Changing the Odds for Children at Risk

Seven Essential Principles of Educational Programs that Break the Cycle of Poverty

Susan B. Neuman

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9780313362224
• eBook ISBN: 9780313362231
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

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. Building on successes while being fiscally responsible is a message that has been shown to have wide bipartisan appeal, embraced by both liberals and conservatives. Following Neuman's essential principles, chapters describe programs for changing the odds for children, when the cognitive gaps are beginning to form, in these earliest years of their lives. In a highly readable style, Neuman highlights programs that are making a difference in children's lives across the country, weaving together narratives that tell a compelling story of hope and promise for our most disadvantaged children.

Table of contents

• Cover
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• 1 The Critical Early Years for Changing the Odds
• 2 Changing the Odds by Funding What Works
• 3 The Seven Essentials for Changing the Odds
• 4 Changing the Odds by Helping to Strengthen Families
• 5 Changing the Odds through High-Quality Early Care and Education
• 6 Changing the Odds through Community-Based Programs
• 7 Changing the Odds through After-School Programs
• 8 The Public Will: What It Will Take to Change the Odds
• Appendix 1: Where to Get Evidence
• Appendix 2: The Maze of Federal Programs that Provide or
• Support Education and Care for Children under Five Years Old Appendix 3: PART Scores for Department of Education Programs
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index