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"As we enter 2013, teachers and administrators will reflect on the school's existing strengths and weaknesses. High performing schools ask questions such as, "Which students are struggling? What will we do to support them in 2013?" New Year's Day is a time when people around the world establish new personal and team goals. Among the most common personal goals are weight loss, financial goals, spending time with those you love, and volunteerism. How can school leaders capitalize on this transition from 2012 to 2013? How can goals drive the work of teachers and schools?"

"Looking back at his first disastrous year of teaching, a veteran shares what he's learned. It takes a village to raise a competent teacher, but I didn't know that as a rookie. Descending P.S. 85's stairs to pick up my students on September 8, 2003, my first day as a real 4th grade teacher in the Bronx, I thought I had things figured out. I was 22 and newly graduated from New York University, a prestigious institution where-just as in high school-I'd earned top grades. The New York City Teaching Fellows, a selective alternative certification program, had accepted my application and deemed me qualified to teach in a high-needs public school. Up to then, I'd done pretty well as a student, so I expected that teaching-just a stone's throw from studenthood, I thought-would offer me a similar equation: effort + intelligence + people skills = success I loved kids, had a career-teacher mom, and was willing to dedicate myself full-time to my students. How wrong could it go?"