What Works: Using Our Time Wisely to Support and Improve Public Education

For this, the fifth issue of Edutopia, we chose the number 5 as the operative motif.

Dispersed throughout these pages are discussions of myriad ways to save and strengthen public education. Many of these ideas came from you, our readers. Others derive from the advisory board of The George Lucas Educational Foundation as well as other experts in education, the arts, science, and technology. We've included scores of approaches, from easily accomplished tasks like greeting students individually every morning to bigger projects like improving teacher training, reworking the school year, and taking a stand against attacks on the teaching of standard science.

Within this package, we've gone from the micro to the macro, grouping together goals that can be accomplished in 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 weeks, 5 months, and 5 years.

No single issue of this or any magazine can provide a complete primer for solving all the challenges that teachers, administrators, and policymakers face every minute, day, week, month, and year. But we hope that by dividing our suggestions as we have, we can help get you started.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

5 Minutes
5 Days
5 Weeks
5 Months
5 Years