Across the country many schools and communities are trying to create and support efforts to institutionalize partnerships for learning, including those that rethink the use of time across the school day and year, and across the developmental continuum. Referred to by different terms--integrated, expanded, or complementary learning--the concept has…

As principal of Ernest Everett Just Middle School in Mitchellville, Maryland, the author has fostered a management philosophy that draws from the unity and simplicity of two different cultures: village life in Africa and the gemba kaizen business philosophy of Japan. Blended together, the African and gemba kaizen activities have transformed the…

In this article, the author introduces the new superintendent of Memphis City Schools, Dr. Carol R. Johnson's slogan "Relationships, Responsibility, and Results," which summed up what she learned from years of experience in public schools. "Respect" was later added to the slogan in order to support the new district-wide behavior initiative ending…

Three decades of mounting academic and testing requirements are snagging growing numbers of students in the 9th grade. "The bulge" is the name education researchers give to the percentage increase in students in the 9th grade over the same period. This article reports on factors that might explain the growing 9th grade bottleneck and…