A recent controversy over Amazon's culture has strong implications for the whole child approach, and it offers powerful lessons for principals. A significant difference between the culture of so many businesses today and the culture at good schools is that in good schools, the welfare of the employees is very important. Student success is the…

Richard DuFour, a leading advocate for creating professional learning communities in schools, shares his insights on why teaching has become an "embattled profession" and the steps teachers and school leaders can take to enhance teachers' practice and their working lives. DuFour explains how recent reforms aimed at educators themselves…

Quotations about excellence in business, selected from the book "In Search of Excellence" and applicable to education, are grouped into seven categories: respect and meaning, innovation, fun and excitement, bigness vs. smallness, communication, the role of management, listening to consumers, and the importance of values. (TE)

Analyzes three characteristics of American public culture that help explain our civic quietism: (1) lack of meaningful information for making informed decisions; (2) lack of democratic rights in the workplace; and (3) lack of a cooperative social vision. American schools as presently organized provide few opportunities for learning and…

In 1997, former Edmonton (Alberta) school superintendent Michael Strembitsky instituted school-based management in seven schools. Although the district retained policymaking responsibility, schools could decide matters such as class organization, number of teachers, and budgeting for learning resources and equipment. Giving schools control over…

The Reggio Emilia approach to education reveals new ways for promoting children's academic learning; offers documentation as a tool for studying, sharing, and planning children's education experiences; and provokes a new way to think about the role of the teacher. (Contains 17 references.) (MLF)