Uniform illumination levels in the classroom and focused brightness on the "teaching wall" made good sense for students in Henry Ford's era. If you were training to take your place on the assembly line, you needed to focus on the work at hand and ahead to your supervisor, but the future no longer belongs to students who look only straight ahead.…

This article describes the Media and Technology Charter High School (MATCH) in Boston, MA. MATCH had the highest overall pass rate of any comparable Boston high school: 89 percent of the class of 2005 passed both the English and math MCAS. That's not only 37 points higher than the Boston district average; it is 14 points better than the statewide…

As teacher educators, the authors visit numerous learning environments. Each school has its own unique characteristics and personality. Some schools seem to have a magnetic draw, filling the senses with energy, wonder and intrigue. This energy, writes the authors, stems from a symbiotic relationship, a flow of spaces that work together…