Last month, the U.S. government lifted the emergency designation put in place three years ago to address the COVID-19 pandemic. But the impacts of the pandemic live on, especially in schools, where there is a dire need to address the interrupted learning students experienced and continue to wrestle with now that they are back in classrooms. The…

Lesson study is a type of inquiry cycle used by educators seeking to improve instruction and student learning. Educator teams collaboratively study student thinking, design lessons, observe student learning during a live classroom lesson, and conduct data-driven analysis and reflection on evidence of success. The use of lesson study in the U.S.…

This article discusses a recent Australian study that examines the relationship between teachers' beliefs in inclusive education and their levels of teaching self-efficacy, which previous research finds is correlated with more effective teaching practices. Whereas inclusion in the United States usually refers to placing students with disabilities…

Amid soaring rates of teacher burnout and attrition, those at City Year are finding a trend that may seem surprising: Participants in their Network for School Improvement, when asked how likely they would be to recommend the network to other colleagues, have given an average rating of 9 out of 10. The authors have found that six key principles can…

Data is so deeply woven into the fabric of people's lives that it is next to impossible to imagine what a data-free life would be like. But despite the centrality of data in everyone's personal lives, when people talk about data in schools, their comments are often negative. The authors of this article believe "data" should not be a…

When a new community forms, whether it is an elementary school class or a teacher inquiry group, co-constructing norms or community expectations is often one of the members' first tasks. The authors advocate that norms should be given to (rather than created by) a newly formed community to elevate the different needs, goals, and perspectives of…

As the world races to combat a pandemic, slow climate change, and solve many other public health challenges, it is clear that developing young people's scientific knowledge should be an urgent priority in schools. The goal of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is to foster scholars and citizens who can think critically and creatively to…

Teaching young students requires more than just learning about child development -- it requires understanding children and their experiences. Teacher educators have seen a lack of such authentic understanding among future and current early childhood educators. The authors set out to change that in a bachelor of education degree program in northern…

Teacher professional learning is often disjointed and not aligned with the curricula teachers use in daily instruction. This lack of preparation has led to fragmented approaches to teaching young students to read, in part because initiatives lose momentum, teachers modify the instruction beyond recognition, and programs are soon eclipsed by newer…

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, educators, students, families, and community members are seeking ways to ensure students' needs are met across a range of academic, social, and emotional considerations. They are also looking ahead to the future, recognizing there may be opportunity for innovation after the last 18 months reset expectations for…

In Penn State's work with aspiring teacher leaders over the last decade, two core strategies have emerged that hold significant promise for fostering teacher leadership: (1) provide teachers with the skills they need to create their own jobs; and (2) provide training and extended (e.g. post-graduate) support in developing ongoing professional…

The importance of high-quality evaluation is underscored in Learning Forward's Standards for Professional Learning: Evaluation provides information that supports advocates, professional learning planners, and anyone who wants to know "about the contribution of professional learning to student achievement" (Learning Forward, 2011). Most…

With educators facing conditions never seen before, Student Achievement Partners wanted to better understand what was happening on the ground -- the triumphs, needs, opportunities, and concerns of teachers trying to navigate instruction during the pandemic. A sample of more than 400 survey responses received in March and April 2020, which include…

Why is formative assessment -- a proven powerful instructional practice -- so elusive in classrooms? As a regional professional learning provider for several years, Amy Burton rarely observed the use of formative assessment, even though, when asked, teachers could define it -- a quick check, during instruction, of what all students understand so…

According to a recent research study, teachers attributed students' performance to their instruction only 15% of the time. Far more frequently, they connected results to student characteristics, particularly students' behavior, effort, or background. It's been long known that individual student characteristics, family background, and neighborhood…