In response to a report from the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, President Obama issued a challenge to the U.S. education system to create more than 1,000 new STEM-focused schools, including 200 high schools. Inclusive STEM-focused high schools--which focus their efforts on females, minorities, and students who are…

The new Next Generation Science Standards make it a priority for schools to focus more on the E in STEM, to help students learn the skills and practices of engineering. Schools that are doing so face a challenge, however: How to design educational experiences in engineering that engage all students--including girls and minorities, who are…

When most educators think of STEM education, they think of fully integrated projects seamlessly combining all four disciplines--science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Although such transdisciplinary STEM units are ideal, writes Vasquez, they are not the only way to give students valuable STEM experiences. She gives examples of two…

Charter schools--what was their original promise? They would enroll diverse groups of students. They would give teachers the room and power to innovate. They would be educational laboratories that would find new ways to reach students, and they would share those lessons with other public schools. But charter schools haven't lived up to their…

For the 12 years that Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York City, the Big Apple was home to the nation's largest experiment in implementing the business model of education reform. The numbers of public school closings and new charter schools soared, while the high school student assignment system was overhauled to be driven by choice. By…

Teacher collaboration and engagement in policy offer hope for improving teacher recruitment, retention, and morale-and for reenergizing the profession. Unfortunately, teacher engagement in education policy is woefully lacking. Research has shown that 70 percent of teachers feel out of the loop in district decision making. "Everyone at the…

The teaching profession in the United States is under assault. A regimen of reforms threatens educators with sanctions under No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. Pay-for-performance measures are a slap in the face, implying that teachers need financial carrots dangled in front of them to ensure they work hard. And there's also the public…

A short 27 months ago, two groups of U.S. states were each awarded more than $175 million to design, develop, and pilot test a new generation of assessments (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). These new tests will replace assessments in English language arts and mathematics that are currently in use within state and federal accountability…

In this article about the Common Core State Standards and mathematics, the author wanted to point out what's familiar in these standards and to give teachers clear access to what's different about them. She wanted to emphasize what has made her passionate about the Common Core standards--which is their two-part structure: Standards for…

Data-based decision making is all the rage. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (2009) has emphatically declared, "I am a deep believer in the power of data to drive our decisions. Data gives us the roadmap to reform. It tells us where we are, where we need to go, and who is most at risk." In the past few years, all 50 states have adopted most or…

For students in U.S. classrooms today, the odds of being assigned to an inexperienced teacher are higher than they have ever been because so many teachers, some in the top 20 percent of effectiveness are leaving the classroom in their first five years. Coggins and Diffenbaugh turn to Daniel Pink's work on drive to determine how to motivate…

Educational Leadership talks with four experts in the fields of education policy and finance about how schools can weather the current financial crisis. Michael A. Rebell focuses on the recession and students' rights; Allan Odden suggests five steps schools can take to improve in tough times; Anthony Rolle describes the tension between equity and…

In this wide-ranging interview with Educational Leadership, Stanford University Professor of Education Linda Darling-Hammond discusses the kind of preparation and support new teachers need to survive their critical first years in the classroom. Among her central recommendations are more intensive mentoring that lasts through the first year of…

Federal policy now focuses on teacher "effectiveness" rather than teacher "quality" as its central policy concern. Rather than measuring inputs, the new focus looks to measure the outcomes of a teacher's work--that is, the extent to which the educator has met crucial student needs, such as improved student achievement. As states move to take a…

Contrary to what many people assume, writes Stewart, a high-quality teacher workforce is not the simple result of some traditional cultural respect for teachers that exists in some countries. Rather, it requires deliberate policy choices. In a tour of seven countries that traditionally score high on international tests of student performance…