Observing the work of science teachers is different. Although general indicators such as a focus on relevant and appropriate topics, student engagement, frequent checks for understanding are important for any context, they're insufficient for identifying good science instruction. Science teachers need to use science-specific instructional…

The authors take on myths and misinformation about the Common Core State Standards and seek to tell the positive ways in which the standards work to move education.

The author lays out guidelines and suggestions for how teachers can actually become policy leaders, taken from his book, "The Cage-Busting Teacher" (Harvard Education Press, 2015). Teachers serious about leadership can get the ear of policy makers by leveraging their positional and moral authority--though they may need to be persistent…

The Next Generation Science Standards embody a new vision for science education grounded in the idea that science is both a body of knowledge and a set of linked practices for developing knowledge. The authors describe strategies that they suggest school and district leaders consider when designing strategies to support NGSS implementation.

The usual view is that truants are lost and troubled juveniles with psychological problems. While the authors agree that many well-known sociological and environmental factors promote truancy, they also confront more disconcerting causes: curriculum and pedagogy. Truancy is much too widespread to continue classifying it as the behavior of social…

Expectations for parent involvement in their children's education have risen dramatically over the last 20 years. The demands now placed on parents to evaluate and select educational options for their children, to act as advocates for their children, and to support increasingly demanding academic standards have never been greater. Strong…

As society expects children and youth today to explore content-area topics in depth and to develop critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills, out-of-school settings are becoming increasingly important to individual learning. These settings, which include libraries, museums, digital media, and after-school programs, are evolving…

The Every Child Ready to Read program encourages parents to interact with their children using the five practices of early literacy: singing, talking, reading, writing, and playing. The program is reaching children in high-need communities who are likely to enter school less prepared their wealthier peers. Every Child Ready to Read has found that…

The Common Core State Standards have cast a renewed light on reading instruction, presenting teachers with the new requirements to teach close reading of complex texts. Teachers and administrators should consider a number of essential features of close reading: They are short, complex texts; rich discussions based on worthy questions; revisiting…

The author earned a physics degree in college and then failed to find a job in the aerospace industry. He writes of how he fell back on his training as an electrician for sustenance and from that extrapolates how the trades have become confused with work of the hands rather than of the mind. He uses the venerable debate between Booker T.…

Students do not leave their mental health at the front door when they come to school. From wellness to serious illness, a student's mental health status is integral to how they think, feel, interact, behave, and learn. Decades of research and experience have laid a solid foundation and framework for effectively providing mental health…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders have the highest dropout rates of any student group--about 40%. The outcomes for students who drop out of school are dire but are particularly bleak for students with poor academic, interpersonal, and decision-making skills. Helping students earn a high school diploma and gain the skills needed to…

Teachers who understand anxiety and its effect on a student's learning and behavior, and use a few common strategies in different and more effective ways, will be less frustrated and more effective in their work with anxious or emotionally fragile students.

Predictive analytics in education can offer a benefit as long as educators heed the differences between how the tools are used in industry and how they should be used differently in schooling. Perhaps most important, teachers already know a great deal about their students--far more than an investor knows about a stock or a baseball scout about an…

Helping students with mental health issues sometimes presents teachers with the dilemma of following the letter of school rules or doing what is best for the child. One teacher tells her story of crossing such lines, but only in service to children. She also outlines what teachers can and should do to help students who need mental health services.