American educators are expected to be partners in the rearing of our children, with crucial roles in children's intellectual and moral development both. We therefore must find thoughtfully balanced ways of assessing school performance and engineering school reform. In this essay, a high school principal reflects on recent accountability reforms in…

Many school districts are moving to scripted programs in hopes of improving standardized test scores because of pressure from state and federal governments, particularly in low-income, bilingual, and low-performing schools. However, the relational side of education is an essential consideration, and it can be linked not only to proficiency on…

Six teachers reflect on the meanings of a ritual of confession, sharing, and forgiveness during a school retreat. During a night of great honesty and integrity, students spoke to each other of their lives, their choices, their regrets, their wishes, and, above all, their love. During that evening, four students came out to their classmates and…

Four students reflect on the meanings of a ritual of confession, sharing, and forgiveness during a school retreat. During a night of great honesty and integrity, students spoke to each other of their lives, their choices, their regrets, their wishes, and above all, their love. During that evening, four students came out to their classmates and…

Charter school administrators weathered start-up woes, among them challenging students with unmet needs, verbal assaults, dwindling student enrollment, and a first-year budget deficit exceeding $200,000 to implement a reading improvement strategy that holds promise for helping at-risk students read better, a point particularly underscored…

As part of the Small Schools movement in Chicago Public Schools, a high school dedicated to African-centered education was chartered. The virtues of Ma'at and the Nguzo Saba, otherwise known as the seven principles of Kwanza, were the foundational principles of the school and were to be integrated into all of the practices and policies of the…

The associate director of education at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago recounts her learning and teaching through managing the Movement as Partnership program. Included are detailed descriptions of encounters with teachers and students as they create choreography reflective of their inquiry into integrating dance and literacy arts curriculum in the…

This essay is an open letter from a classroom teacher to a concerned citizen. The letter lists a variety of problems caused largely by standardization and the more corrosive effects of positivism. Many of these problems are unknown to those outside the immediate school setting. While the letter focuses on a specific setting, an inner city school…

This essay presents a reflective account of a preservice teacher's experience in her fieldwork practice. The author, a professor in the preservice teacher's education institute, acted as a critical friend and joined in the reflection as an equal. Based on the voices of the preservice teacher and a group of primary teachers, this essay presents a…

The author has given meaning to global citizenship over the past four years through the work and connections she has made with students at her school in Chicago, Francis W. Parker, and a school in the village of Madina, Ghana, West Africa, Tuskegee International. She has motivated other teachers to make connections as they traveled with her to…

An American teacher describes her journey to Ghana, where she worked in the summer of 2009 at the Tuskegee International School. Through recollections of the relationships she established during her time teaching math to students ages 6-16, the author reveals that her most powerful role while there was that of student rather than teacher. Focusing…

Francis W. Parker School invited Charles H. Yarfoh, the founder of its sister school, to Chicago to share his vision and what it has meant to the students of his school, Tuskegee International, to be part of the global connection between the two schools. In a speech he delivered to the faculty, staff, and students, Yarfoh shares what education…

Is it better to aim at a high ideal, with only moderate success in attainment, or is it better to be satisfied with a lower goal, one involving less effort and little responsibility? This is the question which pupils in upper grades and high school face every year. There are always some members of every class who seek the best things. They desire…

The modern ideal of international cooperation, which it is desired to incorporate in the future education of the young, is based on the two main principles of solidarity and justice. In this essay, the author discusses two aspects on the problem of solidarity: (1) moral aspect; and (2) intellectual aspect. In connection with the moral aspect, the…

One of the most important problems in education is that of inculcating a sense of citizenship. Most of the social and political disturbances in the world are due to the failure to perform duties and the false interpretation of rights--both apparently the outcome of ignorance. For that reason, it is most important that children should be accustomed…