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At six years old, Zach Bonner began to think differently about what learning looked liked for himself. With parental support, "school" became a blend of learning and serving.

"Sir Ken Robinson says our education system works like a factory. It's based on models of mass production and conformity that actually prevent kids from finding their passions and succeeding, he said. "The problem is that educating young people is not like making motorcars -- at all," the author and educator said in a recent interview. "And one key difference is that motorcars have no interest in how they're made, and young people do." Robinson, author of "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything," spoke to CNN after a recent lecture at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California. "

Superficially, the Brooklyn Generation School, here in the Flatbush area, looks a lot like the other six small public high schools that share space in this tall building, the former South Shore High School. What's noticeably different about it, though, is the strength of the relationships among staff members and students.

"A network devoted to the idea that we can't prepare students for the 21st century in a system that was structured for the 1900's. "

12 different cities in 12 different countries and 12 different cultures ... This is a World-Class Education!

As an organization, Communities for Learning reflects the diversity that is key to its work: Governed by a board of directors whose values, interests and roles provide various educational perspectives that are invaluable in decision and policy making, the organization is further supported by an advisory council with varying skills and points of view, as well as by an experienced, thoughtful and committed staff.

"So it was my great honor to serve on the 2010 K-12 Horizon Project Advisory Board this year, and "our" report was released a couple of days ago. If you want another piece to add to your "compelling case for change" argument, it's worthy of your consideration. Obviously, I'm hoping you'll read the whole thing, but I wanted to pick out some of the pieces that I find particularly thought-provoking."

"Overview: The 3 R's TEP is designed and structured around the belief that teachers are the key personnel in achieving educational success for its students. In singling out teacher quality as the essential lever in educational reform-as opposed to other reforms such as class size reduction or pre-packaged curricular models-TEP builds on an extensive body of research that shows that "teacher quality is the most important educational input predicting student achievement." [i] The effects of highly-effective teachers are profound for students at all ability levels, but they are particularly striking for low-achieving students. Studies demonstrate that, when learning from the most effective teachers, high achieving students improve by 25 percentile points (as compared to a 2 point gain with the least effective teachers), while low achieving students improve by more than 50 percentile points (as compared to a 14 point gain with the least effective teachers). [ii]"