Ethna Reid, founder and director of the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction, discusses ECRI program developments since the 1960s, explains several of its distinctive teaching techniques, and discusses its effectiveness relative to whole language and direct instruction approaches. (MLH)

James P. Comer, a distinguished Black child psychiatrist born of sharecropper parents, credits his family's values and continued support for his success in college. In 1968, Comer and his colleagues developed a school-based management team to help poor families and schools develop trust and mutual respect. The program is widely used in New Haven…

Disheartened by working at Children's Hospital and Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles, UCLA-trained Hunter became a school psychologist to concentrate on prevention, rather than remediation. Ultimately, she became a consultant aiming to move teaching from a craft to a profession based on research translated into artistic practice. (MLH)

Profiles two educators with new books about challenge of teaching. Philip W. Jackson, philosopher/professor of education, muses about teaching and quests for knowledge in "Untaught Lessons." In "You Can't Say You Can't Play," kindergarten teacher Vivian Gussin Paley advocates storytelling as way to build more moral world in the…

From his early work to establish teacher's union to involvement with civil rights issues, Al Shanker has earned reputation as education profession's moral conscience. Under Shanker's leadership, United Federation of Teachers has grown from 2,500 to 110,000 members. American Federation of Teachers has doubled membership to 796,000. Shanker…

As director of Association for Supervision and Curriculum for 19 years, Gordon Cawelti traveled over 2 million miles to improve curriculum and teaching and provide leadership. After upgrading conference and journal quality in early years, Cawelti concentrated on promoting team leadership and developing a global education model. On retirement,…

Interviews Eleanor Duckworth, author of "The Having of Wonderful Ideas," concerning her thoughts on teaching and learning. A former student of Piaget, Duckworth taught in the Elementary Science Study and eventually became a teacher educator. She emphasizes the importance of starting from teachers' knowledge and understanding how children…

Hank Levin's educational vision is to accelerate learning of disadvantaged children and bring at-risk students into academic mainstream by end of their elementary school years. Levin believes that, if educators exposed all children to richest experiences and also connected with children's own experiences, their culture, and their community,…

Although shared decision making wasn't always Harold Boyden's first priority during his 30 years as a Vermont district leader, he always sought out his staff's ideas. Boyden believes in picking his fights, knowing when to compromise, and delegating when appropriate. He prefers to spread out budgeting ownership, responsibility, and commitment. (MLH)

Jim Gray's vision of "teachers teaching teachers" writing, through dogged persistence, has become reality as the National Writing Project, precursor to the Bay Area Writing Project. These projects, depending on cooperative university-school relations and effecting meaningful change over time, have influenced nearly one million teachers…

Through her studies of "subordinated populations," Shirley Brice Heath has committed herself to fostering appreciation of diverse cultures and understanding how those cultures affect children's learning experiences. While at Stanford University, Heath began studying neighborhood-based organizations in three major cities. These groups…

For six weeks, 25 Connecticut seventh graders interviewed senior citizens from a nearby assisted-independent-living facility. By celebrating their senior partners' life experiences, students formulated a better understanding of major events in 20th century American history. During the fifth and sixth weeks, students shared something from their own…