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Acknowledgments

Robert Lynn Canady wishes to acknowledge and thank hundreds of educators, parents, and colleagues who for over forty-five years have listened, commented, critiqued, and encouraged him to continue his work with improving educational opportunities for thousands of students. That work includes crafting creative, data-driven schedules for elementary, middle, and high schools that include (1) academic supports for students during the school day, (2) balanced workloads for both teachers and students, (3) blocks of time that provide opportunities for students to actively engage in learning, and (4) strategies for providing teachers with small instructional groups by employing the principles of parallel block scheduling.

In 1989 he coauthored an article, published in the Phi Delta Kappan, titled “It’s a good score! Just a bad grade.” Based on the reception of that publication and the workshops that followed, he began an examination of the history of grading policies and learned that many such policies have a negative influence on student motivation and achievement. One of the most influential concepts he discovered is that it is important for grading policies to allow students to learn from failure—not just be sorted and graded. In fact, success often depends on a person’s being resilient and persistent in analyzing how and why failure occurred and being able to start over. If we want to succeed in increasing the number of college- or career-ready graduates, we must have policies that help students begin again, providing opportunities and supports such as those illustrated in this book.

The authors thank Tonya M. Cupp for her skills in organizing the manuscript and for her editing. It has been a pleasure working with her. We also want to thank and acknowledge the work of Kimalee Dickerson, a second-year PhD student in educational psychology at the University of Virginia, who assisted by researching and editing this book.

Solution Tree Press would like to thank the following reviewers:

Jonathan Cornue

Staff and Curriculum Development

Madison-Oneida Board of Cooperative Educational Services

Verona, New York

Kevin Ericson

Special Education Teacher

Nevada High School

Nevada, Iowa

Kendra Hanzlik

Instructional Coach

Prairie Hill Elementary School

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Jeremy Heeringa

Instructional Coach

Bettendorf Middle School

Bettendorf, Iowa

Michael Huber

Director of Curriculum and Professional Development

Portage Public Schools

Portage, Michigan

Benjamin Kitslaar

Assistant Principal

Jackson Elementary School

Elkhorn, Wisconsin

Kirsten Mahoney

Science Department Chair

York Community High School

Elmhurst, Illinois

Andy Pattee

Superintendent

Cedar Falls Community School District

Cedar Falls, Iowa

Tara Reed

Fourth Grade Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher

Hawk Elementary School

Corinth, Texas

Kim Timmerman

Principal

Adel DeSoto Minburn Middle School

Adel, Iowa

Maranda Van Cleave

Principal

Greene County Intermediate School

Grand Junction, Iowa

Dave Versteeg

Superintendent

Montezuma Community Schools

Montezuma, Iowa

Matthew Wachel

Assistant Principal

English Landing Elementary School

Prairie Point Elementary School

Kansas City, Missouri

Brad Weston

Principal

Fairdale High School

Fairdale, Kentucky

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