Optimizing Student Success in School with the Other Three RS

Despite increased spending and efforts at reform since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 wide achievementgaps persist between groups of students and these gaps increase with each year of schooling. Obstacles to student achievement can be foundin schools and at home and finding innovative solutions for students to overcome these obstacles is a motivating force behind this volume.Inside the authors argue that The Other Three Rs reasoning resilience and responsibility can promote achievement and the realization offull academic potential especially for students who are labeled as under performers.The Other Three Rs (TOTRs) are universal learning skills available to all students. Although each of TOTRs is related to schooland life success they are most effective when they are used in combination. For example in the course problem solving reasoning skillsoffer the ability to judge which strategies best address the needs of a particular situation. Responsibility provides understanding of the consequences(for oneself and others) of employing or not employing different problem solving strategies and taking ownership of the results.And resilience produces the patience to work through the problem solving process by capitalizing on lessons learned until achieving desiredoutcomes.The Other Three R's model began as an American Psychological Association (APA) initiative sponsored by Robert J. SternbergIBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University and Past President of the APA. For the initiative and this edited volumeSternberg and Subotnickassembled a diverse team of experts who identified reasoning resilience and responsibility as three learnableskills that when taken together have great potential for increasing academic success. The authors of this volume present in detail their evidence-based arguments for promoting TOTRs in schools as a way to optimize student success