School Smarts

Educational resource for teachers, parents and kids!

This story about 17-year-old Jewels Odom and 13 other ex-teen prostitutes gives Jewels and her 13 "sisters" a pulpit to speak to other lost girls looking for an escape from what they call the “streets of hell.” What separates Jewels from her “street sisters” is her ability to survive and succeed -- actually going to college to return as a teacher at juvie. This story ends with a mixture of successes and failures, but as always, Jewels is the one who has the final say when she tries to connect with Maya Angelou, the famous poet, to be the graduation speaker.

Barry MacDonald envisions an inclusive classroom where boys feel at home; where their rambunctious energy is accepted; where their rebelliousness is channeled into inquiry and exploration. Without compromising gains made by girls, a Boys Smarts approach to schooling responds empathically to the needs of boys so that they can better realize their learning potential.--Author website.

From homework, to report cards, to spring fever, school can be tough, and not just for children. School Smart is an easy to read guidebook that steers parents and educators through a school year, touching on the significant milestones encountered and explaining how best to help children navigate those experiences. Each school year is a journey through which we have the privilege of coaching our children to make smart choices. Teachers and parents have different roles, yet both are steering toward the same destination. If we think of school as a sports game, then the child is the star player and we are the coaches on the sidelines, guiding and cheering them as they fumble, score, and pass. The author, a parent and teacher, provides valuable suggestions and tools for success while also acknowledging pitfalls every teacher, parent, and student faces.

Named one of Vulture’s Top 10 Best Books of 2020! Leftist firebrand Fredrik deBoer exposes the lie at the heart of our educational system and demands top-to-bottom reform. Everyone agrees that education is the key to creating a more just and equal world, and that our schools are broken and failing. Proposed reforms variously target incompetent teachers, corrupt union practices, or outdated curricula, but no one acknowledges a scientifically-proven fact that we all understand intuitively: Academic potential varies between individuals, and cannot be dramatically improved. In The Cult of Smart, educator and outspoken leftist Fredrik deBoer exposes this omission as the central flaw of our entire society, which has created and perpetuated an unjust class structure based on intellectual ability. Since cognitive talent varies from person to person, our education system can never create equal opportunity for all. Instead, it teaches our children that hierarchy and competition are natural, and that human value should be based on intelligence. These ideas are counter to everything that the left believes, but until they acknowledge the existence of individual cognitive differences, progressives remain complicit in keeping the status quo in place. This passionate, voice-driven manifesto demands that we embrace a new goal for education: equality of outcomes. We must create a world that has a place for everyone, not just the academically talented. But we’ll never achieve this dream until the Cult of Smart is destroyed.

When Smart Kids Underachieve in School: Practical Solutions for Teachers takes a look at the 10 most common reasons why some smart, advanced, and gifted students do not reach their achievement potential. Reasons for underachievement range from social-emotional needs, lack of proper programming, not being challenged, and potential learning disabilities. Each chapter discusses a different cause and three practical strategies that can be used to overcome it. Useful for teachers, counselors, gifted coordinators, and administrators, this book is an easy-to-read, must-have resource for any educator looking to identify, understand, and reverse underachievement. Grades K-12

School-smart and Mother-wise illustrates how and why American education disadvantages working-class women when they are children and adults. In it we hear working-class women--black and white, rural and urban, southern and northern--recount their childhood experiences, describing the circumstances that led them to drop out of school. Now enrolled in adult education programs, they seek more than a diploma: respect, recognition, and a public identity. Drawing upon the life stories of these women, Wendy Luttrell sensitively describes and analyzes the politics and psychodynamics that shape working-class life, schooling, and identity. She examines the paradox of women's education, particularly the relationship between schooling and mothering, and offers practical suggestions for school reform.