Although research has shown that having a school librarian benefits students, librarian positions are being cut in schools across the U.S. SLIDE -- The School Librarian Investigation: Decline or Evolution? -- examined federal data on school library staffing and interviewed 49 district leaders about their decisions to eliminate or add librarian…

People often think that power only flows downhill in school. The author draws on his own research observations, as well as the philosophy of Michel Foucault, to offer more nuanced insights. He explains that power is not a "thing" people can possess and that it flows in multiple directions, forming a web of influence. These insights…

Although the Common Core standards do not prescribe pedagogy or forbid playful learning, kindergarten teachers will find it challenging to maintain a playful classroom under this reform. Kindergarten teachers have to cover a more rigorous and accelerated curriculum now, and they are doing so in a context that rewards procedural teaching.

Thirty exemplary 4th-grade teachers in six states were interviewed to determine the factors that influenced their development. The teachers cited three influences on their development: specific kinds of professional development, collegial support, and a sense of engaged autonomy. They valued professional development that provided a systematic way…

A large-scale, nationwide analysis of Teach For America teacher turnover presents a deeper picture of which TFAers stay, which ones leave the profession and some suggestions about why they leave. The authors learned that nearly two-thirds (60.5%) of TFA teachers continue as public school teachers beyond their two-year commitment; more than half…

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,…

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…

Puts forth four hypotheses on the causes of declining Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. They are student drug use, the integration of ethnic minorities into the schools, teacher participation in collective bargaining, and humanistic education. (IRT)

Describes various influences on students' college choices, college marketing techniques, and the widening gap between college costs and the ability of students and their families to pay. Recommends more active communication, questioning, and sharing of vital information among public schools, colleges, students, and parents. Includes one figure and…

U.S. taxpayers score lower on the "Forbes" Misery Index than taxpayers of other industrialized nations. A recent report concludes that public-school students challenge their schools more than private-school counterparts. Low birth weight and demographic factors (gender, poverty, and race) affect Florida's burgeoning special-education…

Reports on the results of a survey of members of the organization, Professor of Curriculum, to determine which publications have influenced curriculum development since 1906. (IRT)

The modern school reflected modern society and the nuclear family; today's school mirrors the kinship structure and values of postmodern society and the permeable family. Assumptions of sociological differences, particularity, and irregularity are supplanting modernist beliefs in social progress, universality, and regularity. Children's competence…

As an art historian and reviewer, the author honors formal artistic categories, styles, and movements; as a parent and educator, she tries to expand the concept of art, to blur the distinctions between fine and applied art. Every child has a developing sense of aesthetics. Older children are particularly interested in artists' work outside school…

When a class of future teachers rated the nation's schools, local schools received higher grades than schools nationally. A follow-up essay disclosed that 97 percent of these college seniors obtained their information from newspaper, magazine, or television coverage. If 75 percent of Gallup Poll respondents gave local schools passing grades, media…

A study finds that American students are engaged with lessons only 54 percent of the time, due to external preoccupations and uninspired instruction. The Heritage Foundation's "No Excuses" report makes misleading correlations between scores, phonics, and socioeconomic variables. Florida housing prices reflect letter grades assigned to…