A Washington Post Bestseller An entirely fresh approach to ending the high school dropout crisis is revealed in this groundbreaking chronicle of unprecedented transformation in a city notorious for its "failing schools" In eighth grade, Eric thought he was going places. But by his second semester of freshman year at Hancock High, his D's in Environmental Science and French, plus an F in Mr. Castillo's Honors Algebra class, might have suggested otherwise. Research shows that students with more than one semester F during their freshman year are very unlikely to graduate. If Eric had attended Hancock—or any number of Chicago's public high schools—just a decade earlier, chances are good he would have dropped out. Instead, Hancock's new way of responding to failing grades, missed homework, and other red flags made it possible for Eric to get back on track. The Make-or-Break Year is the largely untold story of how a simple idea—that reorganizing schools to get students through the treacherous transitions of freshman year greatly increases the odds of those students graduating—changed the course of two Chicago high schools, an entire school system, and thousands of lives. Marshaling groundbreaking research on the teenage brain, peer relationships, and academic performance, journalist turned communications expert Emily Krone Phillips details the emergence of Freshman OnTrack, a program-cum-movement that is translating knowledge into action—and revolutionizing how teachers grade, mete out discipline, and provide social, emotional, and academic support to their students. This vivid description of real change in a faulty system will captivate anyone who cares about improving our nation's schools; it will inspire educators and families to reimagine their relationships with students like Eric, and others whose stories affirm the pivotal nature of ninth grade for all young people. In a moment of relentless focus on what doesn't work in education and the public sphere, Phillips's dramatic account examines what does.

The corporate world can be ruthless with its unwritten rules and hidden pitfalls. To succeed, it is crucial to learn the tricks of survival quickly. Make It or Break It is an indispensible guide to imbibing these skills early on in one’s career. Packed with important life lessons, it shows you how to get started on the right foot and emerge a winner.

As Wolfgang Gullich said, getting strong is easy, getting strong without getting injured is hard . Sooner or later, nearly all climbers get injured and it will be injuries that ultimately dictate how far you get in climbing, if you let them. Unfortunately, the data shows it takes over a decade just to get small proportions of medical research adopted in regular practice. Sourcing reliable and up to date advice on preventing and treating finger, elbow, shoulder and other climbing injuries is challenging to say the least. You need to be the expert, because there are so many strands of knowledge and practice to pull together to stay healthy as a climber, and no single source of advice to cover all of these. The book draws together both the cutting edge of peer reviewed sports medicine research, and the subtle concepts of changing your climbing habits and routine to prevent and successfully recover from injuries. It is a handbook on how to take care of yourself as a lifelong climbing athlete. By spanning the fields of climbing coaching, physiotherapy, sports medicine and behavioural science, it goes beyond the general advice on treating symptoms offered by sports medicine textbooks and into much more detail on technique and habits specific to climbing than the existing climbing literature base. You will learn how your current climbing habits are already causing your future injuries and what you can do to change that. If you are already injured, it will prevent you from prolonging your injury with the wrong climbing habits and rehabilitation choices. You will learn how the ingredients of prevention and good recovery come from wildly different sources and how you have been using only a fraction of them. Fully referenced throughout, the practical advice for diagnosis, rehabilitation and prevention of climbing injuries is drawn from up to date peer reviewed sports medicine research.

It has been my pleasure to know Roy since he assumed his final pastorate prior to retirement, Westgate Baptist Church in Lancaster, Pa. As the shepherd of our small, older congregation, he brought the priceless lessons of biblical relevance and human relationships gained from his outreach in pulpits and prisons. Out of his work and that of his wife, Judy, Westgate became a multicultural congregation with a vision of mission that has engaged hearts and hands. And in all of his work, Roy has given uncompromising credit to God, and to the journey of ministry and understanding in which God has guided him. In the pages that follow you will experience many chapters and moments from that journey. You will feel the painful anguish of broken lives, and the joyous renewal of wholeness through Gods love. You will indeed meet the least of these, and the faithful response of seeing Christ in them. You likely will see possibilities for your own ministry, your own spiritual growth. Almost certainly, you will be challenged, enlightened and inspired. I invite you now to begin a story that reveals in so many ways Gods care and provision, a narrative of one mans life of trust in Gods leading and in what can be accomplished through that trust. ---Richard W. Schramm, former Deputy General Secretary for Communication, American Baptist Churches USA