INTRODUCTION
An Idea Whose Time Has Come I am not a teacher, but an awakener. —Robert Frost
T
his book is the product of a somewhat serendipitous meeting between two individuals who share a common interest— making the experience of school one that not only awakens in students the desire to be everything they can be but also equips them with the requisite skills to do so. Darrell Scott and Robert “Bob” Marzano believe that while this was the original intent of education in the United States, the K–12 system has not yet lived up to this bright promise. Perhaps most importantly, both Darrell and Bob believe that education in the United States is at a place where this promise is finally within reach. However, Darrell and Bob took very different paths to arrive at this common juncture.
Darrell’s journey began on April 20, 1999, when his daughter Rachel Joy Scott was the first student killed in the school shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Rachel had been known among her classmates and peers as someone who reached out to those who had been rejected by others or who needed a friend. During her life, Rachel wrote extensively in six diaries about the character traits she lived out, such as kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and purpose. Soon after Rachel’s death, Darrell was invited to speak to a group of lawmakers in Washington, DC. There, he made the case that preventing 1