A disgruntled CedarBridge Academy teacher said principal Kalmar Richards? new classroom manifesto was not working.

Ms Richards disagreed and explained why Quantum Learning has been a success.

?We have more programmes running in our school than most colleges, but which ones are truly working and which are not is something the school has no interest in determining,? a teacher who is leaving CedarBridge said. She did not want her name used for this story.

The teacher said that the most expensive programme at the school is Quantum Learning.

Described as the ?jewel in school Ms Richards? crown and the thorn in the side of students and staff?, the teacher said most organisations measure the effectiveness of a new programme or project to determine its cost-effectiveness, but when it came to Quantum Learning, the Ministry of Education remained ?blissfully ignorant?.

?In all my years of teaching, I?ve found the most successful programmes in schools have always relied on solid empirical evidence to warrant adaptation and implementation not to mention expense. Even if some teachers aren?t fully embracing the programme others are,? she said.

She said that teachers who had mastered the art and science of teaching were already employing Quantum Learning strategies.

?Where is the evidence that proves that Quantum Learning is truly effective?? the teacher asked. ?If Quantum Learning has proven to be so successful in improving grades and test scores, where is the data from all the students in the GCSE programmes? That information cannot be corrupted at the local level. What about the data from the American system such as the Terra Nova??

While Ms Richards admitted she did not have any evidence for CedarBridge, she was a firm believer in the programme?s success.

?We are just getting off the ground with Quantum Learning. It is new to CedarBridge,? Ms Richards said. ?Quantum embraces and covers the best in terms of best practice.

She said Quantum Learning is highlighted in current educational literature and is discussed at conferences around the world.

?We have had two batches of students and our teachers have been learning the strategies, so we are in the process of collecting data,? Ms Richards said.

She said Quantum founders had significant research to show it made a difference.

?These are research-based strategies. They are aligned with the work of Robert Marzano. He looked at schools for the past 35 years and he looked at the things those schools were doing to increase student achievement,? she said. ?I am a visual learner and so if I want to have my experience in the classroom maximised the teacher will need to develop concepts using pictures.?

And she was surprised to hear that Quantum was being criticised.spoke with four CedarBridge teachers to see what they thought about the programme. Physical Education teacher Paul Notice said students needed more than traditional lecturing and it was important to get students to move around the classroom, putting them in groups and acting things out.

?When they are writing their test it jogs their memory because they remember doing that activity,? Mr. Notice said.

History teacher Weston Kieschnick said it worked in his class over the last few years to help kids use the full capacity of their brains and designing lessons to accommodate different types of learners.

New history teacher Lavar Bassett said he was willing to adopt it in his class because most CedarBridge students were hands-on, visual learners.

?Sometimes just reading from a textbook isn?t going to cut it,? Mr. Bassett said.

Family Studies and Food and Nutrition teacher Nadia Tuckett also supported Quantum because grades increased from Ds to Bs and ?even probably Ds to As?.