In the face of systemic neglect of low-income urban neighborhoods, Hip Hop was much more than entertainment: it was a countercultural revolution embodied as a way of life bound to community action and social change. Hip Hop represents resilience, resistance, and redemption for those living on the margins; to this day, it is an art form for the…

In this paper, I examine the tensions that a school principal experienced in reconciling performative priorities with equitable practices in a government secondary school in a low Socio-Economic Status suburb in Victoria, Australia. I use the notion of paradox to explore how the principal navigated contradictions and tensions. I aim to provide a…

While high school students still reported alarming levels of suicide-related feelings, thoughts, and behaviors in 2023, rates were slightly lower than in 2021. However, youth from minoritized backgrounds remain disproportionately likely to experience suicidal ideation and behavior. School psychologists must advocate for continued access to data to…

During the 2017 General Session, the Legislature passed House Bill 212, "Incentive for Effective Teachers in High Poverty Schools," which provides an annual salary bonus to eligible teachers in high poverty schools. This report is provided to the Education Interim Committee to evaluate the extent to which a salary bonus improves…

Involving students in policy debate is one of the most impactful academic interventions for secondary school students, according to a study, which between 2007 and 2017 followed about 3,500 students who were part of the Boston Debate League (BDL). The nonprofit supports debate teams in Boston Public Schools, which have a large concentration of…

Upward Bound (UB), created in 1965 to provide educational enrichment for low-income youths, had to be racially integrated. In 1966, I was among three White northern teens sent to integrate UB at Xavier University in New Orleans. My family had lived in North Carolina in the early 1960s, participating in civil rights actions, so I had had some…

This practice report describes how escape rooms have been used by one Australian university to successfully engage with high-school students who reside in areas of relative socio-educational disadvantage. We discuss how the escape room approach aligns with Lizzio's "Five Senses of Success" and offer recommendations for further use and…

To explore and identify gaps in students' opportunities to take and prepare for advanced math since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, RAND Corporation researchers conducted a nationally representative survey of teachers and principals in spring 2022. The researchers focused on two key ingredients that enable equitable student…

Writing a college-application essay has become a rite of passage for high-school seniors in the United States, one whose importance has expanded over time due to an increasingly competitive admissions process. Various commentators have noted the disturbing evolution of these essays over the years, with an ever-greater emphasis placed on obstacles…

The dual pandemics of social unrest and COVID-19 during the summer of 2020 in the United States has produced a renewed sense of urgency and agency for the interrogation of curriculum in K-12 education and the development of culturally sustaining practices. This urgency has encouraged more teacher preparation programs and middle school leaders to…

Many students in the United States and around the world live in arts deserts, areas where they have limited opportunities to engage with various forms of artistic expression, cultural events, and creative experiences due to a scarcity of cultural institutions, performance venues, galleries, and community arts programs. This article explores the…

The Programme in International Student Assessment (PISA) has become the prominent method of international comparison of the achievement of 15-year-old children in reading, mathematics, and science. Recently, the OECD, which administers PISA, has devoted a great deal of energy promoting the notion of "academic resilience"--which refers to…

Increasingly, science teachers are seeking phenomena that will allow them to explore both scientific content and socially relevant issues. The authors describe a series of lessons that (1) model the exoneration of wrongly convicted individuals using the science of DNA analysis and (2) contextualize individual cases within a larger system where…

While the value of a college degree is increasingly scrutinized, it remains undeniable that a postsecondary education is the most valuable avenue for achieving social and economic mobility in the United States. However, critical obstacles and challenges persist, particularly for low-income, underrepresented, and first-generation students who face…

The inability to respond to the environmental crises has been argued to stem from the crisis of imagination that underlies modernity. In response, the potentials of speculative approaches have been explored. This article presents a speculative worldmaking project conducted in a secondary school with young people. The project involved three…