About Schools Good schools show a proactive commitment to equity by working to ensure that students of different genders and from different racial, class, cultural, and language backgrounds achieve similar educational successes. Good schools are self-consciously principled and caring communities that share a sense of purpose and hold a clear vision of good teaching and learning. This vision and sense of purpose are shared by many leaders, including parents, teachers, students, administrators, and others. Good schools expect teachers to meet high standards. Because challenging and productive classrooms require teachers to be active learners, the school provides its teachers with access to outside expertise and with the time and resources needed to develop a deep understanding of their subjects, to expand their repertoire of instructional strategies, and to work with colleagues to develop a coherent program for their students.
Good teachers expect students to demonstrate deep understanding.
They use multiple assessments of student learning, applying what they learn to adjust their instruction to students' learning needs. Good schools practice shared inquiry to improve the learning of all students, and have a focused strategy for improving instruction. They use data from multiple assessments to constantly and carefully evaluate what programs and instructional strategies work, adjusting the school's program in response. Good schools view parents and community members as important resources for understanding, supporting, and teaching students. The school actively works to involve parents and the community, regularly evaluating the school's performance and publicly assessing progress toward the community's shared goals for its children.