Minding the Achievement Gap
One Classroom at a Time

Jane E. Pollock, Sharon M. Ford, & Margaret M. Black

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About This Book

The achievement gap is a persistent and perplexing challenge for educators. While school- and system-level reforms continue to be discussed in statehouses and district offices, individual teachers are challenged to do something now to help students who are falling short of standards, including students who are English language learners and receiving special education services.

A companion to the ASCD best-seller Improving Student Learning One Teacher at a Time, this book identifies small, specific adjustments to planning, teaching, and assessment practices that will support more effective learning in every student, every day, and help close the achievement gap on a classroom-by-classroom basis. 

Here, you’ll learn how to

• Use readily available tools—curriculum documents, a plan book, and a grade book—to improve all students’ access to, interaction with, and mastery of lesson content.
• Design daily lessons that clarify learning goals and require students to use high-yield learning strategies, seek feedback, and reflect on their progress.
• Promote the progress of English language learners through coordinated pursuit of content and language goals, and synchronize instruction to improve the performance of special education students in both co-teaching and resource environments.

This book also features the voices of working educators who share how “minding the gap” has helped them engage academically at-risk students, ELLs, and special education students; improve students’ test scores; and sustain these gains over time. 

If you are a classroom teacher or specialist committed to helping all your students become more successful learners and unwilling to wait for high-level solutions or even the results of another “data retreat,” then this is just the resource you need.

See the book's table of contents and read excerpts.

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About  the Authors

JANE E. POLLOCK, PhD, is the director of Learning Horizon, Inc. A former English as a Second Language teacher, general classroom teacher, and school administrator, she consults long-term with schools worldwide to improve student learning, instructional practices, and supervision. She is the author of Improving Student Learning One Teacher at a Time (2007) and Feedback: The Hinge That Joins Teaching and Learning (2012). 

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SHARON M. FORD, EdD, is a former special education and general classroom teacher with experience working with colleagues to develop IEP goals and help students achieve them. She most recently served as an assistant professor in the department of Administrative Leadership and Policy Studies in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Colorado at Denver, where the primary focus of her work was school leadership to promote the professional development of K–12 teachers in all kinds of classrooms, including inclusion and resource classrooms. 

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MARGARET (PEGGY) M. BLACK is the director of the Center for Diverse Student Learning. Concentrating on the areas of integrating service delivery models with an emphasis on English Language Learner programs, Peggy works with schools to increase the efficiency of program development for sustained growth in student learning. Influencing effective teaching for the 21st century is the core of her consulting and professional development work.

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