In the Classroom

There has been no shortage of attention devoted to teacher turnover rates in K–12 schools across the United States in recent years. Indeed, a simple internet search will reveal dozens of concern-filled articles and blog posts about the rising number of teachers who leave the profession each year, with some...

For students who have special education needs, the classroom can pose a considerable challenge, with undiagnosed or untreated learning disabilities often proving particularly troublesome. An article devoted to this topic in the Hechinger Report online education journal offered some alarming insights—for example, of the thousands of minors arrested each year,...

To the ears of many, project-based learning is just another education buzzword laden with promise but unclear in definition. These days, the phrase is often linked with the rise of personalized approaches to learning, as exemplified in a 2018 blog post by Mike Wolking, a progressive education advocate affiliated with...

Ariel Sacks, a New York City-based English Language Arts teacher who works with middle school students in grades seven through nine, has a busy professional life. In addition to her "day job" in the classroom, Sacks is a published author who has written two books on teaching, maintains her own...

Ashlee Tripp’s classroom looks more like a library lounge for teens than a serious place to get academic work done. There are strings of twinkling lights framing walls and bookcases, a couple of bright blue Adirondack chairs, and a cozy seating area complete with a wrap-around couch that looks well loved....

Mastery-based learning is a growing area of interest for many educators. A 2019 post on the Hechinger Report website documents both the challenge and the potential associated with this approach to learning, which seeks to assess students’ knowledge and skill levels as they move through various concepts and tasks. Written...

Universal design is a concept first articulated by Ronald Mace, who worked as a North Carolina architect at a time when conventional building design was being challenged by a growing awareness of the rights and needs of people with disabilities. In 1989, Mace founded the Center for Universal Design at...

The title of a post from the curriculum and teacher resource site Teaching Tolerance does not beat around the bush: “We Still Need Diverse Books.” Written by third-grade teacher Noelle Walters, the post tackles the enduring, stubbornly relevant topic of the need to make classroom literature choices that are both...

According to data compiled by the Pew Research Center, the number of immigrant families in the United States has been rising steadily since a quota program that restricted immigration was altered in the 1960s. From that point on, millions of people from around the world migrated to America, and today,...

Engaging in classroom-based debates and discussions can help boost reading comprehension, according to research spearheaded by Harvard University professor Catherine Snow. In 2010, the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP), which operates under the umbrella of the National Academy of Sciences, won a grant from the Institute for Education Sciences that...