Robert D Barr

Dr. Robert D. Barr is an American educator and author known for his work on at-risk children and youth, teacher education, and school reform focused on high-poverty communities. He is the former Dean of Education at Oregon State University and Boise State University, and has served as a consultant to high-poverty schools and university research centers. Barr has written or co-written 12 books, including several national bestsellers and award-winning titles such as Saving Our Students/Saving Our Schools (with William Parrett), which received an honorable mention for Education Book of the Year in 2009.

Barr is co-author, with Emily L. Gibson, of Building a Culture of Hope: Enriching Schools with Optimism and Opportunity, a school-improvement blueprint for supporting students in poverty through cultivating optimism, belonging, pride, and purpose. Their Culture of Hope framework has been further developed in articles such as “Building a Culture of Hope for Youth at Risk: Supporting Learners with Optimism, Place, Pride, and Purpose,” and has influenced subsequent work on resilient schools that grow students’ self-worth, self-regulation, and sense of purpose.