For more than 30 years, the United States has been engaged in education reform efforts designed to dramatically boost student performance and close achievement gaps linked to poverty and ethnicity. Can schools afford those education ambitions? Most educators have their doubts. The author believes educators can improve student learning even when…

Many children in the United States have little or no opportunity for formal arts instruction, and access to arts learning experiences remains a national challenge. In addition, the "quality" of arts learning opportunities that are available to young people is a serious concern. Understanding this second challenge--the challenge of creating and…

It is a challenge for schools with large populations of students from low-income, migrant, and international families to ensure that every student reaches proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. Traditionally, schools across the country have tended to cope with this challenge by offering a…

As the principal of Baruch College Campus High School in New York City, the author wanted to help her teachers communicate with one another and put structures in place to develop the vision of the school while giving teachers opportunities for input and growth. After conducting a needs assessment, she found that teachers who had an ally in the…

Numeracy develops and evolves through experiences that require students to creatively and flexibly use mathematics to solve complex problems that often involve competing constraints. Making room in the curriculum for these types of experiences is a challenge in secondary schools because of the pressures of a tightly packed mathematics curriculum;…

"Turning Points 2000" places more emphasis than the original volume on teaching and learning and the principal's role in focusing reform efforts on improving curriculum, assessment, and instruction. Teachers and administrators must strive to create a developmentally appropriate and intellectually challenging instructional program. (MLH)

How important is a high-quality curriculum? A school without a quality curriculum is like a car without an engine--neither goes anywhere. One responsibility of a school administrator is to ensure that quality curriculum is designed, adopted, and implemented. The No Child Left Behind act (NCLB) has focused the attention of an entire nation on the…

"You have a choice every day regarding the attitude you will embrace for that day," observes Theodore (Alabama) High School's Web site, effecting the faculty and staff members' belief that raised expectations lead to improved student performance. "Your attitude will make or break our school...," the site continues. "The…

Principals and teachers need a framework that will allow school personnel to reach and teach all students within the general education setting. One such framework is universal design for learning (UDL). UDL is achieved by means of flexible curricular materials and activities that provide alternatives for students with disparities in abilities and…

Beliefs, mandates, standards, understandings, essential questions, skills, knowledge, varied assessments, constructivist instructional methods and interactive strategies, time lines, resources: These are some of the basic elements of personalized teaching. Each is critical. All are intertwined. Personalized teaching takes students' individual…

Discusses theoretical, instructional, and professional development strands for improving reading and writing instruction for adolescent African-American students. (PKP)

In May 2000, 35 principals from across the nation met to define their role in implementing rigorous academic curricula to promote student achievement. Their observations concerning effects of school climate, resources, staffing, equal access, professional development, sustained leadership, and program assessment are discussed. (MLH)

In 2004, five North Carolina school districts combined forces with five corporate foundations to leverage their collective wisdom and develop regional strategies for school improvement. The result was the High Five Regional Partnership for High School Excellence, a corporate-public sector effort that had the common goal of improving graduation…

When Stephanie Smith became the principal of Seaford (Delaware) Middle School four years ago, she was told to accept the fact that the school would never be able to change its status as a school that needed to improve. She did not accept that. To improve performance levels, she set the expectations high. Her defiance paid off: the school is now…

Successful integration of technology into education calls for a new vision of professional development as an ongoing program aligned with curriculum goals, designed with built-in evaluation, and sustained by adequate financial and staff support. Research identifies three effective collaborative models: peer coaching, study groups, and thematic…