Melanie McCormick and Alycia West implore educators to engage in thoughtful conversations about transnational adoption in "Seen but not Seen: Supporting Transracial and Transnational Adoptees in the Classroom." The authors draw on their stories of growing up as transracial and transnational adoptees as well as their research on…

After schools closed in March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students, families and teachers had to shift learning from in-class to online. But the switch to remote learning was hasty and disorganized in many school districts. Families struggled with the technology and coordinating schedules at home, while teachers tried to shift the…

Exposure to information about genetics is at an all-time high, while a full understanding of the biocultural complexity of human difference is low. This paper demonstrates the value of an "anthropological approach" to enhance genetics education in biology, anthropology, and other related disciplines, when teaching about human differences…

Biology teachers consider basic Mendelian genetics to be value-free, objective science, immune to misinterpretation and misuse. It may thus come as a surprise to learn that in the early days of genetics a cornerstone of genetics education, the dihybrid cross, was employed to support claims of the racial superiority of whites over blacks and to…

To equitably and effectively serve children, families, schools, and communities, school psychologists must appreciate the dynamic interaction that exists between many variables. Using Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological systems theory as an example, this comprehensive conceptual framework provides a model for understanding how interconnected…

A common misconception about math is that it requires raw intellectual talent or "brilliance." Only students who possess this sort of brilliance are assumed to be capable of success in math-related subjects. This harmful myth has far-reaching consequences for the success of girls and children from ethnic-minority backgrounds in these…

Obesity is the result of a mismatch between the amount of calories consumed and the amount of calories expended during an extended period of time. This relationship is described by the energy balance equation, which states the rate of change in energy storage depots in the body are equal to the rate of energy intake minus the rate of energy…

The author seeks to revitalize the interests of social educators in the value of using critical, postmodern discourses for rich comprehension of and productive scholarly research in our field. These discourses (a) challenge existing understanding within social education and the knowledge and knower they help produce; and (b) imagine more complex,…

The gifted remain an often misunderstood and underserved population. In this interview, Dr. Pfeiffer discusses these concerns and provides practitioners with timely information on who exactly the gifted are and the various ways in which they are unique. In this reflective conversation, Dr. Pfeiffer, a noted authority on gifted and talented…

From a distance, Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) students appear to be the great success story in education. As a population, they are overrepresented among winners of National Merit Scholarships, U.S. Presidential Scholarships, and are undergraduates at the country's most prestigious universities. They make up three to five times their…

Despite the dramatic shift in demographics occurring within public schools, there is still a dismal amount of research connecting issues of diversity and race with the curricula guiding educational leadership preparation programs. In the field of leadership preparation, little information has been offered as to how professors facilitate social…

Elite colleges and universities have encountered criticism because students from upscale families have come to dominate the schools' Black enrollments. African-American alumni of an earlier generation and other critics want more low-income students admitted. National studies, though, show that only a small percentage of high school seniors from…

When it comes to academic achievement, it is indisputable that, as a group, Asian-American students outperform their African-American and Latino peers on every measure. By most measures, they also beat white students. But another truth, much less acknowledged in education and policy circles, is that the story of Asian-American academic achievement…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) (In)formative Assessments: New Tests and Activities Can Help Teachers Guide Student Learning (Robert Rothman); (2) Recent Research on the Achievement Gap: How Lifestyle…

Critical race scholarship focuses on people of color, women, and the intersection of race and gender. Conversely, sport scholarship has reflected the dominant White male culture. Sport culture ignores the experience of women and people of color, and most specifically ignores women who are people of color. This paper provides an overview of the…