Too much of students' high school experience is impersonal. It leaves them feeling alone, vulnerable, and alienated. Evidence from The Learning Bar's "Tell Them From Me," the widely subscribed Canadian student survey, tells that only half of the students in Canadian high schools find their learning interesting, enjoyable, and relevant…

Three new American documentaries including "Waiting for Superman," "The Lottery, Race to Nowhere" and one British entry, "We are the People We've Been Waiting For," have animated school reform debates. Each of these documentaries seeks to disturb the entrenched thinking by claiming that our educational institutions…

The poor U.S. standing on international tests is a product of unequal access to the kind of intellectually challenging learning they measure. While other nations have been expanding educational access to more and more of their people and revising curricula, instruction, and assessments to support the more complex knowledge and skills, the U.S. has…

The school review program includes evaluation of the principal's performance, observation of all teachers and programs, school climate analysis, parental preferences and suggestions, and recommendations and planning reports. Recommendations fall into three categories: maintenance, consideration, and problem areas. The program is used in the Red…

Although this author expresses her belief in public education, and states that homeschooling her two sons was not her first choice, she describes how she feels that she was forced into this decision by a school system that was insensitive to the special needs of her children. She discusses the experiences of her two boys in a local,…

Argues that excellence in education arises from understanding and meeting the learning needs of students. Discusses a holistic view of school functioning in which staff work together to create a consistent learning environment by defining common fundamental beliefs about learning and the essential elements of teaching. 5 references. (SV)

Argues that educational professionals at all levels of the school system must demonstrate individual and collective leadership daily in order to effectively deal with the needs of students, staff, and communities. Discusses attributes of effective schools, and the pivotal role of principals in fostering school success. (SV)

Although principals typically emphasize their managerial role, they need to increase their role as instructional leaders. The principal's role as an instructional leader encompasses three dimensions: (1) defining the school mission; (2) overseeing the instructional program; and (3) promoting the school learning climate. (KS)

In this article, the author discusses the impact of compulsory state schooling in North America. The author stresses that schools are not making kids smarter, more capable or more skilled. The basic aspects of everyday school life have emerged and continue to evolve not as a response to the needs of students, but as driven by institutional needs.…

The Manitoba School Improvement Program Inc. (MSIP) acts as a "critical friend" to support risk-taking secondary school teachers. Suggested school improvement strategies include mobilizing staff commitment, broadening leadership and participation bases, and developing systematic inquiry for school self-evaluation. Successful schools are…

Points out the importance of effective group work in all aspects of education. Provides group members and leaders with 15 practical guidelines concerning member behavior in groups and task or structural characteristics of groups. Suggestions deal with issues such as communication styles, group maintenance, group size, and reaching consensus. (JHZ)

Leadership, teaching personnel, and curriculum and instruction appear to be the three major variables related most directly to school improvement and school success. Effective principals provide strong instructional leadership and assume the role of change agent. (JHZ)

Standardized testing is an assessment strategy that evaluates all students and all schools on the same basic skills and, therefore, might reasonably indicate which schools are high performers and which are not. Standardized testing is not a new strategy for providing this proof. The United States has produced reams of articles criticizing…

Focuses on how those outside the school can support school improvement. Maintains that the purposes of school improvement determine learning outcomes. Discussion of 10 strategies for supporting school improvement notes the importance of addressing the implicit assumptions that comprise school culture and matching change strategies to type of…

While remaining alert to worthwhile new initiatives, schools must remember that promising practices by themselves are unlikely to make much sustained impact. Good practice must be integrated into a whole-school effort to build coherence and overcome fragmentation. In schools that can do this, and keep a constant focus on student learning,…