Current reports highlight the status of the teaching profession is at a 50-year low, noting sobering statistics about low teacher morale, the loss of professional prestige, lack of student interest to pursue teaching, and increased percentages of teachers thinking about leaving (Marken & Agrawal, 2022; Mission Square Research Institute, 2021;…

In many schools, teams come together primarily to plan events, build common assessments, or determine curriculum or grade-level planning. But teams often struggle to make teamwork an inquiry-driven process that focuses on problems of practice and student learning. The essential focus of teams should be on building collective responsibility…

The term "neurodivergence" refers to the variation in the human brain regarding socialization preferences, learning, attention, mood, and other mental skills that differ from the societal standards and norms. Every day, schools encounter students whose neurodivergent experiences shape how they communicate, engage, and learn. Sometimes,…

A school is much more than a collection of individual classrooms. Fostering a collaborative and learning-oriented culture can improve teachers' and students' success. In model classrooms, teachers who have participated in professional learning open their classroom doors and agree to have others observe as they work to integrate the targeted new…

Systems, structures, and practices perpetuate disparities because they reinforce barriers that sort and separate students based on assumed success or failure. When students are disadvantaged in this way, the implicit message is that their learning doesn't matter. The counterpoint to these discriminatory systems is an asset-based approach, which is…

When Nia Thornton became an assistant principal at Central Gwinnett High School in Georgia, one of her responsibilities was to lead professional learning for the school staff. She and the school leadership team were excited engage the staff in meaningful, day-to-day learning. They knew that their work needed to be rooted in current research and…

Society lives in perilous times for educational equity. The progress made in desegregation, culturally responsive pedagogy, and social justice is threatened by backlash legislation and protests in defense of the status quo. The pushback is happening at structural levels and very personal levels. There is an urgent need for professional learning…

North Carolina's Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools believe that employing a diverse staff is key to reaching all five of the district's overarching goals: student achievement, equity and access, community engagement, human resources development, and climate and safety. Recruiting, retaining, and supporting educators of color is an important…

As awareness has grown about the harmful effects of exclusionary discipline, especially on the Black and Brown students who are disproportionately suspended and expelled, so, too, has interest in alternative approaches to discipline. Restorative practices focus on building or repairing relationships to address or preempt conflict. They are based…

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…

Across public and private settings, about 250 preschoolers are suspended or expelled each day, according to a Center for American Progress analysis of the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (Malik, 2017). The U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection has exposed serious inequities in exclusionary discipline practices.…

The school principal has long been recognized as a critical driver for school improvement and student success, but new research supported by The Wallace Foundation has found that principals have an even greater impact than previously stated. A synthesis of two decades of studies builds on previous research about how principals impact student…

In her essay "Homeplace," social activist and author bell hooks defines a homeplace as a space where Black people are able to "recover our wholeness" and "where we can be affirmed in our minds and hearts … where we could restore ourselves the dignity denied us on the outside in the public world" (hooks, 1990). As dean…

In too many schools, the absence of schoolwide psychological safety compromises professional learning and the success of teachers and students. Psychological safety--a state in which people feel free to be themselves--includes a willingness to speak freely and engage in productive conflict without fear of retribution. This article discusses…

Ellie Drago-Severson and Mary Antón have known each other for more than 20 years and have worked together in different capacities to support educators through the lens of adult development. They spoke with "The Learning Professional" about how coaching can help leaders at all levels navigate the COVID-19 crisis and grow in ways that will…