Total quality education : transforming schools into learning places /

Includes bibliographical references.

To design a school where all children succeed means creating a place that puts learning, rather than competition, at the heart of the process. This book does not propose Total Quality Management (TQM) as the cure for improving performance of U.S. schools, but rather argues that schools as a place and name should be replaced with the term "learning places." The book gives clear-cut illustrations of how the new learning place should look from the perspectives of curriculum, classroom environments, teaching, and architecture. In addition, the term "Total Quality Education" (TQE) should replace TQM. Chapter 1 discusses the nature of TQE and chapter 2 describes the shift from school to learning place in terms of philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, psychometrics, and curriculum. The third chapter presents the learning model for the learning place, which addresses the domains of self-readiness, competence, and inquiry. Curriculum models that are based on arena and nonlinear planning are described in the fourth chapter. Chapter 5 presents an evaluation approach that rejects the false science approach of education, which asserts that it is possible to relate learning outcomes to inputs and processes. Each chapter concludes with a list of key terms and concepts. Four tables are included.