Those interested in starting a similar school will find critical components [described in this book].
—Young Children

Exploring what was possible rather than typical for teachers and children in elementary education was the goal of a small group of teachers, university partners, and a school district when they joined hands to create a small school partnership. Now, five years later, with the creation of the Center for Inquiry, they know. From the Ground Up is their story. A story that demonstrates what kind of results a university–public school partnership can achieve. A chronicle of the power of inquiry: how it can promote learning as well as frame and inform curriculum, professional development, and continuous school renewal.

Each chapter of this book is written from the unique perspective of a critical Center team member:

• Several classroom teachers, Jennifer Barnes, Rick DuVall, Dori Gilbert, Tim O'Keefe, Susanne Pender, Michele Shamlin, and Julie Riley Waugh, describe how they build community, foster democracy and academic growth, help students use mathematics to learn more about themselves as readers, enhance parent communication, and build curriculum with and for students.
• A first-year teacher, Amy Novak, explains how her internship year at the Center ultimately influenced her teaching and success in a very different public school setting.
• A university partner, Louise Jennings, demonstrates how inquiry grounds professional development and fosters school renewal by describing teacher study-group meetings.
• Several others, Harvey Allen, Amy Donnelly, Debra Hamm, Richard Ishler, and Heidi Mills, write about the evolution of the school-university partnership and the processes and practices that are crucial to the Center's success.
• Another partner, Cynthia Colbert, chronicles her journey from the university back into the classroom and examines her fears, joys, and success as she teaches art as inquiry.
• Even the students share their interpretations of life and learning at the Center for Inquiry, which is only fitting, as the children's perspectives and voices are truly heard and valued at the Center.