ATLAS Research Base

Each ATLAS founder contributed significantly to the research-based foundations of the ATLAS design.

Howard Gardner and David Perkins at the Harvard Graduate School of Education offered groundbreaking ideas that are captured in Teaching for Understanding (TfU), a pedagogic framework linking the organization of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This structured approach was developed from a five-year research project that leveraged the expertise of more than sixty school-based and thirty university-based educators. In classrooms implementing the TfU framework, curriculum and instruction are driven by essential questions that are designed to help students develop desired skills and understandings. Teachers make a concerted effort to tie instruction more closely to real world experiences; and students come to understand important concepts and skills by applying their knowledge thoughtfully and creatively to meaningful challenges in the classroom and community.

To strengthen TfU, ATLAS has integrated the Coalition for Essential Schools’ work on student exhibitions. Exhibitions are the culmination of complex research projects that students have undertaken over the course of weeks and months. Ongoing reflection on the quality of the work in student exhibitions helps teachers to agree on what exemplars of best work should look like and inspires them to rethink instruction and assessment practices.

The strategies the ATLAS design uses to address issues of management and decision-making and family involvement are based on the research of Dr. James Comer and the School Development Program (SDP) at Yale University. The SDP model was recently recognized in a national study at Johns Hopkins University as one of three that meets the scientifically based research criteria of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), another founding partner of ATLAS, is an internationally recognized research and development organization in the areas of curriculum reform, professional development, and public health. EDC’s knowledge base of research and practice was used extensively in the development of the design.

ATLAS Leadership

The management team of ATLAS Communities provides strong leadership and an unparalleled knowledge of ATLAS and public school reform. ATLAS Executive Director, Linda Gerstle, has headed ATLAS since 1997. Prior to joining ATLAS she directed multiple and diverse educational initiatives in both public and private agencies, working with key leaders to build strong communities of practice and citizenship. She is the co-author of a series of reports on current trends in school reform.

ATLAS Associate Director, Ron Walker, shares responsibility with Ms. Gerstle for leadership and management of ATLAS activities and staff and leads ATLAS’ annual Principals’ Institute. Mr. Walker is a former principal, assistant principal, and classroom teacher has been in education for 33 years.