Engaging Every Learner

Alan M. Blankstein is Founder and President of the HOPE Foundation, a not-for-profit organization whose Honorary Chair is Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The HOPE Foundation (Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education) is dedicated to supporting educational leaders over time in creating school cultures where failure is not an option for any student. HOPE sustains student success. The HOPE Foundation brought W. Edwards Deming and his work to light in educational circles beginning with Shaping Chicago's Future in 1988. From 1988 to 1992, in a series of Shaping America's Future forums and PBS video conferences, he brought together scores of national and world leaders including Al Shanker, Peter Senge, Mary Futrell, Linda Darling-Hammond, Ed Zigler and CEO's of GM, Ford, and other corporations to determine how best to bring quality concepts and those of "learning organizations? to bear in educational systems. The HOPE Foundation provides professional development for thousands of educational leaders annually throughout North America and other parts of the world, including South Africa. HOPE also provides long-term support for school improvement through leadership academies and intensive on-site school change efforts, leading to dramatic increases in student achievement in diverse settings. A former high risk? youth, Alan began his career in education as a music teacher and has worked within youth-serving organizations for 20 years, including the March of Dimes, Phi Delta Kappa, and the National Educational Service (NES), which he founded in 1987 and directed for 12 years. He co-authored with Rick DuFour the Reaching Today s Youth curriculum, now provided as a course in 16 states, and has contributed writing to Educational Leadership, The School Administrator, Executive Educator, High School Magazine, Reaching Today's Youth, and EQ + IQ = Best Leadership Practices for Caring and Successful Schools. Alan has provided keynote presentations and workshops for virtually every major educational organization. He is author of the best-selling book Failure Is Not an Optiontrade;: Six Principles That Guide Student Achievement in High-Performing Schools, which has been awarded "Book of the Year? by the National Staff Development Council, and nominated for three other national and international awards. Alan is on the Harvard International Principals Centers advisory board, served as Board member for Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, is Co-Chair of Indiana University's Neal Marshall Black Culture Center's Community Network and advisor to the Faculty and Staff for Student Excellence mentoring program. Alan is also an advisory board member for the Forum on Race, Equity, and Human Understanding with the Monroe County Schools in Indiana, and served on the Board of Trustees for the Jewish Child Care Agency (JCCA), in which he was once a youth in residence.Blankstein, Alan M. is the author of 'Engaging Every Learner ', published 2007 under ISBN 9781412938549 and ISBN 1412938546.