Background: Academic achievement is influenced by a system of internal and external stimuli. Internal stimuli include interest, willingness and academic motivation. In South Africa, efforts to improve the quality of education have mostly focused on the provision of physical resources rather than emotional resources. Aim: The aim of this study was…

Laurie Barron, the principal of Smokey Road Middle School in Newnan, GA, is the 2013 MetLife/NASSP National Middle Level Principal of the Year. This article presents a conversation with Barron on her passion for teaching and learning. She shares her biggest motivator as a school leader and how she motivates her students and staff members to fully…

Innovation is the essence of the American spirit. In the twenty-first century, it will be the innovative thinkers who will make the greatest contributions to our society, find cures for diseases, create technologies that enrich our lives, and find innovative solutions to the world's problems. Schools must provide more opportunities for students to…

This article investigates the relationship between teachers' personal reading habits and their instructional practices. Teachers responded to a questionnaire that revealed their attitudes toward reading, the amount of time they spent reading per day and the kind of literacy practices that they used in their classrooms. Results indicate: (1) while…

"Adults don't listen to me because they don't think I have anything interesting to say," an eleven-year-old boy explained to the authors of this article during one of the after-school focus groups that took place at Homer (Michigan) Community Schools. However, as part of the Youth Participatory Evaluation (YPE) team's effort to evaluate…