There is a growing interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) units and projects in the early childhood and elementary years. There are many advantages of embedding math in STEM contexts and activities; it can be excellent for reinforcing math (as well as science, technology, and engineering) concepts and skills. However,…

The goals of LETRS are to build teachers' knowledge of language structure and the processes involved in learning to read words, spell, and comprehend, and then to help teachers apply these understandings in their classrooms. The LETRS courses, which are designed for teachers in grades K-3, are to be implemented over two years. In the first year of…

Recent resistance to teaching students about the history of racial power and privilege dynamics in the United States has been accompanied by a parallel resistance to LGBTQ+ studies and resources in K-12 classrooms, libraries, and extracurricular spaces. There is a very practical benefit to trusting teachers to craft lessons that integrate LGBTQ+…

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent racial justice movements have made it very apparent that our current approaches to keeping students safe and healthy in schools need major restructuring and reform. The country lacks mental health supports in many schools at a time when students need them most. Students of color are being punished and removed from…

Current federal aid allocation policies do an admirable job of targeting aid to school districts serving the neediest students. But these policies have one significant, underlying weakness: they fail to consider states' effort levels (and their capacities to raise revenue). In this article, the authors propose a new federal aid framework that…

According to Randi Weingarten, attacks on public education are not new. The difference today is that the attacks are intended to destroy it. Over the last three years, legislators in 45 states proposed hundreds of laws placing public schools at the center of culture wars: laws seeking to ban books from school libraries; laws restricting what…

Community schools are an example of a comprehensive education reform initiative that brings communities together to address many of the pressing challenges facing education today. Unlike traditional schools, community schools serve as a hub, engaging educators, families, and community partners. Open to the community during evenings, weekends, and…

In these fraught, divisive times, K-12 educators have an opportunity to make a profound contribution to students' academic, intellectual, and civic maturity by giving civil, purposeful discussion the priority it deserves. With reading and writing, discussion is a co-equal leg of the tripod of literacy. By engaging in frequent discussions of…

Coordinating meaning across sentences is crucial to reading comprehension, because sentences can take on quite different meanings depending on the surrounding context. The same need applies in a far more complex way when reading textbooks. Writers organize the material hierarchically, so readers often need to connect what they're reading now to…

Writing can improve children's speaking, boost their reading comprehension, build their knowledge, and elevate their thinking. However a reason it may be hard to learn is that without explicit writing instruction, children often write the way they speak. From elementary through high school, many children answer questions with little elaboration.…

Through teaching and research, the authors have seen the magnificent ways that Black people use language to connect people, families, and communities across the Black diaspora. When students come to school using African American English, they know that many of their relatives, friends, and neighbors speak like them. They may also know that many of…

Give a child a book and watch them blossom in more ways than you could possibly imagine! Nothing can replace the feel of a book and the turning of pages in anticipation of a story unfolding picture by picture, chapter by chapter. Books open doors to learning and to the world around us. Where do we go to find these awesome books? The library, of…

Reading is arguably the most important skill that children learn in school--and yet many children struggle to become strong readers. This is especially true of African American children. Children growing up in low-income, under-resourced neighborhoods often struggle with reading. But even among Black children in wealthier neighborhoods, learning…

Participating in fair-minded, text-based classroom dialogue has immense benefits. It contributes not only to learning and academic success but also to the ability to effectively participate in democracy. This article presents how to prepare for and participate in discussions that will powerfully equip students to listen carefully, learn from their…

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has launched a yearlong campaign, Real Solutions for Kids and Communities, that rejects the toxic attacks against public education in favor of working to strengthen public schools, making real solutions for kids a national priority. This article lays out five essential solutions for meeting kids' needs:…