Defining the Good School

Jeff Swensson served in traditional public education as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent across the Midwest for the past 45 years. He graduated from Amherst College, received his MAT from Northwestern University, and earned his PhD from Indiana University.Michael Shaffer served in schools in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Iowa as an assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent. He graduated from Morehead State University with a BA and MA in elementary education and earned his Education Specialist and Education Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Ball State University.

Mired in an archaic purpose, American schools are inhibited by policies tethered to high minimum quality, the nation's definition of educational adequacy. This book deconstructs the barriers that obstruct the future: contemporary public education. This search uncovers the necessities for transforming educational adequacy for all US students.

Table of ContentsPrefaceIntroductionCHAPTER 1. What's the Purpose of Public Education?The Contemporary Purpose of EducationAt A Loss to Glimpse the FutureThe More US Education Changes, the More It Stays the SameA Selfie Puts Education's Purpose and Educational Adequacy to the TestA Selfie Reveals...State Authority for Public EducationA Diverse Student PopulationHigh School GraduationFunding for US EducationParents and CaregiversThe Impact of Standardized TestingContemporary Purpose and Standardized TestingWhat Do We Have Here? Implications from the SelfieA Picture That Demands at Least a Thousand WordsA Future for US Public EducationBeginning to Search with the End in MindCHAPTER 2. True North: The Moral Obligation of Public EducationTrue North and SocializationSocialization and Moral Obligation in Public EducationMoral Obligation: One Point of ViewMoral Obligation: Another Point of ViewThe Troubled History of Moral ObligationThe Impact of US HistoryMoral Obligation and the Absence of Critical Habits of MindThe Capacity for Moral Obligation in Public EducationLeading-Out Principled ReasoningFostering Autonomy and RelatednessInterpretations of Moral ObligationTwo Imperatives of the Moral Obligation of Public EducationResponses to these ImperativesStudents and Self-Mastery and Principled ReasoningChoices and the Future of Moral ObligationMoral Obligation and Choices About Student CapacityMoral Obligation and Choices About Agency in Public EducationStanding in the Way of Moral ObligationPrecepts of the Moral Obligation of US Public EducationCHAPTER 3. The Eye of the Beholder: An Unavoidable BarrierThis Search and Its BarriersThe Perspectives and Publics of Contemporary US Public EducationHistory and the Eye of the BeholderMajor Perspectives About US Public EducationFree Market SchoolingChoice + Mechanisms = Competition in the Free MarketIn the Free Market Only the Individual Knows BestTo Create the Marketplace Only the Self-Anointed Know BestTraditional Public SchoolsTwo Publics in US Public EducationThe PublicAnd the publicBarriers Arise Where None Should ExistWhy Do These Barriers Endure?Taking this Search Beyond the Eye of the BeholderCHAPTER 4. A Barrier Within: The Tyranny of Either/OrThe Synergy of StruggleCharacteristics of the Tyranny of Either/OrAdult-Centric AdvantageIdeology Is DestinyReform Is IdeologyEducation Is SingularityThe TEO Barrier: School-Attached or School-DetachedThe Bricks in this BarrierDismantling the Tyranny of Either/OrCHAPTER 5. Confronting the Barrier of Conventional WisdomThe Authority of Conventional WisdomThe Baleful State of Educational AdequacyEducational Adequacy as a Social ConstructionEducational Adequacy as Minimum QualityA Challenge to Educational Adequacy? See You in Court!Deficiencies and DisparitiesHow Educational Adequacy Becomes Conventional WisdomThe Paradox of Educational AdequacyEducational Adequacy: A Dead EndCan Conventional Wisdom Be More than Minimums?Reconsidering Educational AdequacyConventional Wisdom and LinearityMediational InfluenceCHAPTER 6. The Measurement Barrier in US Public EducationI-P-O and Measurement: Standardized TestingMeasurement and its MisnomersMeasurement Misnamed: AccountabilityMeasurement Misnamed: EfficiencyNaming Rights: The Convenience of EfficiencyMeasurement Misnamed: Cost AbatementThe Fog of CertaintyTesting Bait and SwitchJust More Numbers in the WallStudents Lost in the FogMeasurement and the Illusion Called Gap-GazingThe Weakness of the Bricks in this BarrierThe Case for Effective EvaluationExamples of Effective EvaluationTeaching to Cognitive ExpectationsThe End of Measurement InadequacyCHAPTER 7. Power and Public EducationThe Presence of Power in EducationThe Rationale for the Future of US Public EducationThe Heart of the Good Public SchoolPower: Abuse and Potential of a Steady StateWhen Power Is ExclusionaryThe Minor Leagues: Purpose, Power, and EducationWhy the Original Power of Education Is VulnerableAmorality and External PowerThe Many Effects When Wires CrossThe "What," "Who," and "Why" of Power in EducationThe "What" of Power in Public EducationThe "Who" of Power in Public EducationThe "Why" of Power in Public EducationPower and "I Identify As..." Statements"I Identify As..." Statements"I Identify As..." Statements and Stereotype ThreatAvoiding the Absolutes: Power + CorruptionUncritical Habits of Mind: A Case ExampleSubordination within Contemporary EducationFreedom: The Original Power of EducationPower for the Freedom of the Intentional SelfCHAPTER 8. Dynamic Instruction: Act I-Function, Evaluation, PrecursorsSetting the Stage for Dynamic InstructionLearning Styles Are Instructionally AnemicStable Instruction Is an Unreliable PresumptionDynamic InstructionEducational FunctionEducational Adequacy and Educational FunctionEducational Function and Instructional MappingEffective EvaluationInstructional PrecursorsAct I: Exeunt AllCHAPTER 9. Dynamic Instruction: Act II-Student EngagementStudent Engagement and Satisfactory QualityThe Triumvirate of Student EngagementPedagogical AgencyThe Expectations of Pedagogical AgencyAuthoritative EngagementLanguaging and Student EngagementThe Languaging of a Think-AloudThe Relationship between Languaging and MemoryStudent Engagement and Habits of MindA Curtain Call for Act IIThe Reviews Are In: Dynamic InstructionCHAPTER 10. Policy and Idiocy in US Public EducationThe Idiocy of Contemporary Educational PolicyThe Idiocy of Policy: More LinearityThe Idiocy of Policy: FantasyThe Idiocy of Policy: Ignorance by ChoiceThe Wreck of the Good Ship Educational PolicyPolicy and the Siren Song of "Reform"Locally-Sourced PolicyEducational Policy: A Mutable DialecticA Snapshot of the Mutable Dialectic for PolicyRemoving Idiocy from the Policy Menu21st Century Educational PolicyCommon Ground: Policy for the Good Public SchoolCHAPTER 11. Recovering the "public" of US EducationThe Shared Circumstance of "public" in EducationThe Intelligence of Common GroundFreedom Vis-à-vis LearningA Sample Lesson: The Social ContractCommon Ground: "public"Balance and Common GroundConnection and Common GroundAgency and Common GroundCHAPTER 12. Weaving Educational Adequacy and the Good Public SchoolTransforming Educational AdequacyCommitments About Comprehensive Public EducationChoices, Weaving, and PhilosophyThe Good Public School: Indicators and Objectives21CPE Indicators21CPE ObjectivesObjective #1: The Good School Is Functionally PublicObjective #2: The Good Public School Is How to ThinkObjective #3: The Good Public School Fulfills Moral ObligationObjective #4: The Good Public School Is Student-CentricObjective #5: Directing the Power of Comprehensive Public EducationCHAPTER 13. Implications from this Search for Educational AdequacyThe Second ImplicationThe Third ImplicationThe Fourth ImplicationThe Fifth ImplicationThe Sixth ImplicationLearning from the Implications of this SearchTeachable Moments and Legitimacy for 21CPECHAPTER 14. Student Futures and Comprehensive Public EducationWe Have Met the Enemy and He Is UsStasis vs. TransformationThe First Tenet: PowerThe Second Tenet: True NorthThe Third Tenet: Principled ReasoningThe Fourth Tenet: Critical Habits of MindThe Fifth Tenet: Common GroundThe Benchmarks for 21CPEPromises Empower 21CPEFreedom in Comprehensive Public EducationDealing with the "If" of 21CPEWelcome to the Good Public SchoolReferencesIndex