Because housing instability can make it difficult for students to attend school, students experiencing homelessness (SEH) may become chronically absent. For this reason, SEH have lower graduation rates than their housed counterpants. Germany's second-chance schools give students an opportunity to catch up on their learning so they can take final…

A mastery-based learning model has limited value in secondary English classrooms, particularly as it relates to writing instruction. Kelsey Hammond and Chelsey Barber argue against the focus on standardized benchmarks that are tied to mastery-based models in favor of an approach to writing that is explorative, personal, and imaginative. The rise…

When Trudy Knowles needed a change in her elementary curriculum class, she decided to teach her students to juggle. Her excuse was that juggling would impress their future students, but she soon realized that learning a skill like juggling can give teachers a better understanding of how students feel when they learn something new. Here, she shares…

Anxiety, one of the most common underlying causes of challenging student behavior, typically goes undiscovered and unaddressed through school-based behavior supports. Jessica Minahan and Stuart Ablon combine their expertise as a behavior analyst and a psychologist to outline how best to support students whose anxiety leads to challenging behavior.…

Current ideas of what makes a school "good" are rooted in past anxieties about America's place in the global economy, argue Jon Valant. These anxieties have led to the prioritization of knowledge and skills needed for workforce success, with little attention to what is needed to build a cohesive society and stable democracy. Valant…

Teachers may be confused or put off by buzzwords like "design thinking," but the concept is a useful one: To solve stubborn, everyday problems of practice in schools, they should approach those problems strategically and systematically. Specifically, explain the authors, teachers gain new insights into challenges they face when they take…

Political dissent has played an important role in giving U.S. citizens a voice and promoting justice for all. But too often, Sarah Stitzlein argues, dissent is underappreciated, especially in schools. Stitzlein discusses the obstacles to teaching dissent, particularly political movements seeking to suppress curricula and ideas that are considered…

The educational experiences of Black and Latino males in K-12 are often riddled with unnecessary challenges and stresses that contribute to diminished academic outcomes. Adrian H. Huerta, Tyrone C. Howard, and Bianca N. Haro seek to highlight instead the importance of positive asset-based research and practice efforts focused on supporting Black…

Promoting cooperative social behavior is a major task of preschool teachers. Children are taught to be nice, be fair, and share. This mandate, however, runs up against the fact that young children are naturally egotistical and unable to appreciate the perspective of others. This leaves teachers with questions about how strongly they should push…

Despite the enthusiasm around social-emotional learning, the vast number of skills, dispositions, and attitudes we hope to infuse into students will overwhelm even the most ambitious schools. However, a single core capacity underlies a great many social-emotional learning outcomes: social perspective taking. Recent research on this process of…

Many schools and out-of-school organizations use social-emotional learning (SEL) programs to boost students' skills. Yet research shows that these programs can be difficult to implement and don't always meet students' needs. In response, Rebecca Bailey, Laura Stickle, Gretchen Brion-Meisels, and Stephanie Jones propose a new approach to SEL…

Children with autism may seem to not care about things or have the same range of emotions as those of us who see them and care for them. But they do have empathy and they can be taught how to communicate it, says the author, a teacher of children with autism. We simply need to listen to them, watch them, and be with them in their moment.

A specially designed English course at Model High School in suburban Detroit teaches high school students about disabilities in order to increase their knowledge and understanding. It also fosters opportunities for actual interaction with special needs students by training students to be peer mentors.

Educators are responsible for equipping young people with life skills. Self-awareness, intellectual curiosity, and empathy are capacities teachers should seek to imbue in their students, along with subject matter. There are several easy ways to do this that do not interfere with curriculum--Common Core or otherwise. These methods can be easily…

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…