A Personal Vision of a Good School
Roland S. Barth argues that educators need to develop and understand their visions for schools as a step toward improvement. He shares his own visions for the future of education.
Student Motivation: An Overlooked Piece of School Reform
This summary report by the Center on Education Policy discusses the role of student motivation in education and how to support it. The CEP lists the four dimensions of motivation as competence, control/autonomy, interest/value, and relatedness.
Reframing Truth, Beauty, and Goodness
Howard Gardner discusses the place of truth, beauty, and goodness in education.
When Nice Won’t Suffice
Elisa MacDonald asserts that professional learning communities must be able to tackle issues and give and receive constructive criticism for there to be any real improvement within a school. She offers strategies for addressing a “culture of nice” that prevents a team from being effective.
Another Inconvenient Truth: Race and Ethnicity Matter
University professors and researchers Willis Hawley and Sonia Nieto breakdown issues and misconceptions that some educators have about dealing with issues of race and ethnicity in the classroom. They offer three race- and ethnicity-conscious strategies for school improvement, centered around understanding the diverse backgrounds of all students in the classroom. Hawley and Nieto conclude by suggesting ways that teachers and administrators can begin to develop a more responsive school culture.
Leaving Nothing to Chance
Karin Chenoweth tackles issues surrounding disadvantaged students and elevates them from the classroom level to the school level. Based on research in nearly two dozen high performance, high poverty schools, Chenoweth constructs a model of how schools can reach disadvantaged students.
These Things We Believe
John Norton shares an activity that took place in a Teacher Leaders Network daily discussion group. Teachers were asked to share three things they support and believe would help improve schools and the teaching profession.
Effective Leadership Rubric
A rubric of examples of how low performing, effective, and high performing leaders exemplify these characteristics and responsibilities.
The Myth of the “Culture of Poverty”
Paul Gorski debunks many of the various myths associated with the concept of the “culture of poverty” and addresses what he believes is the real reason an achievement gap exists between low and high income students: a culture of classism.
The Power of a Touchstone
Charles Elbot and Dave Fulton suggest schools develop “touchstones” along with the community that contain values and beliefs that should guide decision-making and behavior.