In the Classroom

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...

Work-based learning is everywhere these days as an emerging, sought-after component of a 21st-century education. Indeed, a simple internet search for the term yields myriad news citations, with policymakers and politicians often calling for more work-related and work-based learning experiences for students—especially high schoolers. 

There has been much discussion in recent years about the need to find and hold on to high-quality teachers using a combination of recruitment efforts and the development of what are often called “teacher talent pipelines.” The talent pipeline model typically focuses on how to best train new teacher candidates,...

In a pointed, highly personal open letter addressed to unnamed “school administrators, school board attorneys and the educators who cannot see past my daughter’s disability,” Jennifer Ryan brought to light a question with which many parents wrestle: how to help their children with special education needs get an appropriately challenging...

The term "executive function" is popular in education and psychology, but you may be thinking, “Why does my child need to learn executive skills in kindergarten?” Executive function skills are actually essential for self-regulating behavior that governs a child’s emotional, cognitive, and behavioral functioning, such as brushing your teeth, remembering...

Many modern-day teachers and education researchers are focused on an important topic: how to improve adolescent literacy rates. One framework that might make sense involves thinking in terms of adolescent literacies, not literacy. Much like many adults, today's adolescents are dealing with multiple ways to be literate, from academic or...