Failure Is Not an Option : 6 Principles for Making Student Success the Only Option

        

"An overwhelming body of research shows that educational change and improvement must come from the inside. Here is a practical road map for improving the climate and culture of schools in ways that are meaningful and enduring. We must be open to new ideas, new strategies, and new opportunities. School transformation is something you do with educators, not to them. This book will show you how."
―Dennis Van Roekel, President
National Education Association

"Educational books that engage both head and heart are rare. This is one of those exceptions: an authentic and powerful call to action, written in an accessible and utterly compelling way. It reminds us that school failure is not a given, that there are ways to make a difference for all young people in all settings, and that education is more than test scores or grades. Ultimately we are shaping individual futures and life chances. For that alone, this resource should be on every educator′s bookshelf."
―Alma Harris, Professor
University of London

"Alan Blankstein′s book is grounded in moral purpose, offers hope through many real-life examples showing that that purpose can be realized, and inspires courage among educators to do all that is necessary to create schools in which both students and adults thrive."
―Dennis Sparks
Thinking Partners

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!

Award-winning author and educational leader, Alan Blankstein served for 25 years as President of the HOPE Foundation, which he founded and whose honorary chair is Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A former “high-risk” youth, Alan began his career in education as a music teacher. He worked for Phi Delta Kappa, March of Dimes, and Solution Tree, which he founded in 1987 and directed for 12 years while launching Professional Learning Communities beginning in the late 1980s. He is the author of the best-selling book Failure Is Not an Option®: Six Principles That Guide Student Achievement in High-Performing Schools, which received the Book of the Year award from Learning Forward. Alan is Senior Editor, lead contributor, and/or author of 18 books, including Excellence Through Equity with Pedro Noguera,.  He also authored some 20 articles in leading education print including Education Week, Educational Leadership, The Principal, and Executive Educator. Alan has provided keynote presentations and workshops for virtually every major U.S. Ed Org, and throughout the UK, Africa, and the Middle East.  Alan has served on the Harvard International Principals Centers advisory board, and the Jewish Child Care Agency, where he once was a youth in residence.