Community Schools

Learn about community helpers at school.

In School Communities of Strength, Peter W. Cookson, Jr., lays out a blueprint for providing equitable educational opportunities for students from all socioeconomic strata, and particularly for the five million American children who live with the extreme material hardship known as deep poverty. This work issues an urgent call to action for K–12 schools to put in place the policies, practices, and programs that enable economically vulnerable students to thrive.

Belonging brings out the best in everyone. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, community organizer, or leader of any sort, your group is unlikely to thrive if the individuals don’t feel welcomed, included, and valued for who they are. The good news is that you can use design to create feelings of inclusion in your organization: rituals that bring people together, spaces that promote calm, roles that create a sense of responsibility, systems that make people feel respected, and more.

This book focuses both on how educators can cultivate compassion within themselves and lead together to cultivate humanizing school environments. Teachers, librarians, counselors, resource specialists, mental health professionals, and social workers who are working to create conditions for compassion and dignity in schools are all leaders who can impact change.

What does it mean to be a good citizen at school? Young listeners will learn what it looks like to be a part of a school community.

Confessions of an English Teacher: How High School and Community College English Departments Can Improve Instruction is designed to help English departments improve the instruction they deliver to students. It is a follow-up to the book Confessions of an English Teacher: A Memoir of My Teaching Years. In the memoir book, I discovered several vital things English departments can do to radically alter their approach to teaching English. Teaching English has fallen into patterns that research has indicated need to be revised.