Item of Interest: The Make or Break Year (Emily Krone Phillips)

This weeks item of interest is the book, The Make or Break Year: Solving the Dropout Crisis One Ninth Grader at a Time" by Emily Krone Phillips. In the past few decades students in CPS schools were just as likely to dropout as they were to graduate.This book follows the implementation of Freshman On-Track, an approach to education to address the dropout issues in school. The book follows the research provided by CPS schools in navigating effective intervention to meet freshman students' needs. Furthermore, the implementation of these effective interventions found to positively impact student graduation rates. As I read this book I am choosing to take a critical perspective as the book presents the solution to dropout rates as a series of "simple" solutions. Knowing that academic achievement can be rooted in socio-economic status, race, ethnicity and other factors I am interested to know how accurate the solutions presented in this book are to sustainable and effective change.
Emily Krone Phillips Book Reading

Amazon Link to Book

LGBTQ Inclusive Schools

http://www.welcomingschools.org/.  

Welcoming Schools is a website that provides resources for a LGBTQ and gender inclusive school. There is professional development training that they provide to elementary school educators around prevention of bias based bullying, being inclusive in schools and support of Transgender and non binary students.  They also provide resources for those working at a school.

This website provides tips for having an inclusive classroom.  For example, what could that look like and what conversations could be helpful.  They also include ideas of how to respond when a student says harmful things like, "that's so gay".  In addition, they discuss how to initiate these conversations with students who use hurtful language about gender and they give sample responses.  It gives ideas on how to navigate these conversations, which can be difficult, especially with younger students.

There are lessons on how to create an inclusive school and also how to prevent bias bullying.  Also, they mention how books can be a great tool for teaching students to be inclusive and there are lesson plans for the books. 

The HRC Welcoming Schools approach is firmly grounded in research and they also have a case study of the program’s efficacy with 12 schools.  There are numerous videos showing these lessons and the purpose of welcoming schools. This is great resource to have guidance in creating a dialogue with students and a positive environment at your school about being inclusive. It provides support in knowing how to address questions and conflict that come up in schools in order to have a safer and more welcoming school environment.