Failure Is Not an Option: 6 Principles for Making Student Success the ONLY Option (second edition)

For our children, for our future: failure is never an option!

How did a tough, "D" school in Brooklyn that was about to be closed down become an "A" school in less than 3 years? How did a large school district in the Midwest use data to drive effective school improvement that led 15 of their 88 schools to make AYP for the first time? How are entire nations like Finland ensuring smooth leadership transition and capacity to sustain student success?

Five years, 200,000 readers, and one national award after Failure Is Not an Option^® was first published, Alan M. Blankstein has documented how educators have closed gaps, turned schools around, and sustained overall success. With contributions from Pedro A. Noguera, Andy Hargreaves, and Dean Fink, this book outlines the who, what, and how of becoming a high-performing school and learning community, shows how to avoid ten common routes to failure, provides double the resources, includes many new case stories and examples, and offers new emphasis on:

• Diversity
• Assessment for learning
• Intervention and support for students at risk
• Schooling as a community endeavor involving families

The second edition of Failure Is Not an Option^® tells more than the story—it gives all the specifics, the tools, the insights, and the processes that others have used to ensure that success is the ONLY option!

The Soul of Educational Leadership Book Series

Edited by Alan Blankstein, robert Cole and Paul Houston, “The Soul of Educational Leadership” series provides the reader with best practices and research on some of the most pressing issues facing practitioners.

• Engaging Every Learner
• Out-of-the-Box Leadership
• Spirituality in Educational Leadership
• Sustaining Professional Learning Communities
• Building Sustainable Leadership Capacity
• Leaders as Communicators and Diplomats
• Data-Enhanced Leadership
• Leadership for Family and Community Involvement

 

Our highly acclaimed series of development programs and DVDs provide a complete kit for understanding and creating high-performing schools where students are not able to fall through the cracks. These DVDs demonstrate the “How To’s” of building your team, dealing with conflict, focusing on teaching and learning, using data to drive decision making and fully engaging staff and students.

Creating Equity and Excellence for All Learners through Differentiated Instruction

Incorporate the latest differentiated instruction strategies to engage all learners and increase buy-in with the research-based Creating Equity and Excellence for All Learners through Differentiated Instruction DVD featuring expert commentary from Carol Tomlinson, Jay McTighe and many more.

This 4th Volume in the Failure Is Not an Option^® DVD series provides practical tools and strategies to:

• Lead, rather than manage, a differentiated classroom
• Engage students and achieve results in understanding of essential content
• Chart students' learning of essential knowledge, understanding, and skills
• Support a full range of students in taking the risk of learning

 

Effective Assesment for Effective Learning

Specifically, this series is divided into three parts - Diagnostic, Formative and Summative Assessments.

Demonstrates how to:

• Use summative assessments to frame meaningful performance goals (and three common errors in doing this!)
• Best develop and use diagnostics before the teaching even begins
• Offer appropriate choices for students to demonstrate their learning
• Provide constructive feedback that is motivational and enhances learning
• Encourage student assessment and goal-setting
• Make grading meaningful and fair so as to keep students learning and engaged