At Osmond Elementary School in Afton, teacher Joseph Semadeni maintains a highly structured classroom with routines and behaviors taught to mastery. He constantly refines his techniques and conducts action research to test educational processes. Mr. Semadeni created a program called F.U.S.I.O.N., an approach to educational reform based on the philosophy that the relationship between students and teachers is reciprocal. Believing that the key to successful school reform is to help teachers become successful, enthusiastic individuals, Mr. Semadeni developed F.U.S.I.O.N. to accomplish this goal through a delicate balance of time, motivation, and teacher leadership. Within two years of implementing F.U.S.I.O.N. at Osmond School, students achieved a 31 percent increase in writing scores and a 20 percent increase in math scores on a rigorous fourth-grade state assessment. Since that time, the program has been implemented at other local elementary schools.
