Scholarship that moves from research into practice shares characteristics that make it visible to teachers, friendly to their worldview, practicable for realities of K-12 schools, and easily sharable. That doesn't mean however, that it's good or effective. Connecting research and practice is important work, if only because it has the…

The economic purpose of getting a job, or getting into college in order to get a better job, has evolved into the de facto primary purpose of K-12 (and higher) education. Business model solutions are seen by businessmen as the answer to education problems. But the business models they advocate and help fund are not a good fit for education…

Fresh from teaching his first full school year the author reflects on his traditional teacher preparation path into the classroom and finds he was instilled with a common sense of ethics, compassion, a demand for reflective practice, and a robust guiding philosophy. As a college student, he learned theory and was able to augment that with…

A consensus is emerging about how school leaders affect school performance, and how important principals are to improved student learning. Yet the national reform policies--No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top (RTT)--incorporate assumptions about school and district leadership that are very much at odds with this research. NCLB and RTT call…

Economic, technological, and demographic developments have changed our world, and schools of education need to change to meet the new challenges. To help them meet these changes, the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship was designed to attract high-ability individuals to teaching careers in math and science in high-need urban and rural schools and,…

Teacher education no longer deserves the denigrating stereotypes it has had in the past. With students who are more academically able than those in the past and with promising new avenues for research, teacher education institutions are on the brink of a renaissance. In addition, the sheer size of the academic teacher education enterprise ensures…

Two scenarios are presented for the future of university-based teacher education programs. In one, the faculty either ignores or fights against the criticisms of these schools, resulting in the demise of schools of education. In the other scenario, schools of education lead the way in reforming their enterprise, leading to string and successful…

The United States should not allow itself to be sucked into a competition against developing nations such as China, says Chinese-born American scholar Yong Zhao in an interview with Kappan. Instead, the U.S. should cling to and enhance the characteristics that have made it great, encouraging creativity, flexibility, and curiosity among its…

Unbundling is the process of deconstructing established structures and routines and reassembling them in new ways. It can occur as structural unbundling, which concerns the physical structures and delivery systems of schooling, or as content unbundling, which concerns the scope and sequence of what is learned.

The philosophies behind teachers education programs and the classrooms where their students have their field experiences may be very different, especially in elementary classrooms since passage of NCLB. For students at Berea College, an institution with a unique history and mission, the disconnect can interfere with the prospective teacher's…

Traditional and progressive educators alike have endorsed the benefits of self-discipline, the idea being for students to override their unconstructive impulses, resist temptation, and do what needs to be done. But author Alfie Kohn suggests that the concept of self-discipline is actually problematic in three ways: It reflects a simplistic…

The question that Eric Jensen addresses in his article is whether brain research can provide a basis for educational practice. He debates John Bruer, president of the James S. McDonnell Foundation, and argues that brain research can, in fact, provide a basis for what educators do. Most of Jensen's article is devoted to showing ways in which brain…

Educational humanists must develop a more precise scenario for the future. (Author/LR)

Argues that the humanism movement is imperiled by ill definition, misunderstanding, and resistance. The author redefines it and calls for "real" humanists to advance the cause. (Author)