Introduction.  This web site is provided as an expanding resource for teachers, trainers, administrators, and schools of education.  It is focused on the power of using research and a system approach to improving student achievement.

As a consultant with experience as a K-12 teacher, superintendent, college teacher, and state director of educational research; my interest is promoting success in learning.  In advance, I disclose the strong bias of having little patience with those who are critical of using either “brain research” (See Topic #1 and Topic #4.) or a system/TQM approach.  It is not amusing to me to see proven approaches denigrated erroneously.  For example, in both the business and education realms, I see some theorists claiming that TQM (total quality management) “is obsolete or does not work.”  Meanwhile careful research studies show, for example that the stock performance of nearly 600 companies winning quality awards based on standards were an average of 34% higher than the S&P 500 index in the U.S.A. over a 5-year period.  Less statistical studies of smaller firms without a clear focus on consistent quality standards do not always show the financial advantage.  See “The Impact of Total Quality Management (TQM) on Financial Performance:  Evidence from Quality Award Winners” by Kevin B. Hendircks and Vinod R. Singhal” in March of 2000.  Go to this web site for a summary.    In education and business, naysayers often select individual organizations or inadequate samples to “prove” their objections to the work of building a successful system.  Their selected organizations often exhibit procedural flaws, impatience, or lack of consistent leadership or standards in the attempted evolution of a quality system.  In our competitive global economy, neither stockholders nor students should be subjected to the disadvantage of superficial criticism.  Now let us turn to ways that different groups can use this site.

Teachers  This site is filled with both individual topics and even series of related topics that a teacher can study and use as a resource for professional development and the improvement of effectiveness in teaching.  A teacher can concentrate on an individual topic or can propose a comprehensive development plan for credit approval where local regulations support that option.  Topics and listed resources can be invaluable aids to teachers taking in-service or college courses.  The handbook described in Topic #3 can be a powerful guide for any teacher wanting to pursue use of all or some of the basic components of a proven system for highly effective teaching.

Administrators  Two primary roles of administrators are to support and to coordinate teacher effectiveness.  This site is:

1. A source of ideas for important topics in professional development programs or for follow-up help after teacher evaluation.
2. A resource that can help from the basis for supporting teachers in proposing individual growth programs for which in-service credits can be awarded.  (See the “Trainers” section below.)
3. A source that can be used to promote a schoolwide model for teaching and assessment.  For example, every teacher can be provided with the Teacher Handbook (Topic #3) and access to the in-service sessions related to a “system” as described in Topic #2.  Schoolwide evaluation standards and teacher-to-teacher sharing programs can then be made much more effective.
4. A source of basic and tested material to implement a schoolwide or even a district-wide program in continuous improvement or total quality management.
5. A source of practical suggestion for classroom implementation of management with data and accountability standards expected under No Child Left Behind legislation.
6. A source of orientation for newly appointed teacher leaders or administrators.

Trainers (of teachers) and Professors  A School of Education can use the Teacher Handbook (Topic #3) as a text and the entire web site as a source for learning and production assignments such as building a lesson plan accommodating different learning styles or using student data for formative assessment.  The topics are deliberately constructed to provide teacher trainees with information needed to manage learning under the No Child Left Behind program.  Equally important, all teachers in a college or university can use the topics to improve their teaching in any college subject.  The brain and system principles apply to all levels of learning - - kindergarten through adult.  At this point in history, more and more attention is being focused on a professor’s success at promoting learning rather than just publishing and lecturing, the latter being anything but a complete approach to good teaching.

A curriculum or professional development director in a school or school district can use the web site topics and/or Teacher Handbook in several ways, some of which were mentioned under the “Administrators” section above.  The site can give help when you:

1. Work with teachers or task teams to promote “common” reading and projects among the professional staff.
2. Select a system or topic series to become the basis for an annual or multi-year professional development plan.
3. Establish a program for supporting individual study and products for which a teacher can earn professional growth credits.
4. Together with any of the above, select speakers, workshops, conferences, or sites to be visited by individual staff members or task teams.
5. Select library/media materials that will support continuous improvement in the school or district.
6. Construct materials and activities for students that help them to learn their way.
7. Provide school board members, parents, and even students with study or meeting materials.

Listing of Related Topics.  Topics are added to this site in a somewhat random manner.  Thus this listing under general series headings is provided and will be periodically expanded to make it easier for you to focus on topics grouped under one issue.  It can be useful to print this listing and keep it next to your computer.