Although practitioners have been asked to make fundamental shifts in their beliefs about reaching all students, the structures of high schools to support that work have not changed appreciably. Teachers teach in isolation, departmental silos lack curricular and instructional coherence across core subject areas, and few teachers share students in…

The journey toward 100% proficiency is most successful when a whole school works as a team. School leaders must focus their school's energy and effort on schoolwide initiatives that will make the changes needed to increase student learning and improve students' scores on state tests. The structure of the school and the collaboration of the faculty…

Collaborative teacher teams, whether they are new or have been re-formed over time, require that principals understand how to support and sustain them. To sustain collaborative team structures and support teacher empowerment beyond the first years of an initiative, it is important for principals to understand how these three factors--namely, the…

Master teachers are the ones who stand out as individuals. They make the classroom hum with their independence, self-reliance, and individuality. They possess a personal center: an enviable sense of self that may not be keyed to the latest themes, fads, and procedures, but that works to bring community and learning to those they teach. Principals…

Teacher burnout and attrition are epidemic in the field of special education. The annual attrition rate for special education teachers has been estimated to be between 8% and 10% (Whitaker, 2000), and special education teachers are leaving the field in much greater numbers than their peers in general education (Nichols & Sosnowsky, 2002).…