Teaching Boys Who Struggle in School: Strategies That Turn Underachievers into Successful Learners Abridged Edition

Finalist for a 2012 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers! Teaching Boys Who Struggle in School: Strategies That Turn Underachievers into Successful Learners responds to growing concerns about a crisis in boys’ academic achievement. Kathleen Palmer Cleveland seeks to help K 12 educators cut through the hype to get at the real problem: who is underachieving, why are they struggling, and how can educators respond to these students’ needs in new and productive ways?

Cleveland presents findings from four large-scale studies about how boys learn best and combines these findings with insights about ongoing social and learning-style factors that affect learning in the classroom, plus lesson plans and anecdotes from real teachers working across all grade levels and subject areas.

Cleveland’s Pathways to Re-Engagement represents the culmination of her substantial research and personal experience. A flexible and practical framework for decision making in the classroom, the Pathways model seeks to

* Replace the underachieving boy’s negative attitudes about learning;

* Reconnect each boy with school, with learning, and with a belief in himself as a competent learner;

* Rebuild learning skills that lead to success in school and in life; and

* Reduce the need for unproductive and distracting behaviors as a means of self-protection.

Each aspect of the Pathways to Re-Engagement model offers educators a way to move underachieving boys from a position of weakness toward one of strength–giving them the tools to succeed in school and beyond.