For those at the high school and college levels who have been tracking the demographic changes occurring throughout the United States during the past few decades, it came as no surprise when recent U.S. Census statistics revealed that the 2010 kindergarten class is 25% Hispanic, up from 19% in 2000, and 5% Asian, up from 4% in 2000. The class is…

Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations in principle endorse lifelong learning (LLL) as a useful framework for sustainable development. However, in spite of the rhetoric, only a few member states such as South Africa, Botswana and Namibia have officially endorsed LLL in their educational policies. The sub-region is plagued by social…

In this article the author writes that identifying proper moral preferences should not be something that administrators have to deliberately think about before decision-making. Paul Wagner begins the discussion by saying that ideally, the identification of operative moral principles should persist throughout the decision-making process itself. To…

Everybody loves the idea of children playing outdoors. Outside, children get to experience the seasons, challenge their minds and bodies, connect with the natural world, and form a special relationship with the planet. But in order for children to get the most of their outdoor time it is important that the environment be prepared by caring adults…

The leader of the school with an embraced philosophy and understanding of the six realms of meaning ("Symbolics," "Empirics," "Esthetics," "Synnoetics," "Ethics" and "Synoptics") can lead the educational system of the school towards the direction of celebrating the success of the children attending the school. Kritsonis states: "World-Wide, people…

Jim Collins's "Good to Great" has attained near-scriptural status in organizations, including nonprofits, which Collins says constitute a third of his readers. The pivot point in "Good to Great" is the Hedgehog Concept. The "Hedgehog Concept" (HC), this author claims, is dangerous for schools because it distorts the nature of education. As Collins…

Schools certified under the LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] certification support educational programs are the beacons to sustain our Earth. Green schools are a mechanism for learning and their existence is pure example for the future of school facility planning. The purpose of this article is to discuss the various approaches…

During the author's travels all over the United States speaking to a wide variety of audiences, and his visits with leadership groups in the Middle East and Far East, he has encountered diverse audiences who share his concern that the majority of students are leaving high school without the skills that matter most--even in those school districts…

On the weekend of December 13, 2008, 4,000 House Meetings in our nation convened to plan service events. In Jacksonville, Florida, four such House Meetings were held. Of the four, two became official links in Organizing for America, President Obama's grassroots organization. Of the two, one strove to become a learning organization. At the heart of…

In this article, the author takes on what he considers to be the false dichotomy between direct instruction and arts integration. He contends that at a time when national issues of sustainability and conservation of energy and resources become ever more urgent, it is time that those committed to quality arts education stop squandering time, money,…

Adding the position Lead Instructional Designer (LID) will help an educational company or school district to work with principals and instructional designers to implement better instructional design strategies. This type of change creates more jobs and takes added pressure away from schools. The vision is to create better customer service to the…

Hollow reforms, like proposals that emphasize get-tough accountability over support for educators and widespread choice over quality neighborhood schools, enjoy their share of supporters. As the author watched the choice and accountability movements gain momentum across the nation, she concluded that curriculum and instruction were far more…

An action-research account of a successful improvement to practice presented for assessment within a taught MA in education was given a fail grade. The student's challenge to this decision led the university assessor to re-evaluate and change his own practice in assessment in much the same way as the student had in the original report. The…

Stanford University is going through the difficult and highly fraught process of figuring out a plan for the library of the future. Coming on the heels of the "bookless library," touted as the vision for a new engineering library, a preliminary proposal in 2007 to tear down the seismically unsafe Meyer Library and digitize and house off campus…

Two months before his 2008 election, Barack Obama addressed a roomful of Ohio public school teachers, praising their long hours and talking about his daughters' starting 2nd and 5th grade. Then Obama departed from the usual feel-good talking points. He touted competition, charter schools, and school choice. Two and a half years later, Republicans…