How did Cuba erase illiteracy in a single year? How did they combine both a phonics approach with the constructivist meaning-based model for teaching reading that we cannot seem to manage here in the states? This paper seeks to shed light on Cuba's impressive 1961 National Literacy Campaign and reflects upon implications for early literacy…

This article advocates a new approach to how we work with the millions of student-athletes in schools by examining a more holistic model of player development. Rather than assisting students in separate silos and initiatives, the argument is made for integrating the areas of leadership education, performance psychology, and personal development…

This article offers a theoretical proposal of how political science graduate programs can emphasize teaching in the discipline by creating the subfield of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Currently, these programs neither prepare their students for academic positions where teaching is valued nor participate in a disciplinary trend…

An instructional model can unite school leaders, teachers, and students with shared goals, a shared understanding of how to reach the goals, and a shared vocabulary for discussing progress. In this paper, the authors present an introduction to instructional models and a leadership primer focused on helping school teams cohere around an initiative…

The possibility of being always connected to the Internet and/or the mobile network (hence the term "always-on") is increasingly blurring the borderline between physical and digital spaces, introducing a new concept of space, known as "hybrid." Innovative forms of teaching have been developing in hybrid spaces for some time…

In this article, the collection of articles in this issue are synthesized to discuss conceptualizations of adaptive teaching as a means to foster spaces for adaptive teaching in today's complex educational system. Themes that exist across this collection of articles include adaptive teachers as constructivists, adaptive teachers as knowledgeable…

The purpose of this article is to describe a model for teaching introductory biology coursework within the Vision and Change framework (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011). The intent of the new model is to transform instruction by adopting an active, student-centered, and inquiry-based pedagogy consistent with Vision and…

Universities have a long history of change in learning and teaching to suit various government initiatives and institutional priorities. Academic developers now are frequently required to address strategic learning and teaching priorities. This paper asks how, in such a context, academic developers can ensure that work they do in relation to one…

This chapter tells a story of course reform, describing in a fresh and candid way the steps taken toward change and the results achieved. The authors emphasize that instructors need considerable support in order to teach differently, as well as underscore the need to consider scalability of reform even at the pilot stage.

What role can district visual art administrators play in articulating an educationally valuable conception of creativity and in establishing a culture that targets creativity as an educational goal? How can art administrators help teachers implement creativity goals? How can they communicate creativity's importance to principals, parents, and…

Seventh and 8th grade English-learners in selected urban schools will soon dive into some of the most celebrated speeches in U.S. history. They'll dissect, for example, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream," and Robert F. Kennedy's "On the Death of Martin Luther King." Though their…

Advances in technology and in knowledge about expertise, learning, and assessment have the potential to reshape higher education, as well as the many other forms of learning past matriculation from high school. In the next decade, higher education, military and workplace training, and professional development should all transform to exploit the…

Like many who entered the teaching profession in the 1970s, the author entered a profession that was in transition. Over the more than 30 years she spent in the classroom, the author has had a front row seat during this evolution. It has been a roller coaster ride at times, but she believes our schools will emerge stronger for it. Who we teach,…

In the schoolhouse, nothing matters more to students' learning than their teachers. But only about one of every four U.S. classrooms has an "excellent teacher"--one who produces enough learning progress to close achievement gaps quickly and help all students leap ahead to higher-order learning. What can schools do, now, to reach many…

Since MIT and Harvard started edX, their joint experiment with free online courses, the venture has attracted enormous attention for opening the ivory tower to the world. But in the process, the world will become part of an expensive and ambitious experiment testing some of the most interesting--and difficult--questions in digital education. Can…