Building the Resilient School: Overcoming the Effects of Poverty With a Culture of Hope; a Guide to Building Resilient Schools and Overcoming the Effects of Poverty

Overcome the effects of poverty in the 21st century by embracing an innovative new vision of public schooling. With the guidance of this practical, research-driven resource, you will discover a model for building resilient schools that helps students work through their emotional and mental health needs, connect with caring adults, and find purpose for their lives.

Use this resource to embrace the whole child and address students social-emotional needs:

• Study the widespread poverty that currently exists in the United States.
• Understand the ways poverty traumatizes students, impedes their mental development, and damages and interferes with their ability to learn.
• Become familiar with secondary trauma and the ways educators can be traumatized by the compassion fatigue of working in communities that experience high rates of poverty.
• Learn how the effects of poverty can be mitigated through the development of resiliency in students, which can lead to decreased absenteeism and increased learning.
• Explore the four cornerstones of resilient schools.
• Discover the importance of resilient schools in overcoming the effects of poverty and supporting students and students families who are experiencing poverty.

Contents:
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
About the Authors
Introduction Poverty: Our Greatest Challenge
Part I Understanding Poverty
Chapter 1 Poverty: On the Outskirts of Hope
Chapter 2 An Invisible Barrier: The Impacts of Poverty on Teaching and Learning
Chapter 3 An Unanticipated Challenge: The Detrimental Impacts of Poverty on School Staff
Part II Introducing the Resilient School
Chapter 4 The Research: Resilient Students and Resilient Schools
Chapter 5 Pillar 1: Addressing Students Academic and Cognitive Needs
Chapter 6 Pillar 2: Addressing Students Social-Emotional Needs
Chapter 7 Pillar 3: Meeting the Human Needs of Students and Families
Chapter 8 Pillar 4: Considering the Relational and Professional Needs of Staff
Chapter 9 Conclusion: A Personal Note and a Vision for Resilient Schools
Appendix
References and Resources
Index

Robert D. Barr, PhD, is recognized as one of the leading experts in the United States on reaching and teaching children of poverty and minority students and helping high-poverty schools become high-performing ones. He is an educator, speaker, author, and emeritus analyst with the Boise State University Center for School Improvement. Dr. Barr has keynoted hundreds of state, regional, national, and international conferences and has provided workshops for schools, school districts, and state departments of education in every area of the United States.

Escaping poverty and realizing the American Dream are a part of Dr. Barr's personal story. His grandparents were migrant workers, and the overriding values of his family were hard work, thrift, and the abiding belief that if you kept at it, life would get better. When he was in the fifth grade, he cashed in his school banking account so the family could use the $48.00 to buy a mule. Through hard work and sacrifice, his parents saved enough to buy an acre of land, then eight acres, and finally, their dream, a 150-acre ranch in the cedar breaks and rolling hills of Glen Rose, Texas. His parents found their American dream through sacrifice and hard work; Dr. Barr found his through education.

Dr. Barr has been selected for the National School Boards Association's prestigious Meet the Expert sessions at their national conferences twelve times and has received three national awards for distinguished achievement. He has been a guest on the PBS program Firing Line, ABC World News, the Fox television show The O'Reilly Factor, and has been quoted in the New York Times, USA TODAY, and the Wall Street Journal.

Emily L. Gibson EdD, has worked in rural, high-poverty schools since she began teaching in 1992. Her research interests include educating children of poverty, equity and access to quality education, differentiated instruction, school improvement, writing instruction, and classroom and school community. A fellow of the National Writing Project, since 1997 Dr. Gibson has provided regular professional development in writing instruction for K 12 teachers as a teacher-consultant with the Redwood Writing Project. In 2002, she started Blue Heron Middle School, a charter school learning center for students in grades 6 8 who were struggling to find success in more traditional middle-school settings. Dr. Gibson currently serves as an instructional coach in high-poverty schools in California.

Raised primarily by a single mom with health issues, Dr. Gibson grew up on welfare, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and Medi-Cal, yet her childhood home was filled with laughter, creativity, and a passion for learning. But school was not a place where she felt belonging, hope, or safety. Instead, she experienced bullying and the social stigma that came with being a low-income child. She made it through high school only with the help of a biology teacher who called her Dr. Gibson and her equine friends at a stable down the road, who taught her about hard work, responsibility, and love. During her high school years, she mucked stalls, carried feed, brushed horses, cleaned tack, and rode in the Pacific Coast rain. Working two jobs, she put herself through college.

Dr. Gibson's doctoral work focused on parent and student perceptions of differentiated instruction and charter schools. She has also earned a second BA in psychology and an MA in education with an emphasis on differentiation, brain-based instruction, and parent involvement.