Marian Matthews insists that she selected a school with exemplary cooperative-learning practices for her interviews with gifted students summarized in the October 1992 issue of "Educational Leadership." The students interviewed cared about their classmates but did not understand their differing values. Neither artificial incentives nor…

Using educational vouchers for private schooling will aggravate the fragmented society that Jonathan Kozol visualizes in the November 1992 issue of "Educational Leadership." However, public schools of choice are desirable because they permit diverse teaching/learning styles, curricular emphases, or organizational structures to coexist within one…

Although Jonathan Kozol is well-informed about choice program imperfections, schools of choice are superior to traditional schools. In places like East Harlem, school choice is helping transform youngsters from captive, disenfranchised malcontents to true students involved in their education. The challenge is to make every district school worthy…

Counters Jonathan Kozol's concerns about educational vouchers, insisting that $2,500 could buy a quality private school education in Montgomery, Alabama. Critiques other voucher articles in the November 1992 "Educational Leadership" issue by challenging Alex Molnar's common school system concept and Arnold Fege's substitution of societal consensus…

For too many children, our society is a fearful wasteland that mocks adult pieties and nurtures nihilism. The threat of violence cannot be dispelled with metal detectors, weapons checks, and secured hallways. Educators must adopt classroom practices that promote and strengthen peaceful relations among students and become more effective advocates…

To teach peace through nonviolence is to give youth a chance to develop a philosophy of force. Those who prefer violent force must justify deaths of this century's 78 million war victims--500 percent increase over last century. Describing his nonviolence classes at various Maryland schools, "Washington Post" journalist urges students to pressure…

Although traditional discipline procedures (expulsion, time-out rooms, suspensions, and scolding) teach students to depend on authority figures to resolve conflicts, the Peacemaker Program teaches children how to mediate disputes and negotiate solutions themselves. To regulate their own behavior, students must have opportunities to make decisions…

Although teachers can gain as much as students from practicing conflict resolution procedures, they often remain unconvinced about benefits unless they actually try them. Drawing on experimental programs in Pittsburgh and New York City, this article describes the basics of moving adults from conflict to collaboration. Morton Deutsch's sidebar…

Hank Levin's educational vision is to accelerate learning of disadvantaged children and bring at-risk students into academic mainstream by end of their elementary school years. Levin believes that, if educators exposed all children to richest experiences and also connected with children's own experiences, their culture, and their community,…

For a school to be educationally successful, it must be a community of professionals working together toward a vision of teaching and learning. A school must develop a vision, determine decision-making processes, assess effectiveness of strategies, establish and clarify major goals, obtain control over resources, and avoid distraction. The League…

Project Read, which began 10 years ago as a collaborative reading strategy, has evolved into the Inquiring School model. This model arose from the realization that critical literacy strategies and structures work equally well in kindergarten, sixth grade, peer coaching, or at faculty meetings. Key elements are improved classroom practice,…

As one survey shows, although collegiality within academic departments determined secondary teachers' innovation norms, conceptions of students, sense of subject area, and enthusiasm, teacher commitment and pride are primarily products of district-level influences. Teacher autonomy without strong district professional community, with its…

Although restructuring efforts commonly begin at the site level, Reed Union School District initiated its participative decision-making process at the district level. To end collective-bargaining strife, seven teacher representatives, one classified representative, the district's three principals, the superintendent, and two board members formed a…

The Teacher Involvement and Participation Scale, version 2 (TIPS 2) helps schools assess eight dimensions of the decision-making process, including goals/vision/mission; facilitating procedures and structures; curriculum/instruction; budgeting; staffing; staff development; operations; and standards. This article explains additional applications…

Moving toward site-based management, Greece (New York) Central School District administrators and the teachers' organization established a representative steering committee to coordinate and facilitate the decentralization process and develop a master plan. Benefits include increased faculty understanding, improved school climate, and increased…