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Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools
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Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools
50 Proven Strategies for Helping Underachieving Students and Improving Schools

Second Edition
Edited by:


October 2007 | 432 pages | Corwin

Praise for the First Edition:

"Barr and Parrett have provided educators, policy makers, and parents with an outstanding resource. If you're serious about leaving no child behind, this is the one book you need to read."
—Bill Scott, Executive Director
Kentucky School Boards Association

Praise for the Second Edition:

"We now have the tools to ensure that all our students are successful—what a glorious time for schools, thanks to Robert Barr and William Parrett!"
—Nancy Golden, Superintendent
Springfield Public Schools, OR

Improve achievement for all students with winning strategies that respond to NCLB requirements!

Demonstrating that both struggling students and low-performing schools can show dramatic improvement, the authors provide lessons learned from experienced teachers to help educators effectively instruct students who are disadvantaged, culturally diverse, or who may be at risk. Featuring the voices of students, teachers, and administrators, this field-tested guide reviews NCLB mandates and encourages educators to:

  • Establish priorities that focus on student learning
  • Create a school and classroom climate of respect
  • Maintain high expectations for academic performance
  • Rely on results-driven instructional and assessment practices
  • Collaborate with parents and families

Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools, Second Edition, is a valuable resource for educators who want to ensure positive school change and support academic success for their students.


 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Part I. Accept the Challenge to Teach All Students
 
1. Confront the Challenges
Our Schools Have Changed

 
Who Are the At-Risk Students?

 
Compelling Conclusions

 
 
2. How Schools Fail Students and Manufacture Low Performance
Destructive School Policies, Programs, and Practices

 
The Myths That Perpetuate Ineffective Practices

 
 
3. Establish the Commitment to Educate Children and Youth at Risk
Take a Stand

 
Lessons Learned

 
Low-Performing Schools Can Improve

 
 
Part II. 50 Proven Strategies for Schools and Classrooms
 
4. Understand the At-Risk Student
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #1: Recognize That Any Student May Become At Risk

 
Strategy #2: Predict Youth Behavior Based on Developmental Assets

 
Strategy #3: Appreciate the Resilient Student

 
Strategy #4: Address the Differences Between Boys and Girls

 
 
5. Educate Poor and Culturally Diverse Students
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #5: Connect Culturally for Effective Teaching and Learning

 
Strategy #6: Work With the Externally Centered Student

 
Strategy #7: Understand the Problems of Low-Income Students

 
Strategy #8: Eliminate Ineffective and Destructive Interventions

 
Strategy #9: Use Effective Programs for Teaching Low-Income Students

 
 
6. Establish Priorities That Focus on Student Learning
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #10: Develop a Comprehensive Plan

 
Strategy #11: Build a Profile by Collecting and Using Data

 
Strategy #12: Set Goals, Targets, and Timelines

 
Strategy #13: Create Time for Collaboration, Planning, and Development

 
Strategy #14: Facilitate Continuous Improvement: The Critical Importance of Results-Driven Leadership

 
 
7. Collaborate With Parents and Families
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #15: Encourage Parent and Family Engagement

 
Strategy #16: Build Effective Partnerships Among Families, Schools, and the Community

 
 
8. Create Caring Classrooms, Schools, and Communities of Support
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #17: Create a Community of Support

 
Strategy #18: Create a Common Vision

 
Strategy #19: Establish Alternative Schools

 
Strategy #20: Develop Small Schools and Schools-Within-Schools

 
Strategy #21: Provide Effective Transitions

 
 
9. Create a Climate of Respect in Schools and Classrooms
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #22: Recognize Early Warning Signs

 
Strategy #23: Bully-Proof Classrooms and Schools

 
Strategy #24: Create Reentry Opportunities for Expelled Students

 
 
10. Expect High Academic Performance
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #25: Motivate Students

 
Strategy #26: Teach to Multiple Intelligences

 
Strategy #27: Confront Tracking and Retention Practices

 
Strategy #28: Initiate Targeted Professional Development

 
Strategy #29: Create Career-Theme Schools and High School Academic Majors

 
Strategy #30: Help At-Risk Students Pass High-Stakes Tests

 
 
11. Teach All Students to Read
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #31: Guarantee That Every Child Learns to Read

 
Strategy #32: Implement Effective Literacy Practices and Programs K-12

 
Strategy #33: Employ One-on-One Tutoring

 
Strategy #34: Start Early

 
Strategy #35: Redesign Grades K-3

 
Strategy #36: Continuously Assess Reading Progress

 
 
12. Select Results-Driven Instructional and Assessment Practices
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #37: Personalize Instruction

 
Strategy #38: Recognize the Critical Importance of an Aligned Curriculum

 
Strategy #39: Select Research-Based Instructional Practices

 
Strategy #40: Use Homework Effectively

 
Strategy #41: Require Student Portfolios, Projects, and Performance Exhibitions

 
Strategy #42: Incorporate Technology Across the Curriculum

 
Strategy #43: Create Assessment-Literate Classrooms

 
 
13. Support Social and Emotional Growth
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #44: Create Student Mentoring Programs

 
Strategy #45: Establish Service Learning Programs

 
Strategy #46: Teach Peer Mediation

 
Strategy #47: Build Self-Esteem and Respect Through Student Leadership

 
 
14. Use Community Resources and Services
Unconventional Wisdom: What Works for Experienced Teachers

 
Strategy #48: Embrace the Community as a Classroom

 
Strategy #49: Develop Communitywide, Extended-Day Programs

 
Strategy #50: Become a Full-Service School

 
 
Part III. Summon the Will to Leave No Child Behind
 
15. The Inalienable Right to a Quality Education
With Liberty and Justice for Some?

 
The Emergent National Consensus: No Child Left Behind

 
Breaking Free From Ignorance

 
The Fifty Strategies

 
 
50 Strategies Suggested Reading
 
References
 
Index

Praise for the first edition: "Barr and Parrett have provided educators, policy makers, and parents with an outstanding resource. If you’re serious about leaving no child behind, this is one book you need to read."

Bill Scott, Executive Director
Kentucky School Boards Association

"I always knew that all students could meet or exceed standards if we articulated the research-based practices that worked. This is exactly what the authors have done. We now have the tools to ensure all our students are successful—what a glorious time for schools, thanks to Robert Barr and William Parrett!"

Nancy Golden, Superintendent
Springfield Public Schools, OR

“Lives up to its title with 50 experience-tested recommendations. Though especially recommended for educators serving in America’s most troubled schools, this book is filled cover to cover with tips, tricks, techniques, and recommendations that even those most successful schools will find useful.”

The Bookwatch, May 2008
Midwest Book Review

I have decided to use this text in my class as resource and reference to provide students aspiring to become teachers, understand different strategies that could be of assistance when working with at risk students. This text contains great information and strategies that is useful for all the students to learn.

Mrs Cordelia Hayden
College Of Education, University of Phoenix - Phoenix
February 5, 2013
Key features
  • 50 researched and proven strategies for raising student achievement and revitalizing schools;
  • Interviews and conversations collected throughout from experienced teachers;
  • Contents of the book frame and challenge the effectiveness of No Child Left Behind.

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