The American government makes a great case for being interested in education and claims to take great pains to 'leave no child behind.' Current education-system enhancement strategies emphasize testing and accountability and focus on rewarding or penalizing teachers whose students make statistical headway at exam time. But little is offered to teachers in the way of new, better skills to make their teaching more effective.
In Behavior Analysis, Education, and Effective Schooling, four leaders in the field of education-related applied behavior analysis, spell out a case for implementing curricular materials and instructional methods that research has shown to be effective in any classroom at any level. The concise survey includes chapters on achieving educational success, educational theory, schools and schooling. It discusses instructional strategies, classroom management, assessing academic performance, teacher training, and educational myths-all from an applied behavior-analytic point of view.
School reform is a critical topic in America. Politicians have education as the centerpiece of their campaign platforms and legislative agendas with a heavy emphasis on testing and accountability. Schools, school systems, and individual teachers are told to do better and to make sure their students score higher on national and state examinations. If scores improve, teachers can earn incentives; if they do not, teachers can lose their positions.
However, if teachers are to do better, they need new skills. The authors advocate implementing curricular materials and instructional methods that research has shown to be effective in any classroom at any level. These methods can be taught to current and pre-service teachers alike. The book includes chapters on: achieving educational success, educational theory, schools and schooling, instructional strategies, classroom management, assessing academic performance, teacher training, and educational myths and behavior analysis.