Promoting School Success

Educating dual language learners (DLLs) and English learners (ELs) effectively is a national challenge with consequences both for individuals and for American society. Despite their linguistic, cognitive, and social potential, many ELsâ€"who account for more than 9 percent of enrollment in grades K-12 in U.S. schoolsâ€"are struggling to meet the requirements for academic success, and their prospects for success in postsecondary education and in the workforce are jeopardized as a result. Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures examines how evidence based on research relevant to the development of DLLs/ELs from birth to age 21 can inform education and health policies and related practices that can result in better educational outcomes. This report makes recommendations for policy, practice, and research and data collection focused on addressing the challenges in caring for and educating DLLs/ELs from birth to grade 12.

There is increasing evidence that health and academic success go hand in hand. Now educators and health professionals have a new model—the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) approach—to use in promoting health and learning in the schools. This new approach, developed by leaders in education and health, is a transition from the coordinated school health (CSH) model that was introduced in 1987. Promoting Health and Academic Success is a new resource for the transition from CSH to WSCC. Written by national leaders in education and school health, some of whom were involved in the development of WSCC, this book provides direction for education and school health professionals interested in promoting student health. It is valuable for individuals and groups interested in advocating for WSCC and for those engaged in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of this new approach. The book also is a resource for both undergraduate and graduate students in courses that address a coordinated approach to school health. Each chapter includes application activities that engage students in translating their learning in the context of WSCC simulations. In addition, the School Health in Action feature provides case studies that demonstrate the impact school health programs are having in schools across the United States. Applicable to both students and professionals, Promoting Health and Academic Success includes an appendix that presents a thorough guide to using school health assessment tools created by organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the National Association of State Boards of Education. Following is a partial listing of the tools: • The School Health Index helps schools improve health and safety policies. • The State Schools Health Policy Database facilitates sharing of policies across states. • The Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool encourages children to adopt and maintain health-enhancing behaviors. • The Physical Education Curriculum Analysis Tool assists schools in analyzing their curricula and comparing it to national physical education standards. • A Parent Engagement tool shares strategies for involving parents in school health. The book is presented in five parts. Part I unveils the new WSCC model, explains its components, and provides a historical overview of coordinated school health. Part II offers insights into the Whole Child initiative and examines the evidence linking health and academic success. Part III explores the crucial role of school administration in ensuring success, ways to meet the diverse needs of students and their families, and methods for getting the community involved. Part IV delves into planning, implementation, and evaluation aspects of WSCC. Part V looks to the future for WSCC and provides perspectives from the field. The appendix supplies the assessment instruments and tools.

Although communication between parents and teachers has long been considered a key ingredient in children's academic success, few books have addressed actual methods for establishing effective interactions between home and school. This volume fills that void by providing practitioners with a detailed, comprehensive program that enables parents and teachers to work together to remediate children's classroom behavior problems. SCHOOL-HOME NOTES describes common obstacles to parent and teacher communication and clearly explicates how these obstacles can be overcome. It provides a critical appraisal of the relevant literature on parent- and teacher-managed contingency systems and factors influencing the efficacy of the procedure. The book offers a practical, comprehensive guide for assessing children's functioning in both school and home environments; for determining when school-home contingency systems are appropriate; and for ascertaining when they should be used alone or in combination with other interventions. The majority of the volume describes how to design and implement an effective school-home note procedure--from introducing the idea to parents and teachers to evaluating program effectiveness. It describes how to select workable, socially relevant target behaviors and generate performance contracts between parents, teachers, and students. It also gives examples of the specific roles each plays in the program. Each step of the procedure is detailed in an easy-to-read manner. Numerous examples are offered throughout and extensive case illustrations are presented at the end of the volume. In addition to providing narrative information on developing and using school-home notes, a special feature of the book is the inclusion of numerous sample handouts and guides, as well as tables that highlight clinical applications. Offering concrete guidelines, this volume is an invaluable resource for school psychologists and other practitioners working to improve children's academic performance and classroom behavior. Guidance counselors, principals, and special educators will find the book extremely helpful in achieving constructive communication between home and school, and it also offers much of value for clinical psychologists and behavior therapists working with children.

Designed for busy teachers and other school-based professionals, this book presents step-by-step guidelines for implementing seven highly effective strategies to improve classroom management and instructional delivery. These key low-intensity strategies are grounded in the principles of positive behavior intervention and support (PBIS), and are easy to integrate into routine teaching practice. Chapters discuss exactly how to use each strategy to decrease disruptive behavior and enhance student engagement and achievement. Checklists for success are provided, together with concise reviews of the evidence base and ways to measure outcomes. Illustrative case examples span the full K-12 grade range. Reproducible intervention tools can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. See also Managing Challenging Behaviors in Schools, by Kathleen Lynn Lane et al., which shows how these key strategies fit into a broader framework of prevention and intervention.

Promoting Health and Academic Success is a valuable resource for advocacy, planning, implementation, and evaluation related to the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child approach. It’s also ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses that address a coordinated approach to school health.

Lately, our nation's strategy for improving our schools is mostly limited to "getting tough" with teachers. Blaming teachers for poor outcomes, we spend almost all of our energy trying to control teachers' behavior and school operations. But what if all of this is exactly the opposite of what is needed? What if teachers are the answer and not the problem? What if trusting teachers, and not controlling them, is the key to school success? Examining the experiences of teachers who are already trusted to call the shots, this book answers: What would teachers do if they had the autonomy not just to make classroom decisions, but to collectively--with their colleagues--make the decisions influencing whole school success? Decisions such as school curriculum, how to allocate the school budget, and whom to hire. Teachers with decision-making authority create the schools that many of us profess to want. They individualize learning. Their students are active (not passive) learners who gain academic and life skills. The teachers create school cultures that are the same as those in high-performing organizations. They accept accountability and innovate, and make efficient use of resources. These promising results suggest: it's time to trust teachers.

"Everything you need to succeed with parents, community leaders, employees, and more can be found in this book. Moore′s lifetime experience comes through with clear, no-nonsense ideas and insights that those working in schools can put to work right away." —William J. Banach, CEO Banach, Banach & Cassidy An on-the-job public relations and communications partner for everyone working in schools! As school public relations efforts play an increasingly vital role in helping students achieve and schools succeed, the communications expectations placed on school leaders at all levels continue to soar. Now this field-based reference offers educational leaders practical advice and specific tips for meeting the tough new communication demands they face daily. Ideal for both long-range planning and day-to-day basics, this guide helps leaders define and organize their school′s PR plan. The book offers step-by-step guidance on creating and applying communication tactics that work—from how to generate community support to managing crises, stopping rumors, handling media inquiries, dealing with critics, and much more. Emphasizing the PR responsibilities of all school employees, the author: Outlines the key components of successful communications programs Covers how to set reasonable expectations for communications efforts Provides questions for assessing PR needs, guidelines for judging what′s working and what′s not, and an abundance of checklists Offers interview advice from professionals in the field Educational leaders will consult this comprehensive resource again and again as they plan and implement public relations activities to support student and school success!

Featuring an evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral framework for delivering collaborative consultation in K-12 schools, this new book promotes the idea of equitable educational opportunities for all students. Strategies for promoting non-cognitive skills in students, career and college readiness, and optimal learning environments along with the general theories of consultation are presented. This book advocates for student support services personnel to work in concert with teachers, parents, and administrators to promote student success and social justice. Key Features: Offers an evidence-based model for school consultation that focuses on supporting student success in academic, social-emotional, and college/career readiness domains. Demonstrates how to apply effective rational emotive-social behavioral (RE-SB) consultation when working with teachers, parents, and administrators to maximize student success for all. Transcripts of consultation sessions with teachers, parents, and administrators provide examples of what it is like to work in the field. Advocates for collaborative, data-driven efforts among student support services professionals. Reviews the history, roles and practices of school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers. Presents the SUCCESS-FOR-ALL model which helps school consultants devise intentional solutions that advance social justice and meet the instructional needs of all students. Chapter introductions, learning objectives, cases, summaries, review questions and suggested readings guide the reader through each chapter. Intended for graduate courses on school consultation or counseling, school interventions, or for use in field placement courses, practicums, or internships taught in school psychology, school counseling, or social work, this book is ideal for current and future practitioners who aim to promote student success through evidence-based consultation.

The key to success, our culture tells us, is a combination of talent and hard work. Why then, do high schools that supposedly subscribe to this view send students to college at such dramatically different rates? Why do students from one school succeed while students from another struggle? To the usual answer—an imbalance in resources—this book adds a far more subtle and complicated explanation. Defining Student Success shows how different schools foster dissimilar and sometimes conflicting ideas about what it takes to succeed—ideas that do more to preserve the status quo than to promote upward mobility. Lisa Nunn’s study of three public high schools reveals how students’ beliefs about their own success are shaped by their particular school environment and reinforced by curriculum and teaching practices. While American culture broadly defines success as a product of hard work or talent (at school, intelligence is the talent that matters most), Nunn shows that each school refines and adapts this American cultural wisdom in its own distinct way—reflecting the sensibilities and concerns of the people who inhabit each school. While one school fosters the belief that effort is all it takes to succeed, another fosters the belief that hard work will only get you so far because you have to be smart enough to master course concepts. Ultimately, Nunn argues that these school-level adaptations of cultural ideas about success become invisible advantages and disadvantages for students’ college-going futures. Some schools’ definitions of success match seamlessly with elite college admissions’ definition of the ideal college applicant, while others more closely align with the expectations of middle or low-tier institutions of higher education. With its insights into the transmission of ideas of success from society to school to student, this provocative work should prompt a reevaluation of the culture of secondary education. Only with a thorough understanding of this process will we ever find more consistent means of inculcating success, by any measure.