A newly established center at the University of Dayton aims to show local educators how to change that. The center will teach Ohio educators how to give all students the same engaging approaches used in teaching gifted and talented students. Julie Biddle, director of the satellite center at UD, explained that the accelerated schools model replaces remediation with stimulating engagement, higher expectations of students and teachers, and greater parent involvement. All students can learn and have an equal right to high-quality education. School staff and community cooperate by meeting, talking and learning from each other's experiences.
Students engage in problem-solving exercises and interpretive approaches to lessons.
Teachers and other adults analyze and consider ideas for school improvement. Teachers begin experimental programs after discussing the school's problems. Though some new programs may fail, the ones that succeed are the keys to lasting school improvement. It's an approach that seems to be working at Emerson Elementary in the Springfield Public Schools. Schneider started using some of the foundations of the accelerated schools model several years ago after meeting the movement's founder, who piloted the model in 1986 after evaluating the progress of education programs instituted in President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty in 1964.