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

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.

Table of Contents:
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

About the Author :
Dr. Robert Barr has gained national and international recognition for his research on at-risk children and youth, teacher education, and alternative schools. He is a nationally recognized speaker, consultant, and scholar in the areas of at-risk youth, school improvement, and alternative education. He has appeared twice on PBS’s Firing Line, featuring William F. Buckley, been interviewed on ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings and on the Fox News Channel’s The O’Reily Factor. He has been quoted in the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal, served as an expert witness at many state and federal trials, and presented testimony to sub-committees of the U.S. Congress. Previously, Dr. Barr was Professor and Director of Teacher Education at Indiana University (1970 – 1981), Dean of the Oregon State University College of Education (1981 – 1990), Dean of the Boise State University College of Education (1991 – 1998), served for two years as a board member of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, and was appointed by five governors in three states to various commissions. He served as an Idaho delegate to the Education Commissions of the States. He has received three national awards for excellence in teacher education: AACTE, Distinguished Achievement Award; AASA Showcase of Excellence Award; and the Theodore Mitou Award. He is currently a Senior Analyst with the Boise State University Center for School Improvement. Barr has had extensive international experience in Indonesia, China, Japan, Chile, and was a visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. Dr. Barr has worked as a consultant in school districts and Departments of Education in over forty states. Since 1995 he has keynoted over a dozen national conferences and been a featured presenter at the American Association of School Administrators and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development almost every year during the past decade. And, with co-author, William Parrett, the National School Board Association has selected them four times since 1996 for their prestigious Meet the Expert sessions. Barr has been widely published in almost every educational journal and is the author or co-author of eight books. Barr and Parrett have co-authored four books: The Kids Left Behind: Teaching the Underachieving Children of Poverty, in press (2006), Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools: 50 Proven Strategies for Revitalizing At-Risk Students and Low-Performing Schools (Pearson Skylight, 2003); Hope Fulfilled for At-Risk and Violent Youth (Allyn & Bacon, 2001); How to Create Alternative, Magnet and Charter Schools that Work (NES, 1997); and Hope At Last for At-Risk Youth (Allyn & Bacon, 1996). Barr’s editorial, “Who Is This Child,” published by Phi Delta Kappan, February, 1996, was reprinted in French for distribution internationally and was nominated for a national award by the Educational Press Association. Other books authored by Dr. Barr include Alternatives in Education (Phi Delta Kappan, Bicentennial Publication, 1976); Values and Youth (NCSS, 1971); The Nature of the Social Studies (ETC Publications, 1978); and Defining the Social Studies (NCSS, 1978). Defining the Social Studies has been identified as the “single most influential book in the field of social studies.” William H. Parrett is the Director of the Center for School Improvement & Policy Studies and Professor of Education at Boise State University. He has received international recognition for his work in school improvement, small schools, alternative education, and for his efforts to help youth at-risk. His professional experiences include public school and university teaching, curriculum design, principalships and college leadership, media production, research, and publication. Parrett holds a Ph.D. in Secondary Education from Indiana University. Parrett has served on the faculties of Indiana University, the University of Alaska, and Boise State University. As Director of the Boise State University Center for School Improvement & Policy Studies (1996 to present), Parrett coordinates funded projects and reform initiatives which exceed $1.2 annually. His research on reducing achievement gaps and effective schooling practices for youth at risk and low performing schools has gained widespread national recognition. Parrett is the co-author of, The Kids Left Behind: Teaching the Underachieving Children of Poverty, , Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools (2003), Hope Fulfilled for At-Risk & Violent Youth (2001), How to Create Alternative, Magnet, and Charter Schools that Work (1997), Hope at Last for At-Risk Youth (1995), Inventive Teaching: Heart of the Small School (1993), The Inventive Mind: Portraits of Effective Teaching (1991), and numerous contributions to national journals and international and national conferences. Parrett’s media production, Heart of the Country (1998), is a documentary of an extraordinary principal of a village elementary school in Hokkaido, Japan, and the collective passion of the community to educate the heart as well as the mind. Since its release, the production was nominated for the Pare Lorentz Award at the 1999 International Documentary Awards (Los Angeles, CA); has won the Award of Commendation from the American Anthropological Association, a Gold Apple Award for best of category at the National Education Media Network Festival (Oakland, CA), a National CINE Golden Eagle Award (Washington, D.C.), and a Judges’ Award at the 24th Northwest Film Festival (Portland, OR). In addition, Heart of the Country was an invited feature and screened at the Cinema du Reel festival in Paris (1998) and the Margaret Mead Film Festival (1998) in New York City. This work has received critical acclaim for its cinematography and insight into the universal correlates of effective teaching and learning and the power of community participation in public schools. Parrett has also served as visiting faculty at Indiana University, the University of Manitoba, Oregon State University, Hokkaido University of Education (Japan), Nagoya Gakiun (Japan), Gifu University (Japan), and Heilongjiang University (People’s Republic of China). His consultancies include state departments, boards of education, state and regional service providers, and school districts in thirty-five states and ten nations. Throughout his career, Parrett has worked to improve the educational achievement of all children and youth, particularly those less advantaged. Toward this goal, he has authored proposals which have raised over eight million dollars in external funding to create programs and interventions designed to help educators, schools, communities, and universities benefit from research and best practices. These efforts have positively impacted the lives of thousands of young people.

Review :
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." "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!" “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.”