Uphill Both Ways: Helping Students Who Struggle in School

No matter what the educational approach, struggling students find learning an uphill climb. What’s worse, they’re stuck with labels-deficit, disability, at-risk-that are more often offensive than accurate. Crystal England addresses the serious issue of labeling and reminds us that there is a whole child behind each struggling learner.

England takes a close-up look at struggling students and what we can do to ensure that their educational needs are understood and met. She presents a wealth of information in an easy-to-read format, seasoned with case histories and insight. Beyond a sensitive portrait of struggling learners, England provides a helpful handbook replete with strategies for teaching them. Her topics include:

common characteristics of students who struggle in school dealing with Attention Deficit Disorder, special education, and gifted students practices that focus on multiple intelligences infusing character education into the classroom validating home-school connections understanding the language development of hard-to-reach learners modeling a celebration of diversity within the classroom.

Starting with recognizing and removing harmful practices, she shows how to develop the all-important three Rs: Relationship, Relationship, and Relationship-i.e., student-focused, teacher-focused, and academics-focused relationships. At the end she considers the multisystemic reforms that are needed if we are truly to leave no child behind.