Maximize learning by making grades more meaningful and motivating to students. With the support of this practical guide, professional learning communities (PLCs) will discover a clear road map for implementing a standards-based grading system at the secondary level. The authors provide all of the actionable ideas and tools needed to not only…

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that students don't need more stress. Fortunately, we can reduce students' anxiety about grading--and improve their learning. Grading expert Joe Feldman shares four "outdated" grading practices and their constructive, more equitable alternatives.

Old habits die hard, particularly when they are part of the unexamined norms of schooling. In "Why Are We Still Doing That?," the best-selling authors of "Total Participation Techniques" lead a teacher-positive, empathetic inquiry into 16 common educational practices that can undermine student learning: (1) Round robin reading;…

The purpose of this article is to persuade English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and teacher trainers that homework is indeed beneficial by presenting multiple examples of high-quality homework assignments, as Dettmers et al. (2010) found in mathematics. The argument here is that it is not the time spent on homework that matters in early…

A teacher is doing something right when his high school students--kids with limited English, no less--form groups and begin discussing a lesson on quadratic equations at the start of class, without any teacher direction. Bondie, Gaughran, and Zusho describe "discussion routines" that teachers at International Community High School in the…

"What's Wrong with Our Schools and How We Can Fix Them" examines the status of public education in North America and exposes many of the absurd instructional practices found in all-too-many schools. Written by three experienced educators, this book provides readers with a direct window into public education. The language is straightforward, the…

What is homework? What value and benefit does it have for students? Some common perceptions from the students' perspective is that it is busy work, it takes away from other activities (i.e. sports, clubs, hanging out with friends, jobs, etc.), and/or it prevents them from getting as much sleep as they would like. From the teachers' perspective: it…

Three types of homework assignments are common in U.S. schools: practice, preparation, and extension. Reasons cited for assigning homework are: (1) Doing homework is useful as an act of intellectual discipline; (2) Homework eases time constraints on the amount of curricular material that can be covered; (3) Homework fosters student initiative,…