Breaking the Poverty Barrier: Changing Student Lives with Passion, Perseverance, and Performance

Strong leadership, parent involvement, mentoring, data-based intervention, and high expectations are known factors in student success, but what do they really look like in practice—and are they as powerful as research says? This book illustrates the specific strategies and critical steps that transformed a school beset with poverty and shockingly low proficiency into a National Showcase School.

Ricardo LeBlanc-Esparza is a school change coach at the Center for Secondary School Redesign in West Warwick, Rhode Island. With twenty-nine years of experience in high-poverty schools, Ricardo has been an alternative high school principal, high school principal, assistant principal, athletic director, teacher, and coach. When Ricardo began serving as principal of Granger High in the state of Washington, the school had a 30 percent graduation rate and the community had the highest reported crime rate in the region. By developing a team approach that involved parents, students, educators, and the community working toward a common goal, he helped Granger High achieve a 90 percent graduation rate, and the crime rate in the community decreased.

Ricardo was named 2007, 2005, and 2002 Principal of the Year; 1996 Athletic Director of the Year; and 1990 Coach of the Year. He has given dozens of presentations and has written for numerous educational publications.

Ricardo earned bachelor s and master s degrees from Central Washington University.

Will Roulston taught English, Spanish, reading, resource room, drama, and English as a second language (ESL) at high schools and middle schools in Washington and Idaho and developed his background in school turnaround at the Migrant Education Office at Educational Service District 105 in Yakima, Washington. Working to support thirty school districts, he synthesized research and collaborated with administrators, teachers, and others to improve the learning of impoverished and minority students as well as English learners. His projects included elementary and secondary literacy, assessment, English language acquisition, and school leadership. He also presented regionally and nationwide at conferences, and coached and modeled effective instruction in local classrooms.

Will first did consulting work at Granger High School in 1999. Two years later, he went to work there full time as a reading teacher and staff development coach, working alongside Ricardo until 2004. From 2004 to 2009, he took a sabbatical to make a documentary film, DreamRiders, winning awards at film festivals and appearing on television. He has returned to helping schools through his writing, presenting, and consulting.