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Review Quotes:
"A powerful exhortation to get teachers more involved in student success."
--Kirkus
"This model ultimately saves time and effort, and is supported by a significant research base showing its effectiveness in reducing behavioral issues and improving student success. The book will appeal to parents, educators, and policymakers."
--Booklist
"This critical book reminds us that, now more than ever, we must address the growing issue of students struggling with trauma and social/emotional challenges. Working together as parents and educators we can change things for the better and make a real impact on children's lives." --
Yvonne Johnson, National PTA President
"
The Kids Who Aren't Okay arrives as an essential resource... sure to shape the thinking of educators, school leaders, and policy makers who seek solutions to the worsening cycle of behaviors, punitive responses, and exacerbated problems. Offering hope, direction, and practical guidance to support implementation,
The Kids Who Aren't Okay provides both the rationale and the strategies for transforming learning environments."
--Pender Makin, Commissioner, Maine Department of Education
"This book is a gift to educators who are feeling stuck and overwhelmed. It's practical, based on the realities teachers face today, but also visionary and hopeful. If all schools were to adopt this approach to understanding and supporting students who are struggling, their success rates would soar and children would thrive. This may be Ross Greene's best book yet." --
Joan Durrant, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba
"
The Kids Who Aren't Okay resonated with me deeply, and puts into words what so many of us see every day: punitive systems don't help kids whose struggles come from lagging skills and unmet needs. This honest, deeply compassionate work offers hope, and a practical path forward. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who wants to build school communities where every child feels safe, understood, and truly supported." --
Robyn Linscott, Director of Education and Family Policy for The Arc of the United States
"Dr. Greene says things many of us would like to say but don't (or can't) in our polarized society.
The Kids Who Aren't Okay is an invaluable resource for everyone working in our education system; an engaging and powerful presentation of a practical, effective and evidenced-based methodology. As a psychologist who has worked for decades with youth who are blamed and punished for their
unlucky frustration responses, I'll refer to this book often and readily recommend it to others." --
Bobbi Beale, PsyD, Director, Center for Innovative Practices, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
Biographical Note:
Ross W. Greene, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and the originator of the innovative, evidence-based approach called Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS), as described in his influential books
The Explosive Child,
Lost at School,
Lost & Found, and
Raising Human Beings. He developed and executive produced the award-winning documentary film
The Kids We Lose. Dr. Greene was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School for over twenty years and is now founding director of the nonprofit Lives in the Balance. He is also currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech. Dr. Greene has worked with several thousand kids with concerning behaviors and their caregivers, and he and his colleagues have overseen implementation and evaluation of the CPS model in countless schools, inpatient psychiatry units, and residential and juvenile detention facilities, with dramatic effect: significant reductions in recidivism, discipline referrals, detentions, suspensions, and use of restraint and seclusion. Dr. Greene lectures throughout the world and lives in Freeport, Maine.
Publisher Marketing:
From a child psychologist and New York Times bestselling authority on schools comes "a gift to educators who are feeling stuck and overwhelmed...it's practical, based on the realities teachers face today, but also visionary and hopeful" (Joan Durrant, PhD, Professor Emerita, University of Manitoba).
The Kids Who Aren't Okay opens with sobering statistics: higher than ever rates of concerning behaviors at school, anxiety, depression, chronic absenteeism, and suicidality. Educators--who have experienced significant decreases in job satisfaction and have left the profession in droves--are looking for answers that take them beyond the standard models of crisis management and behavior modification.
Dr. Ross Greene, renowned for his pioneering work in education and originator of the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions model, has worked in and with schools across the globe for decades. Greene argues that we must renew our focus on developmental variability and meeting every student where they're at, focusing on problems rather than frustration responses, and solving these problems collaboratively and proactively. Doing so requires us to take a hard look at our structures, practices, and mentalities and make changes that benefit
all kids and educators.
Building on the principles introduced in his landmark, bestselling book,
Lost at School, Greene equips educators and caregivers with the tools to foster safer, more supportive, inclusive learning environments. Greene provides a clear road map for turning things around, complete with case studies and the voices of educators who've done it.
The Kids Who Aren't Okay is a vital resource that "ultimately saves time and effort" (
Booklist), providing hope and guidance as schools navigate the new normal.
Review Citations:
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Booklist 01/01/2026 (EAN 9781668203903, Hardcover)
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Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2026 (EAN 9781668203903, Hardcover)
Contributor Bio:Greene, Ross W
Ross W. Greene, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and the originator of the innovative, evidence-based approach called Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS), as described in his influential books
The Explosive Child,
Lost at School,
Lost & Found, and
Raising Human Beings. He developed and executive produced the award-winning documentary film
The Kids We Lose. Dr. Greene was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School for over twenty years and is now founding director of the nonprofit Lives in the Balance. He is also currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology at Virginia Tech. Dr. Greene has worked with several thousand kids with concerning behaviors and their caregivers, and he and his colleagues have overseen implementation and evaluation of the CPS model in countless schools, inpatient psychiatry units, and residential and juvenile detention facilities, with dramatic effect: significant reductions in recidivism, discipline referrals, detentions, suspensions, and use of restraint and seclusion. Dr. Greene lectures throughout the world and lives in Freeport, Maine.
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