A Wake Up Call for Schools: A New Order in Public Education

(Paperback)

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In the United States, 30 percent of students drop out of school prior to graduation. Unrest is evidenced as stakeholders in education wrestle concurrently with financial restraints, changing student demographics, and escalating accountability expectations for achievement.
Patricia Anne Duncan Parrish's more than three decades of training and experience in schools in this nation have resulted in onsite observations, research-based premises, and quantitative recommendations for a step-by-step realignment of the focus of public educationthe education of each student for contributory productivity in the international marketplace of the twenty-first century. The reader of A Wake Up Call for Schools reaps definitive strategies for prekindergarten through university level classrooms, for team building and professional development, for campus administration, for counseling and guidance, for central office administration, and for the boardroom to find the way again to a no-excuses, child-centered approach to public education.

Reviews

A Wake Up Call for Schools: A New Order in Public Education is an inspirational call to action. It prompts the educational community to more intentionally and proactively act upon a core value that underlies the United States educational system that all children can succeed in school and life. It fits well with the emphasis in current educational policy reform agendas to recognize that teacher effectiveness is a key lever to improve student outcomes. The personal autobiographical character of this book lends tremendous credibility, compassion, and depth to the advice proffered by Patricia Anne Duncan Parrish. The reader cannot help but be moved by the wealth of real-life illustrations that demonstrate what happens in the day-to-day life of students, educators and school administrators. These illustrations marry the heart and science of the educational process and provide the foundation for the book's tenets about what needs to change in order to close the achievement gap. -- Jane Reisman, president, Organizational Research Services, Seattle, Washington; author, Outcomes for Success! and A Guide to Measuring Advocac
Dr. Parrish combines personal as well as professional experiences to take the reader into effective schools as well as those that are not kid friendly. This book is a must-read for teachers, prospective teachers, parents, principals, school reformers and anyone interested in taking the bold steps to improve the most important thing we do as a nation, educating all of our country's children. The alternative to not improving our schools is a lost generation of kids and likely a diminished role of the United States as a global leader. -- Ron Golden, coordinator of educator preparation, Texas A&M University-Commerce Navarro Partnership; teacher, principal; supervisor, post
This volume shares with practitioners and students a view of reality that is often overlooked in the busy world of education where high-tech and test intensive environments seem to be driving all efforts. It helps us to see life as it is for many students and how we can make a positive difference in the life of each child. -- James A. Vornberg, professor of educational leadership, Texas A&M University-Commerce; co-author/editor, Texas Public School Organization and A
A well-functioning democracy demands an enlightened populace, yet a high proportion of high school youth today do not graduate. Those who do often lack basic knowledge about history, economics, science, and other topicsand have poor writing and reading skills. Patricia Parrish, an expert in the field of education, sets forth in her book an ambitious agenda for change in our current malfunctioning educational system. The steps she proposes are creative and powerful, leading to what she describes as the new order. Parrishs important work deserves careful study, not only by educators and others in leadership roles, but by all parents who see the urgent need to instill a love of learning in their charges. -- George H. Gallup, Jr., founder, George H. Gallup International Institute

Author Bio

Patricia Anne Duncan Parrish, EdD, has been active in K-12 public education more than thirty years in instructional, diagnostic, and central office administrative positions in New York and Texas and in instructional positions in postsecondary education in Texas. Parrish maintains membership in multiples of professional organizations, including Phi Delta Kappa, an international professional association for educators. She is an Alumni Ambassador of Texas A&M University-Commerce.