The Christopher and Virginia Sower Center for Successful Schools confronts low academic performance and disrupted school climate by providing professional development with a set of research-validated strategies that are helping hundreds of schools throughout the nation to prepare students for success.

Direct Instruction

Direct Instruction confronts low academic performance. Tested and refined over forty years of research, Direct Instruction is a teaching method that has been scientifically validated to outperform other teaching methods. A report by the American Federation of Teachers stated:

“When [Direct Instruction] is faithfully implemented, the results are stunning, with some high-poverty schools reporting average test scores at or above grade level—in a few cases, several grades above.”

Restorative Practices

Restorative Practices confronts disrupted school climate.

Restorative Practices is a set of strategies based on the proposition that:

Human beings are happier, more cooperative and productive, and more likely to make positive changes in their behavior when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them. This hypothesis maintains that the punitive and authoritarian to mode and the permissive and paternalistic for mode are not as effective as the restorative, participatory, engaging with mode (iirp.org).


Restorative Practices developed out of the philosophy of Restorative Justice which is giving schools throughout the world viable alternatives to suspensions and other conventional disciplinary practices. Restorative Practices are recommended for schools by organizations such as the American Psychological Association and by education leaders such as Michael Flanagan, Michigan’s Superintendent for Public Instruction.

The Nurtured Heart Approach

The Nurtured Heart Approach prepares students for success.

This sensible and practical approach is highly effective for dealing with the most behaviorally volatile and defiant students.  Developed by clinical psychologist, Howard Glasser, the model helps teachers to acknowledge appropriate behavior more intentionally, more systematically, and more energetically than they sanction negative behavior.

Integration Strategy

Low student performance is rarely the fault of teachers. Nearly all teachers are dedicated and knowledgeable in their subject areas. Low performance is much more a problem of inadequate teacher training. When teachers learn how to rapidly build essential academic skills, when they know how to improve classroom and school climate, when they learn strategies for energizing appropriate student behavior, and when they can discipline effectively; they are empowered to eliminate low student performance. Each of the approaches is helpful by itself, but integrating them together results in a richly rewarding learning environment.