather than vertical accountability. Here, they seek to further illustrate the value of this previously articulated "fourth way" by examining selected examples of high performance in school systems and school around the world, with cases drawn from Finland, Singapore, Canada, England, and the United States. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)