Resources
Supported
Also in this section
Support students using school and community resources related to
Advisers and Mentors
Nine Powerful Practices. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2008. (web article) In this article, Ruby Payne identifies nine strategies that help raise the achievement of students living in poverty including building relationships of respect, teaching the hidden rules of school, and building relationships with parents.
The Best Schools: How Human Development Research Should Inform Educational Practice. ASCD, 2006. (book, available for purchase, 182 pgs.) This book looks at schools that educate the whole child, meeting their social, emotional, and cognitive needs.
My Teacher Doesn't Like Me! Understanding and Resolving Student-Teacher Conflicts. Education Update, ASCD, 2006. (web article, available for purchase) Teachers who understand why certain students get under their skin can better control their reactions and teach more effectively.
Relationships Matter. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2006. (web article, available for purchase) Research shows that strong teacher-student relationships improve academic achievement.
School Counselors, Social Workers,
and Other Personnel
New Directions for Student Support. Center for Mental Health in Schools, 2007. (PDF, 44 pgs.) The latest in a series of reports to explore the status of organized efforts to provide student supports, this report determines what efforts were being made to move toward developing comprehensive systemic approaches for addressing barriers to learning and teaching.
Conditions for Learning: Teacher Working Conditions as Catalysts for Student Learning. ASCD Infobrief, ASCD, 2005. (web brief) This article suggests how to improve teacher working conditions as a means to help improve retention of quality teachers and increase student achievement.
Personal Learning Plans Link Present to Future. Education Update, ASCD, 2005. (web article, available for purchase) Personal learning plans developed by high school students based on their goals allow for more focused curricular choices and stronger feedback.
This Is Not Your Grandparents' School Counselor. American School Counselor Association, n.d. (web article) Brief description of the role of current school counselors from elementary to high school.
Research
One Dream, Two Realities: Perspectives of Parents on America's High Schools. Civic Enterprises in association with Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2008. (PDF, 23 pgs.) Reports on findings of a survey of parents on parental involvement and other education issues.
Parent Involvement Activities in School Improvement Plans in the Northwest Region. Institute of Education Sciences' National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, 2008. (PDF, 37 pgs.) Although the NCLB Act of 2001 spells out parent involvement requirements for schools in need of improvement, this report finds that the majority of Northwest Region school improvement plans reviewed failed to include such provisions.
Evaluation of the Kansas City CDF Freedom Schools Initiative. Philliber Research Associates, 2008. (PDF, 22 pgs.) A recent study on the Freedom Schools summer program in Kansas City, Mo., for children in Kindergarten through 8th grade found that participants' reading skills and their attitudes toward learning improved during the school year.
Parental Involvement Strongly Impacts Student Achievement. Journal of Human Resources, via Science Daily, 2008. (web article) Using national data from more than 10,000 eighth-grade students in public and private schools, their parents, teachers, and school administrators, a study finds that parental involvement has a strong, positive effect on student achievement.
Facts and Stats
Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K Fiscal Year 2009. Pre-K Now, 2008. (PDF, 28 pgs.) This report tracks legislative action to fund pre-K in the U.S.
Tools
Fundamentals for Student Success in the Middle Grades. National Middle School Association, 2007. (web resource) Free presentation tool that provides an overview of adolescent development, research, and recommendations for middle grades education.
Other Resources
PTA National Standards for Family-School Partnerships Assessment Guide. PTA, 2008.(PDF, 32 pgs.) The PTA's National Standards for Family-School Partnerships offer a framework for how families, schools, and communities should work together to support student success. This assessment guide, or rubric, helps facilitate the implementation of these standards. The guide includes specific goals for each standard, indicators for measuring these goals, and examples for each indicator to show what good practice looks like at different levels of development.
Strengthening Schools by Strengthening Families: Community Strategies to Reverse Chronic Absenteeism in the Early Grades and Improve Supports for Children and Families. Center for New York City Affairs, The New School, 2008. (PDF, 52 pgs.) This report assesses the degree of chronic absenteeism in the early grades in New York City and explores effective school- and community-based counter strategies that might benefit families while improving attendance.
From No Child Left Behind to Every Child a Graduate. Alliance for Excellent Education, 2008. (PDF, 62 pgs.) This report outlines the Alliance for Excellent Education's Framework for Action to Improve Secondary Schools, which reflects the consensus among educators, researchers, policymakers, and other authorities on the specific problems of secondary schools, as well as on the research- and best-practice-supported solutions to those problems. Taken together, the seven policy areas contained within the framework offer a comprehensive and systemic approach to secondary school reform.
Ready to Learn, Empowered to Teach: Guiding Principles for Effective Education. National Association of School Psychologists, 2008. (PDF, 10 pgs.) This document advocates for meeting the needs of the whole child in order to ensure that students of all ages, even those struggling with barriers to learning, are truly ready and able to learn when they come to class. In addition, this document outlines education policy recommendations for the new administration.
Using Early-Warning Data to Improve Graduation Rates: Closing Cracks in the Education System. Alliance for Excellent Education, 2008. (PDF, 14 pgs.) With a national high school graduation rate hovering around 70 percent, far too many of the nation's students are falling through the cracks of the education system and leaving high school without the skills necessary for success in college, work, and life. Anecdotal evidence and national statistics show that educational outcomes for poor and minority children are generally worse than that of their peers.
IES Practice Guide: Dropout Prevention. Institute of Education Sciences' National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, 2008. (PDF, 72 pgs.) A review of the evidence on dropout prevention and suggested strategies for practice.
PTA National Standards for Family-School Partnerships. PTA, 2007. (PDF, 2 pgs.) This short report outlines the benefits of parent, family, and community involvement and include the National PTA's six standards for family-school partnerships. The standards reflect recent research and focus on how parents, schools, and communities can work together to support student success.
Fundamentals for Student Success in the Middle Grades. National Middle School Association, 2007. (web resource) Free presentation tool that provides an overview of adolescent development, research, and recommendations for middle grades education.
Activating the Desire to Learn. ASCD, 2007. (book, available for purchase, 168 pgs.) This book shows teachers where the desire to learn comes from and how they can activate it in students.
Assessment Through The Student's Eyes. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2007. (web article) Rather than sorting students into winners and losers, Rick Stiggins argues that assessment for learning can put all students on a winning streak.
All Together Now: Sharing Responsibility for the Whole Child. Coalition for Community Schools for ASCD, 2006. (PDF, 23 pgs.) This paper discusses strategies policymakers and educators can use to provide a more balanced education for students.
Celebrate Strengths, Nurture Affinities: A Conversation with Mel Levine. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2006. (web article) Dr. Levine discusses how to celebrate strengths and assist students with specialized minds.
Highly Qualified Teachers for All. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2006. (web article, available for purchase) The authors of this article propose a national initiative to improve teacher quality.
Conditions for Learning: Teacher Working Conditions as Catalysts for Student Learning. ASCD Infobrief, ASCD, 2005. (web brief) This article suggests how to improve teacher working conditions as a means to help improve retention of quality teachers and increase student achievement.
The Community Agenda. The challenges our nation faces in educating all of our young people are alarming. Coalition for Community Schools' Community Agenda offers common results and solutions, along with actions that YOU can take to help the youth of our nation.