“In an age of accountability and high-stakes testing, what is different about our school is its focus on the whole child,” notes Mark Nakier, principal of Wilton Manors Elementary School, a magnet school with a 78 percent minority population just north of Ft. Lauderdale. That focus is the result of much research on the way children learn and the commitment of a core leadership team that knew Wilton Manors had to change in order to survive. For Wilton Manors students, each year becomes an amazing journey to peace. The Passport to Peace initiative guides a very diverse student body to develop “attitudes” characteristic of good global citizens. Academically rigorous, this Title I school in which 72 percent of its students qualify for free or reduced cost lunch is amazing in another way too: Its rating by the state of Florida soared from D to A.

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