Thoughtful educators personalize schools--greeting students by name, offering extra academic help, checking in about serious family problems. Some go further, such as setting up specialized clubs or internships with local businesses. Such acts benefit students, helping them feel connected to school and helping teachers and other staff respond to…

For years, instructors have used talks, speak-outs, and panel discussions so that students could hear the perspective of others. Bringing panel discussions into the classroom can provide valuable experience for students. They allow students to hear viewpoints and arguments of others, in contrast to traditional classroom discussions that only allow…

More than 1 million people have watched the online video in which Salman Khan--a charming MIT math whiz, Harvard Business School graduate, and former Boston hedge-fund analyst--explains how he began tutoring his cousins in math by posting short lessons for them on YouTube. Other people began watching the lessons and sending Khan adulatory notes.…

The author reports on an experimental study of performance-based teacher compensation conducted in the U.S. which shows that a nationally watched bonus-pay system had no overall impact on student achievement. Nearly 300 middle school mathematics teachers in Nashville, Tennessee, voluntarily took part in the Project on Incentives in Teaching, a…

Over 50% of the nation's teachers and principals are Baby Boomers. During the next four years the nation could lose a third of its most accomplished educators to retirement. The wave of departures will peak during the 2010-11 school year, when over 100,000 veteran teachers could leave. In less than a decade more than half of today's teachers--1.7…

In academia, there is much discussion about "millennial" students--those born between 1982 and 2002. Although there is a mix of students in college classes, particularly at community colleges, the influx of millennials is notable in terms of their sheer numbers. This year will see the largest high school graduation class ever--even…

The United States has been swept up in the "Harry Potter" phenomenon, with film adaptations, companion readers, and literary critique and analysis following J. K. Rowling's books on the adolescent wizard's adventures. The book has also touched off a reaction from conservative Christian institutions seeking to ban the books in school…

For the past four years, the Center on Education Policy (CEP), an independent nonprofit research and advocacy organization, has been conducting a comprehensive and continuous review of NCLB, producing the annual reports contained in the series "From the Capital to the Classroom" as well as numerous papers on specific issues related to…