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Article: Child And Adolescent Development: The Critical Missing Focus in School Reform.
- Article from:
- Phi Delta Kappan
- Article date:
- June 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The key to improving student achievement, Dr. Comer asserts, is to pay attention to child and adolescent development. If this factor is overlooked, new approaches to curriculum, instruction, and assessment will have little chance of succeeding. But even troubled districts that have made development a priority have seen remarkable success.
I BEGAN my work in schools over 35 years ago, and it was clear to me then that the underlying problem in the low-income, African American schools we were serving was that the students were underdeveloped in the areas that could bring school success, and the staff members -- through no fault of their own -- were not prepared to ...