In predominantly white and affluent communities, it is a common belief that race and racism are irrelevant because there is little to no racial diversity in these communities. Elyse Hambacher and Denise Desrosiers describe how a New Hampshire school district in a mostly white community navigates teaching and leading for social justice despite…

As predictions about the effects of climate change have become more urgent, Stuart Grauer has wondered how much to bring this information into the curriculum at his school. Would learning about the possibly disastrous effects of climate change cultivate a sense of despair in students and ruin their childhoods? When working with students in the…

Teacher activist groups (TAGs), which are formed both locally and through online communities, appear to be a growing force in response to the more corporate-driven reform movement of recent decades. The author explains how TAGs seek to influence education policy and practice through organized collective actions, such as protests, letter-writing…

The school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February 2018 led many students to engage in walkouts and other protests during the school day. Some schools supported their actions, while others disciplined students who participated. Alan Singer considers these schools' responses and explains that the social studies standards in many states encourage…

"Kappan"'s editor talks with the distinguished historian Vanessa Siddle Walker about the hidden -- and lost -- tradition of political advocacy by Black educational leaders in the segregated South. To promote equity and excellence for all students, she argues, today's educators will need to recover the sorts of extensive and…

Political debate about the Common Core State Standards (the first major education policy initiative in the social media age) ramped up quickly on social media, particularly on Twitter. However, while the increased and intense conversation influenced many states to disavow Common Core in name, those states ended up adopting standards that were…

Building democracies in K-8 schools is a promising approach to increasing young people and educators' civic knowledge, skills and dispositions. The Rendell Center for Civics and Civics Engagement leveraged strategies and concepts from the fields of civic education, student voice, and distributed leadership to build a youth-adult school governance…

Research has suggested that critical consciousness--the ability to recognize and analyze systems of inequality and the commitment to take action against these systems--can be a gateway to academic motivation and achievement for marginalized students. To explore this approach, the authors studied five urban schools that include critical…

The author describes how the interactive study of social media's effect on the Common Core debate was designed and executed. Important findings from the study were: 1) We live in an increasingly interconnected social world. 2) Media has evolved over the last half century from a passive system dominated by a few central opinion makers to the…

The author outlines the many ways in which schools may partner with businesses, higher education institutions, and nonprofits to provide students with training, jobs, and enrichment that that otherwise would not receive. The author speaks from her experience as founding headmaster of the Boston Arts Academy and years of working to effectuate…

The current tumult in the Mexican education arena has deep roots in politics and tradition, but it is latter-day global competition and international measures of student performance that are driving reform efforts. Teacher strikes and demonstrations are not new in Mexico, but issues raised by today's protesting teachers represent a combination of…

The author, a teacher in the Seattle public schools, tells the story of a movement begun by teachers at Garfield High School who in January 2013 voted unanimously to refuse to administer the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test. The MAP boycott spread to seven more Seattle schools, and teachers at 10 more schools signed statements of support.…

Montclair Cares About Schools (MCAS) is a citizen-activist group in Montclair, New Jersey, that used Facebook, emails, and online petitions to inform and organize citizens on local educational policy issues. Emerging in response to a new superintendent's plans to reshape Montclair schools with new teacher evaluations, administrative hires, and…

A high school teacher's reflections on youth and activism. (LR)

Activist who believed in demonstration and example, Ralph W. Tyler harnessed his theorems to social engineering and participated in astonishing number of watershed events: pursuing monumental Eight-Year Study, founding National Academy of Education, creating and directing Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University,…