This article describes some core characteristics that reflect the underlying commitment of public school teachers to create and maintain vibrant learning environments for every student, every day, in every way, often under the bureaucratic pressures of high-stakes testing, rigid curricular fads, and simplistic administrative responses to…

Twenty secondary math and science teachers from a large urban school district in Texas were recently asked: Why don't English language learners succeed in school? Their answers included: students feel isolated because of language, students get mixed up with gangs, and students do not value education. This article compares student-attributed and…