Students in poverty need both academic and social supports. Former New York City Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew and scholar Pedro Noguera argue that students in poverty need both intensive academic and social supports. They maintain that U.S. education policy, with its focus on academic accountability, has generally failed to grasp this dual…

This article describes a community mapping project that urban-based teachers and teacher-candidates did as part of their graduate courses. New teachers are often strangers to the urban communities where their schools are located and often come from very different social and cultural backgrounds than the students they teach, which can cause missed…

With more states and districts turning to veteran and retired school leaders to mentor and support new principals, the role of training for these leadership coaches is increasingly critical. Gill, a freelance journalist, highlights examples of training programs for principal coaches in Hillsborough County, Florida, New York City, and Prince…

Reflecting on his own experiences attending integrated schools in the 1960s and 70s, scholar Pedro Noguera argues that, despite the challenges involved, school integration remains essential for providing better educational opportunities for students. At a time when our nation is becoming irreversibly more diverse, Noguera writes, the country's…

Traditional PD sessions share information on new practices, but teachers often can't translate that information effectively to implement the new practice in their classrooms. A better way is to show a teacher a model of excellent practice by a colleague and help her reflect on the "gap" between her practice and the model, then plan…

John R. Troutman McCrann, a math educator and teacher leader at Harvest Collegiate High School in New York City, writes that teachers' autonomy to design and assess student learning has been siphoned away. In this article, he makes an argument for why assessment should be left in the hands of those who know students and standards…

Teacher residencies, based on the medical school training model, are emerging as an innovative model of educator preparation. The authors describe one such program in New York City, the Teaching Residents at Teachers College (TR@TC). They say the program has been successful in recruiting nontraditional candidates (including minorities) into…

If students from all backgrounds and advantages were given equal opportunity to succeed, how would this change our schools? Anindya Kundu examines two New York City schools--Medgar Evers College Prep and The James Baldwin School--and how their energized school culture contributes to the success of all students. By leading with consistency,…

At Harlem Academy in New York City, a schoolwide creed and baseline habits (such as "come prepared for the start of class with materials" and "follow teacher directions all the way, right away") provide a pathway for consistent behavior expectations throughout the school, allowing students to practice the same positive…

Why don't most well-meaning efforts to improve teaching and grow key teachers' capacity to act as instructional leaders show success? Kenneth Baum and David Krulwich think they know why: While we set up "collaborative" procedures and meetings in which teachers work together to explore effective instruction--critical friends groups, data…

In an era when overlapping, intersecting national and cultural identities are a reality for many K-12 students in the United States, it is schools' responsibility to nurture skills and attitudes that help students feel empowered as citizens of their local area or country as well as of other cultural groups they identify with--and of the world.…

The current political climate has created urgency around civic education. The authors argue that educators can best seize the moment by infusing authentic activities and experiences in content studies. They provide an example of one such hybrid instructional model from Democracy Prep Public Schools.

"Data-drive instruction can distort the way reading is taught, harming the students who need high-quality instruction the most," Susan B. Neuman concludes from her research team's two years of observation in nine low-income New York City schools. She describes how some students are reminded that they are "failures" every day by…

Across the United States, decisions championed in the name of school "reform" are segregating students on the basis of race and class. Traditional public schools that serve low-income students of color have been closed, consolidated, or co-located with charter schools. The officials initiating these reforms claim they will benefit…

Teacher evaluation systems can have high stakes for individual teachers, and it's important to ask how new evaluation models--including value-added measures--serve teachers as they strive to improve their practice. The authors interviewed teachers at a high-performing New York City school about their reactions to their value-added scores and…