After watching a shirt being wafted into the air as it dries over a hearth, the tinkerer Joseph Montgolfier decides to try lighting a fire under a balloon--and creates the first flying machine. After observing an art object swinging from a cathedral's ceiling, Galileo mulls over the mechanisms of a pendulum-driven clock--and produces one 50…

"Improving Schools: What Works?" is the theme chosen for this issue of "Educational Leadership (EL)," and this theme should help dispel just one of the myths that have grown up about school reform: that educators are stuck in the status quo and don't care to implement change. This and some other myths about school…

The video "Wealth Inequality in America" sets forth a compelling animated chart depicting three ideas: (1) how Americans think wealth is distributed in the United States;(2) how they believe wealth ideally should be distributed; and (3) how the estimated $54 trillion of U.S. wealth is really divided. The hard-to-miss conclusion of the…

In this wide-ranging interview with Educational Leadership, Stanford University Professor of Education Linda Darling-Hammond discusses the kind of preparation and support new teachers need to survive their critical first years in the classroom. Among her central recommendations are more intensive mentoring that lasts through the first year of…

In this EL interview, Karen Cator, the director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, talks about ways to realize the potential of technology to transform education. She discusses what students need: their own digital devices for classroom use, the ability to use the information they access, the skills to…

From the nefarious achievement gaps, to the racial isolation in increasingly segregated schools; from the digital divide that results in kids not having access to computers, to the poverty gulf that results in kids not having homes; from boys' reading difficulties and girls' problems with math, to the disparities among rural, suburban, and urban…

There is no doubt that in the past 10 years, school culture has become a testing culture. But all the "multiple measures" do not really lead one to achieve the three most often cited goals of testing: building proficiency in basic skills, closing achievement gaps, and fostering the top-notch knowledge and skills that students will need in a…

In this interview with "Educational Leadership," pediatrician Dr. Mel Levine, cofounder of "All Kinds of Minds," explains why students and educators should learn about eight neurodevelopmental functions that undergird our strengths and weaknesses. For the most part, he notes, adults who lead successful lives mobilize their strengths and compensate…

Rod Paige, US Secretary of Education, and former superintendent of schools in Houston narrates his vision for US schools and the need for leadership in educational institutions. He defends the controversial No Child Left Behind Act and feels that each leader is responsible for ensuring that the students receive first-class education in all of the…

Question/Answer session with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, D.J. and C.S. Davidson Professor of Psychology at the Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University, and author of "Becoming Adult: How Teenagers Prepare for the World of Work." Covers such topics such as student engagement, challenge, and flow experience. (PKP)

According to advocate Robert J. Marzano, standards are the only policy mandate that can significantly improve student achievement. The standards identification process was clumsy, but started a national conversation about desirable subject-area knowledge requirements. Standards content should be cut by two-thirds; teacher-made tests can be…

In a question-and-answer session, David C. Berliner discusses wide range of topics related to current state of the teaching profession, including qualities of the expert teacher, attracting higher quality teachers, teacher career-stage programs, merit pay, and promising reforms for teacher education in last decade. (PKP)

Howard Gardner reflects on how students who learn in different ways might grapple with deep epistemological questions. Gardner advocates teaching disciplines that present our culture's image of what is true, beautiful, and ethical. His understanding pathway should appeal to children possessing a strong existential intelligence. (MLH)

Harold Kushner, the author of "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" (1981), insists that public schools should never advocate particular religious views nor serve as forums for debating religious values. However, shared values such as truthfulness, accuracy, personal responsibility, acceptance of limitations, kindness, and cooperation should be…

The author of "In the Shelter of Each Other" addresses how to remedy lack of community that is disorienting families. Parents work too many hours. Adults are spending too much time with TV and computers, voting down bond issues, and providing less communal space for children. Parents need to be convinced that creating community (connecting…