Caring & Engaging Schools: Partnering with Family and Community to Unlock the Potential of High School Students in Poverty: Professional Development G

The Professional Development Guide serves as an invaluable companion to the book Caring & Engaging Schools: Partnering with Family and Community to Unlock the Potential of High School Students in Poverty. The Guide is a tool to help educators engage in learning that supports a strength-based, whole-child education approach characteristic of caring and engaging schools. Study will also promote a teacher's own self-awareness and will include strategies to engage economically disadvantaged high school students (and all students) in learning, as well as support student development and build relationships.The Guide contains learner-centered professional development that comprises engaging exercises and thought-provoking questions, organized around individual reflection and purposeful collaborative problem-solving activities. These are intended to impact instructional practices and interactions with the major stakeholders of the high school ecosystem, empowering educators with the tools to improve student learning and achievement.

Essie B. Hill, Ed.D., is a veteran educator and education advocate who has dedicated her life to the growth and development of youth. A public high school educator for over 20 years, she taught in the South and Midwest in both high-and low-performing schools. Because of her passion for education and academic excellence, Dr. Hill maintains an active role in numerous local and national educational initiatives. These include the promotion of public education legislative priorities (state and local) and partnering globally with various organizations to promote the educational development of children in poverty. Her certifications across several states include teaching and administration, in addition to life, leadership, and talent management coaching. She holds a Master's in Educational Administration from Northeastern Illinois University and a Doctorate of Education in Instructional Leadership from Argosy University. Dr. Hill maintains that education is transformative as a means to close gaps in both achievement and socioemotional well-being. She also sees major implications for national and global economies. Her beliefs stem from her own direct experience: At several points during the first 23 years of her life, she lived near, at, or below the federal poverty level. She is part of the first generation in her family to attend college, and strongly identifies with the struggles of today's economically impoverished students. She attributes her own successful emergence from poverty to positive school experiences, exposure to new resources and opportunities, and the immeasurable gift of caring and supportive relationships. Her own life, together with the struggles of her high school students, prompted the research that led her to the Caring & Engaging Schools model described in this book. Dr. Hill is president and founder of Actuate Development Company in the Dallas/Fort Worth Texas area, where she offers coaching and other training services focusing on education, leadership, and workforce/workplace issues.