Leadership gurus often put creating a "shared vision" at the top of their pyramid of what successful leaders do. These visions are best when they are an anchor or a North Star -- unwavering goals that the district works toward. Author Jon Saphier proposes this North Star for districts: Make every school an engine for continuous…

In Project STAR, 11,571 students in Tennessee and their teachers were randomly assigned to different classrooms in their schools from kindergarten to 3rd grade. Researchers learned that kindergarten test scores are highly correlated with such outcomes as earnings at age 27, college attendance, home ownership, and retirement savings. Students who…

This article presents an interview with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In this interview, Duncan talks about the goal for his work leading American schools and how merit pay, charter schools, and mayoral control would improve student learning.

When "A Nation at Risk" appeared in 1983, everyone saw school reform through a lens of preconceived ideas about teaching and learning, and every part of the land of education reacted differently to the report. Some saw the problem as "bad teachers," which immediately raised the question of "bad schools of education" where they were trained.…

Nothing is more important to America's future than teaching children the skills they need to be successful. Every child must receive a quality education if America is to be a prosperous and hopeful country. The rapidly changing global economy is creating new industries that compete for highly skilled workers from around the world, and young people…

Quality versus quantity of information taught in the classroom is a controversial issue in these days of educational reform where academic achievement is measured by test scores. The author asserts that we try to teach too much, wasting time and undermining intellectual integrity. (MD)