Reaching and Teaching All Children

Grassroots Efforts That Work

"An excellent and practical treatise on revitalizing learning in our schools. I highly reccommend its innovative and collaborative approach to education." Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D., Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School "Provoking us to ponder, the authors dare evoke values and moral imperatives as critical to the process of education. Flowing throughout the book is the mantra of inclusivity; children, families, teachers, and communities together in meeting the challenge of school change. It is a beacon of hope for public schools in America." Wendy G. Winters, Professor of Sociology, Howard University, Washington D.C. "The approach in this book makes sense to teachers, parents, and others who seek to improve conditions for learning and desire to increase student achievement." Ramon C. Cortines, Executive Director, PEW Network for Standards-Based Reform, Stanford Editors: Robert L. Sinclair, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Ward J. Ghory, Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, Cambridge, Massachusetts How can educators reach all children? Is every child teachable? These are the questions explored here. The chapter authors offer up a challenge for American educators to: * Establish a climate of trust where students are free of censure or ridicule * Raise educational expectations for (and of) of every student * Start each student on a lifelong path of continuous learning * Remove educational limits set by society--and let students achieve their real potential This book introduces the findings of the National Coalition for Equality in Learning. It involves more than 60 schools in 7 states, and was created to attack learning inequities that persist in public education. The National Coalition's 5-year mission: to make sure that every student gets an equal chance to learn. Reaching and Teaching All Children offers these four key democratic values as educational basics: * Education as a moral imperative * Respect for individuals * Pragmatic problem solving * Local decision making The chapter authors view your leadership skills as critical to improving your school. Learn how to engage your staff in working together for schoolwide improvement. Find out how to channel teachers' powerful leadership abilities and build effective "study teams" to solve even the toughest school or student problems. These school leadership ideas can help you create lasting, meaningful change in your school and in your classrooms. What you learn can mean the difference between status quo at your school and reaching--and teaching--all children.