Teachers, by their nature, have a notable goal. But Nanci Aiken ups the ante even more. As founder and executive director of Children's Success Academy, a five-year-old K-5th grade charter school in Tucson, Arizona, Aiken wants to do more than educate. She wants to "serve humanity," which is one of the tenets of the Baha'i Faith, to which she belongs.

"Serving humanity is one of the most important things a person can do," says Aiken, whose previous career was as a cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins and the University of Arizona in Tucson. The best way to accomplish her goal at this point in her life, she says, is by helping the many kids at the academy who have behavior problems - kids, she says, "who have been kicked out of other schools."

To "turn them around," the Baha'i-inspired academy uses a curriculum that incorporates "consultation" - a non-adversarial decision-making method used by Baha'is to build consensus by uniting constituencies rather than dividing them.

The Children's Success Academy's 85 students also learn about ethics through The Virtues Project, a global initiative designed to build character, inspire excellence and encourage good values.

Created by Linda Kavelin Popov, her husband, Dan Popov, and her brother, John Kavelin, the Project includes virtues such as compassion, justice and generosity, which the academy weaves throughout the school day. Students study a virtue of the day and a virtue of the week, and are required to demonstrate virtues through thoughts, words and action.

To celebrate their successes at school, students gather in a "Success circle" in each classroom at the end of the day and attend a virtues assembly at the end of the week. Each class takes turns creatively presenting the Virtue of the Week at the Virtues Assembly.

"The Virtues Project makes such a huge difference here," Ms. Aiken says. "People walk in the door and remark how peaceful it is." School starts the second week of August, and by Christmas, she says, no one can pick out which child has a behavior problem.

The other major ingredient in the academy's recipe for success is good nutrition, thanks to Ms. Aiken, who says she was raised on whole-grain bread before it was popular. To reduce symptoms of ADD, the academy requires students to bring lunches composed of whole grains, raw fruits and items with no added sugar or sugar substitutes.

"Food is a huge part of behavior. Eating the right foods makes all the difference. One of the foundations of our school is good nutrition," says Ms. Aiken, who says she was "horrified at the number of kids who were on medication for behavior. "The attitude was, ‘I'm only good if I take my pill,'" she says.

"But only 1 percent have something organically wrong that requires medication. Most of these kids are bright and need a challenge so they're not distracted. The main reason I started this school was to provide a positive, alternative approach to drugs for behavior. And it works!"

Ms. Aiken points proudly to academy graduates, whom she says have done "really well." They are, indeed, successes, she says, after having been schooled at "a place where they learn about all the wonderful things people have inside them."