It is clear that teaching and learning is transforming these small schools, and it's time to turn up the heat on rigor, relevance and relationships inside the classrooms. This year's Leadership Institute is designed to be a catalyst for future growth for the small schools to ensure all students achieve success.

I am honored to have been elected to the Advisory Commission of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. I am looking forward to sharing ideas and best practices with such an exceptional group of innovators in education and will continue working to improve public education.

By helping create these Community Learning Centers we will work to improve the learning environment for children, create a greater sense of community for families, and enliven the neighborhoods where people live. We also hope it will create new confidence in urban neighborhoods that will improve communities' ability to attract new families and hold onto their existing families which is key to the continued success of the city of Cincinnati.

We are encouraged by the number of planning teams interested in thinking about their education delivery system in a different way. Far beyond being dependent on our industrial past, we recognize that it is time to move forward in preparing for the information age; we must break down barriers that prevent students from succeeding and create smoother paths to success for our students - ultimately for the benefit of our local and state economies, and our society.

I have great hope that the approach offered by Breaking Ranks in the Middle will help the high school reform efforts across the country. Not just high school students, but students throughout the entire pipeline of education from preschool through post-secondary education will benefit from the recommendations.

The fact that they were there as students presumed they did not know what was good or bad. That was his job as instructor...to tell them what was good or bad. The whole idea of individual creativity and expression in the classroom was really basically opposed to the whole idea of the University.