NEW
BOOK ADDRESSES ISSUES RAISED IN ‘LEAVE NO CHILD BEHIND’ ACT
When two Boise State University education professors
began writing a book about ways to help at-risk students, they had no way
of knowing that Congress would soon enact the Leave No Child Behind Act
— the landmark 2001 bill that requires that all students be tested for
adequate yearly progress toward academic proficiency levels established by
each state, and that schools be held accountable for the results.
But that new legislation, and the subsequent flurry
by school districts across the United States to implement new testing
standards, has brought new urgency and relevance to the publication of Saving
Our Students, Saving Our Schools: 50 Proven Strategies for Revitalizing
At-Risk Students and Low-Performing Schools, by Robert Barr and
William Parrett (Pearson Skylight, 2003).
Backed by the latest research findings and filled
with the voices of students, teachers and administrators, Saving Our
Students, Saving Our Schools provides practical, specific ways to
address the challenges of helping at-risk students succeed.
"This is the most pressing issue in American
public education," said Barr, a national consultant on at-risk youth,
school improvement and alternative education, and the author of a number
of books. "We can always educate the top 20 or 30 percent of our
students who will go on to college. The challenge for schools across the
country is educating the remaining 70 percent."
This vast pool of underachieving students is capable
of academic success, added Parrett, director of Boise State’s Center for
School Improvement and Policy Studies, and a national education consultant
and author. "The extensive research conducted over the past 15 years
is very clear about this," Parrett said. "There are schools and
models and interventions that do work."
The key, according to Barr and Parrett, is to get
information about these successful approaches into the hands of teachers.
With that goal in mind, the two Boise State professors pored through
literally hundreds of research studies that provided a wealth of data
about school effectiveness and at-risk youth. They sought insights from
teachers and administrators they encountered while speaking at education
conferences and workshops across the country. Then they sat down to
distill and synthesize what amounted to a mountain of material into text
for their new book.
Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools
brims with comprehensive information and user friendly ways to implement
effective strategies in schools. For example, a chapter on "Educating
Poor and Culturally Diverse Students" includes data on the number of
children in poverty in the United States (40 percent of Native American
children, 13.5 percent of white children), why the term
"minority" is becoming inaccurate, and a summary of new research
that unequivocally shows that poor students can learn and achieve
acceptable academic standards.
Against that backdrop, the authors then describe
five strategies. Under Strategy #5, "Connect Culturally for Effective
Teaching and Learning," the authors describe concepts of cooperative
learning, talent development and multiple intelligences, summarize the
latest research, list action items such as creating partnerships with
parents and community leaders, and list supplemental reading. They also
include comments from students and educators and "unconventional
wisdom" from experienced teachers, including a comment from a
Rochester, N.Y. teacher about how offering multiple graduation options had
helped at-risk students succeed.
That format is repeated in chapters that range from
"Teach All Students to Read" to "Create a Climate of
Respect in Schools and Classrooms." Separate sections of the book
discuss what it means to accept the challenge to teach all students, and
summoning the will and determination to leave no child behind.
Barr and Parrett say they hope their book will help
educators across the nation implement new successful teaching methods,
especially in light of the new Leave No Child Behind Act that for the
first time holds public schools accountable for the academic performance
of their students. They have co-authored several earlier books including Hope
At Last for At-Risk and Violent Youth (Allyn and Bacon, 2001) and How
to Create Alternative, Magnet, and Charter Schools that Work (National
Educational Service, 1997).
More information on Saving our Students, Saving
Our Schools can be found on the Web at www.skylightedu.com
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Contact
Robert Barr
Education
208 426-3257
rbarr@boisestate.edu
William Parrett
Education
208 426-4343
wparret@boisestate.edu
Media contact
Janelle Brown
communications and marketing
208 426-1790
jbrown2@boisestate.edu
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