ATLAS Communities Project was supported by New American Schools.

The ATLAS Communities Project (Communities for Authentic Teaching, Learning, and Assessment for all Students) is grappling with such questions as it attempts to design "break-the-mold schools" for the 21st century. It is one of 11 school reform projects nationwide selected in August 1992, for funding by the non-profit New American Schools (NAS, formerly New American Schools Development Corporation).  At present there are six national school reform efforts still under the aegis of NAS.

In the ATLAS Project, Project Zero worked with the Coalition of Essential Schools at Brown University, the School Development Program at Yale University, and the Education Development Center in Newton, Massachusetts. The group established pre K-12 pathways (including at least one elementary, middle, and high school) in several dozen jurisdictions around the country. Although Project Zero is no longer actively participating in the ATLAS Communities, they are now addressing the following six areas of school design:

• creating authentic learning environments in which the curriculum emphasizes in-depth understanding and assessment is conducted in the context of student work;
• exploring learning and development opportunities for all adults involved with schools and students;
• setting standards for accomplishment, outlining what all ATLAS students should know or be able to do at different levels;
• examining effective organizational structures that enable schools to solve problems collaboratively;
• identifying state laws that stand in the way of systemic reform;
• designing a practical approach to technology for instruction, assessment, and administrative support.

For further information, write to:

ATLAS Communities, Inc.
222 Third Street, Suite 1320
Cambridge, MA 02142
(888) 577-8585
info@atlascommunities.org
www.atlascommunities.org

Principal Investigators:

Howard Gardner (Harvard University)

James Comer (Yale University)

Theodore Sizer (Brown University)

Janet Whitla (Education Development Center)

Selected readings

Gardner, H. (1999). The Disciplined Mind: What All Students Should Understand. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences For The 21st Century. New York: Basic Books.

Comer, J. (1980). School power: Implications of an intervention project. New York: Free Press.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (1991). The unschooled mind: How children think and how schools should teach. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H., & Boix Mansilla, V. (1994, Winter) Teaching for understanding in the disciplines and beyond. Teachers College Record, 96 (2), 198-218. Paper prepared for the Conference on Teachers' Conceptions of Knowledge. Tel Aviv, June 1993.

Sizer, T. (1984). Horace's compromise: The dilemma of the American high school. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Sizer, T. (1992). Horace's school: Redesigning the American high school. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

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