Two years after the onset of the pandemic, COVID-19 continues to take a toll on educators' morale and well-being. The need to strengthen relationships between educators and students is growing. The MyTeachingPartner-Secondary (MTP-S) program, which is a strengths-based coaching program for middle and high school teachers, helps educators respond…

Learning how leaders advance equity and justice can inspire, give mental models, and help create road maps. Eight years ago, Nancy Gerzon and the author researched professional learning in high-poverty schools that were narrowing the achievement gap for every demographic, which resulted in the book "Growing Into Equity" (Corwin, 2013).…

Linda Darling-Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University and founding president of the Learning Policy Institute, is a longtime leader in education, an expert on professional learning, and an influential researcher and policy advisor. She has been leading President Joe Biden's education transition team,…

Jal Mehta is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His work focuses on educational practices and policies that promote deep and meaningful learning. He has also conducted extensive research on the education workforce. He is the author of "In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School"…

As CEO of the Urban Assembly, a nonprofit organization that oversees a network of 23 student-centered schools in New York City, David Adams knows what it takes for students to succeed not only in school but in the real world. Before serving as CEO at the Urban Assembly, Adams was the organization's director of social-emotional learning and created…

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous stress and trauma for students and educators, exacerbating existing needs for mental health support and underscoring the importance of social and emotional learning. With the new school year on the horizon, it is vital for educators to consider the social and emotional needs of students and staff as some…

In March 2020, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) began tracking U.S. districts' plans for navigating school closures and distance learning. The database, which is available on CRPE's website (www.crpe.org), draws on publicly available plans from the 30 largest districts in the country, members of the Council of the Great City…

Marcia Rock is one of the preeminent researchers on bug-in-ear coaching. In this method, an instructional coach watches a live video feed of a teacher's classroom and provides in-the-moment feedback via a wireless earpiece. The process, which is sometimes compared to a football coach communicating with a quarterback, is become increasingly…

Student journalists from the Canine Courier at El Dorado Springs (Missouri) High School shared their thoughts and suggestions about what teachers need to know so that all students feel safe, welcome, and successful. Journalism teacher Amber Francis and assistant superintendent Theresa Christian facilitated their contributions. The contributions…

Stress is part of the job of a school leader. How can principals and other leaders manage the stress so they can be resilient and effective? This article shares advice on this topic from five experts. Tips include: (1) Balance urgency with purposeful action (Ayesha Farag, Principal of Williams Elementary School in Newton, Massachusetts); (2) Keep…

Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools is one of six urban districts participating in an effort to redesign the role of principal supervisors. The Wallace Foundation's Principal Supervisor Initiative provides four years of support for these districts to transform the role, which has traditionally focused on operations and compliance, into one that…

Zaretta Hammond is a teacher educator, researcher, and consultant committed to supporting leaders, coaches, and teachers in integrating neuroscience with instruction, equity, and literacy. Her work is informed by her classroom experience, her time in organizations such as the National Equity Project, and her own research about how neuroscience and…

Meria Carstarphen, superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, has nearly 20 years of experience in educational leadership, primarily in urban school districts. Her previous roles included superintendent in Austin, Texas, from 2009 to 2014 and administrator in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia. She serves as a commissioner and…

Professional learning strategies often rely on the belief that teaching and learning outcomes are best when teachers have a clear understanding of students' thinking. This may seem like common sense -- after all, students are active participants in the learning process, so their thinking impacts the outcome. But does research support the…

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on professional learning structures for teaching and finding ways to embed this learning into the daily work of teachers. This is premised on the understanding that one-shot professional development yields little transfer or change of practice to ultimately impact student learning. But how has…