Changing the Odds for Children at Risk ─ Seven Essential Principles of Educational Programs That Break the Cycle of Poverty

Schools, today, are in the midst of the most major, costly educational reform movement in their history as they grapple with the federal mandates to leave no children behind, says author Susan B. Neuman, former Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education under President George W. Bush. Although some efforts for investing resources will be substantially more productive than others, there is little evidence that, despite many heroic attempts to beat the odds, any of these efforts will close more than a fraction of the differences in achievement for poor minority children and their middleclass peers. As Neuman explains in this insightful, revealing book, schools will fail, not due to the "soft bigotry of low expectations," but because there are multitudes of children growing up in circumstances that make them highly vulnerable. Children who come to school from dramatically unequal circumstances leave school with similarly unequal skills and abilities. In these pages, however, Neuman shows how the odds can be changed, how we can break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage for children at risk After laying the critical groundwork for the need for change--excessive waste with little effect--this book provides a vivid portrait of changing the odds for high-poverty children. Describing how previous reforms have missed the mark, it offers a framework based on seven essential principles for implementing more effective programs and policies.

SUSAN B. NEUMAN is former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, and now a Professor of Educational Studies, specializing in early literacy development, at the University of Michigan. In her role as Assistant Secretary, she established the Reading First program, the Early Reading First program, and was responsible for all activities in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Act. She has directed the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA). She is also a 2008 Leader for the American Library Association National Information Campaign on School Readiness. Neuman has authored more than 100 articles, and authored or edited 11 books, includingEducating the Other America and Multimedia and Literacy Development.