Noting that academic failure begins early and that the focus of school reform should be at the elementary level, this book describes the Basic School, an idea based on best practice in elementary education. A Basic School pushes school reform back to the first years of formal education; gives priority to language and suggests a coherent core of…

This guide is designed to take teachers through a step-by-step process for developing an integrated, standards-based curriculum that focuses on the stories, history, folkways, and agrarian traditions of the local community. Such a place-based curriculum helps students to become culturally literate, makes learning relevant and engaging, draws on…