Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2022 -

Loveless, an education researcher, former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and former representative of the US at the General Assembly of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, effectively examines the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) from its creation to its inadequate outcomes. CCSS was one of the most ambitious education reforms of the past century, promising to raise students' success, prepare them for both college and careers, and close the achievement gap. Yet, according to the author, CCSS has had little positive impact on student learning over the past decade. Loveless informs policy makers, professors, school administrators, and teachers about the many layers between the state and the classroom, which hinder the effectiveness of any national standard approach. Providing a series of critical lessons that recognize the political and structural challenges of top-down reforms, he claims that top-down policies are unpredictable and vulnerable to the pendulum effect as new reforms are created. This is a must-read text for anyone desiring to understand the debate over the standards movement and the role of federal and state governments in education reform.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

Understanding the lack of research related to college students who have the severe reading disorder dyslexia, Abbott-Jones, who received her doctorate in education from University College London, has made a great effort to fill this void. Her book is a detailed discussion of a study she undertook to describe what dyslexia is and is not, the self-described types of anxieties/stress that college students with dyslexia experience, and the various coping strategies these students employ to either cover up their reading problems or overcome their difficulties both academically and socially. The study took place in the UK, but its ramifications have great import for students in most English-speaking countries. Perhaps the best takeaway from the text are the suggestions offered to assist these students in their academic careers in higher education and later employment situations. This well-written text includes authoritative references and will be welcomed by higher education instructors and counselors who see increasing numbers of students with academic challenges in their courses and caseloads. Students with dyslexia may find the book useful to understand that their reading problems are not unique.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates, faculty, and professionals.

Emerging issues in higher education come with great complexity. Editors Taylor (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) and Kuntz (Florida International Univ.) navigate complex topics through collaboratively examining case studies that address critical topics, including Title IX, free speech, sexual misconduct, and rising tuition costs. This essential resource includes multiple views and perspectives across the academy, presenting opinions from highly credentialed professionals in active service. Each perspective comes with a different view, focuses on things of interest or note for that author, and crafts a conversation engaging the topic for readers. This guide for campus inquiry and open conversations calls for readers to engage in conversation regarding the cases presented. It is a vital resource for students studying higher education and practitioners facing these issues. Scholars will appreciate the book's chapter notes and index: they are valuable tools to expand inquiry and support classroom and professional development discussions. The final chapter includes a challenge to readers to review their assumptions, consider other viewpoints and voices, and note the impact these issues have on the greater community. This timely publication provides a footnote in education detailing the current culture.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

Comrie (Univ. of Arizona) achieves something readers might not believe possible: making university finances comprehensible and even interesting for both laypeople and professionals. For interested novices, Comrie's "treetops" view provides a global map that matches or aligns funding sources with applications of university funding and budget priorities. He focuses on providing a map of how universities set financial goals and then work to provide resources for their fulfillment. This is not a mechanical practitioner's bottom-up view, and therein lies the strength of this text for readers who may be university professionals--and may often labor in the weeds of details, unable to see the overall strategy. Consequently, this text will serve both savants and amateurs interested in the subject. Comrie's love of his subject permeates the text in an engaging, comprehensive manner. Has a book about finance ever been so beautifully designed, captivating to read, informative, and expansively in command of its subject? This reader doesn't think so, and this text accomplishes what he might have thought impossible. This was a great read--bravo to Andrew Comrie!Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals. General readers.

This brief volume by Hansen (Columbia Univ.) is a well-researched, well-organized, and well-referenced sequel to his classic work A Call to Teach (1995). The author believes that teaching is not just a vocation but a calling in that it is a transformative ethical exercise: a teacher must develop an ethical relationship with students and with the profession of teaching. Viewing teaching from this perspective is not the dominant trend today, which instead adopts a "managerial" model. Hansen contrasts his perspective with the dominant managerial perspective, i.e., the occupational claim on the curriculum and top-down testing. The first couple of chapters draw from the author's 1995 book; the remaining chapters look at teachers who practice the proposed ethical approach and examine how that affects their relationships with students and class content. Hansen hopes that moving away from current models will accelerate a desire to foster society's well-being, educating students for lives of meaning and purpose. Of interest to all who study or work in the field of education and in all disciplines in which teaching and learning occur. A very important book for the present.Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals.

As Schrier (Marist College) notes in the introduction, video games achieved new significance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although games are not universally embraced, their utility in facilitating education and communication, in addition to their ostensible entertainment value, gained wider acknowledgement. It is thus fitting that Schrier helps readers better understand just how games can be used to teach ethics and civics. This is an excellent introduction to the topic. Schrier first examines why ethics and civics should be taught before assessing the current state of ethics/civics pedagogy. She then outlines how teachers can use games to help students better engage with civics and ethics. Of particular note, given the current social and political climate, is chapter 8, "How Do We Cultivate Compassion and Respect for Others." That might be the most important question American society faces at this moment, and it is heartening to see Schrier demonstrate that by incorporating taking perspective, games can enhance compassion, reduce bias, and increase respect for others. We the Gamers is a much-needed text on how games, even when they are not overtly "educational," can make a positive difference in the world.Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals.