Rick Ginsberg and Yong Zhao want educators to question the status quo and clear out ineffective practices to make room for K-12 reforms that work. Their 2023 book, Duck and Cover: Confronting Dubious Practices in Education, Ginsberg and Zhao examine kindergarten readiness, college- and career-readiness, reading proficiency by 3rd grade, social and…

"Kappan"'s editor talks with Michigan State University's Sarah Reckhow about her research into the ways wealthy private philanthropies have influenced K-12 education in recent years. As Reckhow explains, not only have Gates, Broad, Walton, and other big foundations spent unprecedented amounts of money to support their favored reform…

The authors describe a promising approach to engaging high school students in intergroup dialogues, relying on "near peers"--in this case, local college students--to facilitate a series of classroom discussions about racial identity, differences, and opportunities to connect. Early results suggest that the approach had significant…

A group of New York City public school teachers, angry about the depiction of public schools in 'Waiting for Superman," decide to make their own film about the realities of the current education reform movement. They persevered even though they had no budget when they started and lacked a background in filmmaking. "The Inconvenient Truth…

Restrictions on collective bargaining are spreading. But while reformers are right to question current labor practices in education, they're wrong to believe that bargaining prohibitions will solve the problems. A smarter approach would begin by putting down the sledgehammer wielded in Wisconsin and picking up a scalpel by pushing for laws aimed…

A solid idea coupled with savvy marketing has enabled Rick DuFour's vision of professional learning communities to revolutionize how teachers work with each other. The author of 13 books and 80 articles has presented to an estimated quarter million educators over the last eight years and is beginning to reach beyond the U.S. with books and…

Creating change school requires courage. Great teachers can't be satisfied with managing change; they must be prepared to lead change, argues Thomas Guskey, keynote speaker at the 2008 Phi Delta Kappa Summit on High-Performing Educators and a professor of education at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky.

A chronicle of the success of a small Catholic school on Long Island, N.Y. in overcoming poverty, race, and language for the 65 male students it has served in grades 5-8 for eight years. The authors posit that the secret of the school's success resides in creating goals, agency and pathways for success in its students, creating a climate of hope…

Including students in school governance isn't just a way to teach them about civics, it's a smarter way to run a school. Schools tend to govern themselves as a single-loop learning organization. The better model is a double-loop organization that would promote greater participation, deliberation, feedback and, ultimately, more buy-in from…

Virtual bug-in-the-ear technology presents one tool that allows practitioners and university educators to use to attract, prepare, and retain high-quality teachers. The experience of Project TEEACH--which stands for Transforming Elementary Educators into Advocates, Change Agents, and Highly Qualified Special Educators--based at the University of…

The Common Core of Standards project has strong national support, but it will not succeed if it doesn't involve teachers in grassroots development activities. The initiative should involve local consortia of schools in working with the new standards, assessments, and support tools. Local teachers would design teaching units and then share these…

This article presents an interview with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In this interview, Duncan talks about the goal for his work leading American schools and how merit pay, charter schools, and mayoral control would improve student learning.

A student who is also an administrative assistant offers his analysis of the ideals that are agitating students. (Author)

Among the important factors in the success of organized change efforts involving local schools are direct personal contact of local entrepreneurs and internal advocacy groups, moral and technical support of the district administration, access to interpretive information about new ideas and teaching programs, and faculty acceptance of innovation.…