July 2023 MBR The Education Shelf

The Education Shelf

How to Enable the Employability of University Graduates
Saskia Loer Hansen, editor
Kathy Daniels, editor
Edward Elgar Publishing
9 Dewey Court, Northampton, MA 01060-3815
www.e-elgar.com
9781803926506, $185.00, HC, 392pp

https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/how-to-enable-the-employability-of-university-graduates-9781803926506.html

Synopsis: Students invest significant resources in coming to university and universities play a crucial role in enabling their students to benefit from this investment and to be employable once they have finished their degree. Giving a platform to the debate about graduate employability from the student, university and employer perspectives, "How to Enable the Employability of University Graduates"is innovative addition to the Edward Elgar Publishing's 'How To Guide' series and explores the challenges associated with ensuring the employability of university graduates.

In defining the nature of employability, "How to Enable the Employability of University Graduates" discusses how the concept is a shared responsibility dependent on individual capabilities, the labour market and social capital.

Considering what employers want from graduates, "How to Enable the Employability of University Graduates" examines how universities can provide strong graduate outcomes and inclusive career opportunities irrespective of student background. It also illustrates ways to embed employability across the curriculum, suggesting innovative approaches to careers guidance and specific employability initiatives, while upholding the benefits of entrepreneurial activities and widening participation opportunities.

With insights from around the world, "How to Enable the Employability of University Graduates" concludes by thinking about the institutional response to the challenges faced by the employability agenda, reflecting on how research has developed over the past 20 years.

Interdisciplinary and comparative in scope, "How to Enable the Employability of University Graduates" is a compendium of international case studies of employability approaches across a wide range of educational institutions and will prove an engaging resource for students and scholars of business, education management, and teaching methods. Its exploration of regulatory environments will also prove useful for policymakers working in education.

Critique: Collaboratively compiled and deftly co-edited by Saskia Loer Hansen and Kathy Daniels, "How to Enable the Employability of University Graduates" is comprised of 36 insightfully informative contributions and features figures, tables, a list of abbreviations, a listing of the contributors and their credentials, and a seven page index. "How to Enable the Employability of University Graduates", a seminal and timely work, is impressively organized and presented, making it an essential and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, college, and university library Education Counseling collections, and supplemental curriculum Career Development/Vocational Guidance studies lists.

Editorial Note: Saskia Loer Hansenis the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Engagement), RMIT University, Australia.

Editorial Note #2: Kathy Daniels (https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/persons/kathy-daniels) is the Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor (Engagement), Aston University, UK.

Positive Behavior Supports in Classrooms and Schools, third edition
Keith Storey
Charles C. Thomas, Publisher
2600 South First Street, Springfield, IL 62704
http://www.ccthomas.com
9780398094065, $46.95, PB, 300pp

https://www.amazon.com/Positive-Behavior-Supports-Classrooms-Schools/dp/0398094063

Synopsis: Now in a fully updated third edition, "Positive Behavior Supports in Classrooms and Schools: Effective and Practical Strategies for Teachers and Other Service Providers" continues to be a unique and instructive guid that provides teachers and other service providers the knowledge and skills for Positive Behavior Supports in school settings, thereby improving the academic and social skills of their students.

As with previous editions, "Positive Behavior Supports in Classrooms and Schools" is written in an informational format that teachers and other service providers can immediately put to use. The text is generic across K-12 grade levels and focuses on Positive Behavior Supports in school settings.

Each chapter begins with Key Point Questions, followed by two Window to the World Case Studies, information on the Key Point Questions, Discussion Questions, and Suggestions for Classroom and School Activities.

Additionally, an overview of Positive Behavior Supports is provided, which includes Measuring Behavior, Functional Assessment and Analysis, Reinforcement, Punishment, Classroom Structure, Preventative Procedures and Interventions, Cooperative Learning and Peer Tutoring, and Family and Agency Involvement.

The Self-Management Strategies, Social Skills Instruction, and School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports are vital areas of knowledge. This "How To" book is written for teachers and other direct service providers in a non-technical manner with specific real-world examples.

Critique: An ideal textbook for school district in-service training programs and a core addition to college and university library Teacher Education collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists, "Positive Behavior Supports in Classrooms and Schools: Effective and Practical Strategies for Teachers and Other Service Providers, third edition" is especially informative and effectively 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation.

Editorial Note: Keith Storey (https://tu-ca.academia.edu/KeithStorey) is a Professor Emeritus at Touro University California in Vallejo, California. Keith has over forty years' experience working with individuals with disabilities, including six years as a classroom teacher. His professional and research interests include transition from school to adult life, functional analysis and positive behavioral supports, supported employment, inclusion, and curriculum development. Keith is the recipient of the 1988 Alice H. Hayden Award from The Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps; the 1996 Hau-Cheng Wang Fellowship from Chapman University, which is presented for exceptional merit in scholarship; and the 2001 Robert Gaylord-Ross Memorial Scholar Award from the California Association for Persons with Severe Disabilities.

Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English
Bob Cox, et al.
Crown House Publishing
81 Brook Hills Circle, White Plains, NY 10605
www.crownhousepublishing.com
9781785836671, $24.95, PB, 160pp

https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Doors-Ambitious-Primary-English/dp/1785836676

Synopsis: With the publication of "Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English: Pitching high and including all" co-authors Bob Cox, Leah Crawford, Angela Jenkins and Julie Sargent, provides both big principles and a toolkit of strategies all carefully selected to support the design of a deeper, more creative and more expansive English curriculum.

"Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English: Pitching high and including all" is rich resource, enhanced with vivid illustrations by Victoria Cox, and intended to help classroom teachers enhance their student's engagement with challenging texts and develop their writing skills as budding wordsmiths. Working in association with the Opening Doors network of schools, the authors address the vital concept of pitching high but including all pupils and how this approach can be delivered in practice.

"Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English" also explains and models top quality ways of thinking, planning and teaching. The resources, case studies and authors' innovative ideas on theory will help you to make primary English vibrant, creative and challenging in your school. It also provides frameworks and principles for any school wishing to be more ambitious in developing pupils' speaking, listening, reading, writing and thinking with a greater sense of curiosity and more originality.

Of special note is that "Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English" contains chapter by chapter explanations of how English in primary schools can be developed in ambitious ways. Supported by research references, examples of pupils' work and illuminating case studies, "Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English" provides teachers with a toolkit of strategies which schools can adapt and apply to their own contexts.

"Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English" is supported by the Opening Doors series of books which contain units of work based around selected texts. The authors hope "Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English" will act as a starting block from which to develop an Opening Doors approach to English, and have suggested key concepts around which the curriculum can be built, with the units providing examples to work from.

Critique: Especially suitable for teachers and curriculum leads in primary settings, "Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English: Pitching high and including all" is enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a ten page Bibliography, a two page End Note, a two page List of Online Resources, and a two page List of Downloadable Resources. Exceptionally informative, impressively organized, and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in presentation, "Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English: Pitching high and including all" is solidly recommended for personal, professional, school district, college, and university library English studies collections and supplemental curriculum lists. It should be noted that "Opening Doors to Ambitious Primary English: Pitching high and including all" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $23.70).

Editorial Note #1: Bob Cox (http://crownhousepublishing.com/bob-cox) has taught English for 23 years and is now an independent education consultant, writer and teacher coach who works nationally and internationally to support outstanding learning. Bob also delivers keynotes for national associations, multi-academy trusts and local authorities, as more schools integrate Opening Doors' strategies into their curriculum design.

Editorial Note #2: Leah Crawford (http://leahcrawford.com/opening-doors) has 15 years' experience as a local authority English inspector and adviser, working across both the primary and secondary phases, and now leads the Thinktalk education consultancy. She is an associate tutor on King's College London's Let's Think in English cognitive acceleration programme and also works in support of a European Erasmus project on the assessment of thinking skills.

Editorial Note #3: Angela Jenkins (http://www.angelajenkinsconsulting.com/about) has extensive experience in English education and school improvement having worked as an adviser in three different local authorities and two multi-academy trusts in the last 20 years. As well as providing link adviser support for individual schools she also took strategic responsibility for English and assessment. Recently, Angela has worked as an independent consultant, providing specialist advice and support for the development of exceptional curriculum, pedagogy and assessment both in primary and secondary settings. She is currently co-chair of the National Association of Advisers in English (NAAE).

Editorial Note #4: Julie Sargent (https://www.innovateducation.co.uk/about-me-2) has over 10 years' experience of working across the whole of the primary sector as an English Consultant. This includes developing bespoke CPD for individual schools, multi-academy trusts and local authorities. She has a particular interest in Early Years/KS1 and using high-quality texts to promote and develop all aspects of English.

The Assistant Principal Identity
Baruti K. Kaffle
ASCD
1703 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311-1714
www.ascd.org
9781416632269, $27.95, PB, 124pp

https://www.amazon.com/Assistant-Principal-Identity-Protecting-Authenticity/dp/1416632263

Synopsis: Given the demands placed upon our public schools today, the job of a school leader is more challenging and important than ever. To be effective, administrators need to support their students and staff, but they also need to take care of themselves. With the publication of "The Assistant Principal Identity: Protecting Your Leadership Mindset, Fervor, and Authenticity" by seasoned public education leader Baruti K. Kafele brings this motivational message to the pivotal members of the leadership team who are too often overlooked: assistant principals.

Kafele explains that even as assistant principals gain knowledge and build their leadership identity, their leadership values and skills can be compromised or lost without intentional care. Along with stories from his own years as a transformational school leader, Kafele also offers assistant principals 35 thought-provoking questions for reflection and conversation centered on the idea of protection, from How am I protecting my leadership purpose? to How am I protecting my leadership optimism? and How am I protecting my leadership integrity?

Whether you are a new or experienced assistant principal, "The Assistant Principal Identity: Protecting Your Leadership Mindset, Fervor, and Authenticity" is an insightful and instructional guide will help you hold a mirror up to your own practice and more effectively navigate your powerful role in improving outcomes for students and schools.

Critique: Expertly written, deftly organized, exceptionally comprehensive, impressively well presented, "The Assistant Principal Identity: Protecting Your Leadership Mindset, Fervor, and Authenticity" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, school district, college and university Education Leadership collections and supplemental Education Administration curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that "The Assistant Principal Identity: Protecting Your Leadership Mindset, Fervor, and Authenticity" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $20.49).

Editorial Note: Baruti K. Kafele (www.principalkafele.com) is a highly regarded urban educator in New Jersey for more than 20 years. He has distinguished himself as a master teacher and a transformational school leader. As an elementary school teacher in East Orange, New Jersey, he was named East Orange School District and Essex County Public Schools Teacher of the Year, and he was a finalist for New Jersey State Teacher of the Year. As a middle and high school principal, he led the transformation of four different New Jersey urban schools. He is the author of 13 books, including The Aspiring Principal 50 and his seven ASCD bestsellers: The Assistant Principal 50, Closing the Attitude Gap, The Equity and Social Justice Education 50, Is My School a Better School Because I Lead It?, Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life, The Principal 50, and The Teacher 50.

Elevating Co-teaching with Universal Design for Learning
Elizabeth Stein, EdD
Cast, Inc.
www.cast.org
9781930583986, $34.00, PB 242pp

https://www.amazon.com/Elevating-Co-teaching-Universal-Design-Learning/dp/1930583982

Synopsis: Now in a newly revised and expanded second edition, with the publication of "Elevating Co-Teaching with Universal Design for Learning" by Elizabeth Stein delivers a new structure, additional strategies, updated research, and fine-tuned language to show how best to apply the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and guidelines to co-teaching.

Co-Teaching (the practice of having special education and regular education teachers work together in inclusive classrooms) is a powerful way to ensure that all students have equal access to academic content. The inclusive framework of UDL offers co-teachers structure and guidance in pursuing their goal to create successful learning environments for all students.

How does UDL inform the lesson-planning process? What does UDL look like in the classroom? How do you get buy-in for the UDL approach from administrators, parents, and students themselves? These and other questions are answered in "Elevating Co-teaching with Universal Design for Learning" for anyone interested in co-teaching.

Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, this new second edition of "Elevating Co-teaching with Universal Design for Learning" must be considered essential reading and an invaluable informational resource for traditional classroom teachers who find themselves working with Special Education instructor in a joint school classroom environment. An ideal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, school district, college, and university library Teacher Education collections, and supplemental Special Education/Teacher Certification curriculum studies lists, it should be noted that "Elevating Co-teaching with Universal Design for Learning" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $25.99).

Editorial Note: Elizabeth Stein EdD (https://www.steinelizabeth.com) has been a special education teacher, instructional coach, and educational consultant for more than 30 years, specializing in universal design for learning (UDL) and co-taught inclusive practices. She is an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University, New York. Elizabeth is a renewed National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) in literacy and the author of Two Teachers in the Room: Strategies for Co-teaching Success (Routledge, 2017) and other publications.

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