Schools and districts across the country are being subjected to some of the fiercest budget cuts in recent history, even as principals are held increasingly accountable for significantly improving student achievement, particularly in schools labeled "persistently low-achieving." For the 5,000 lowest-performing schools, there is the…

Because the national education agenda is focused on standards, testing, and accountability, schools are at risk of narrowly defining their mission as improving test scores. In this environment, it is easy to forget that public education serves a larger civic mission. Preserving and promoting a democratic society was the founding precept of the…

In this article, the author emphasizes that student's opinions are seldom heard regarding the issue on school improvement. School boards, politicians, government officials, newspaper columnists, and others give strong opinions on what schools and teachers need to do better, but seldom the students are being heard. Here she discusses some of the…