Popular online teacher curriculum sites offer time-strapped teachers lesson ideas and supplemental curriculum--but are these high-quality materials? Researchers Amber Northern and Morgan Polikoff examined several hundred of the most downloaded teacher materials for quality, depth of knowledge, and diversity--and the results might surprise you.

Despite the best of intentions on the part of overworked and undertrained classroom teachers, instructional planning can too often be described as idiosyncratic, haphazard, and lacking any logically or pedagogically defensible structure. In this article, Tim Westerberg highlights the importance of a unifying planning framework that ensures…

Too many rules restrict teenagers' freedoms and development. How can schools straddle the line between providing safety and harmony for students, but also giving them room to make their own mistakes and assert independence? Benson looks at the problem of too many rules, and how it not only harms students, but also interpersonal relationships…

For students to feel empowered in their learning, they must understand the language, purpose, and goals of assessment. Dueck argues that students need to understand what they are supposed to be learning and determine whether they actually learned it. Clear objectives and cooperative assessments can help with these objectives.

In recent years, American education has enthusiastically adopted the mantra of "college readiness for all." What's not to like about that? Frederick Hess says that although he considers college readiness an admirable goal, he has serious reservations about advocates, funders, and policymakers imposing this norm across all schools. His…

Principals are tasked with being the instructional leaders in their schools--developing teacher's abilities through formal and informal classroom observations and feedback. But how can school districts ensure that principals have the skills they need to fulfill this crucial role? In Clarke County School District in Georgia, central-office leaders…

Long stereotyped as not being interested in building relationships with teachers, boys actually search for--and are in need of--teachers who make meaningful connections with them, writes Reichert in this article. The author examines how school practices of the past and present have contributed to the so-called gender achievement gap and stresses…

People tend to misbehave when they find themselves in circumstances that threaten their well-being. When they feel vulnerable, misunderstood, humiliated, or betrayed, they're inclined to act out. Families do it at the dinner table, educators do it in faculty meetings, and students do it in classrooms. Why, then, do teachers often view their…

Principals have a substantial effect on the quality of learning in their schools. Likewise, districts have a substantial effect on the quality of their leaders. A growing number of large school districts are focusing on two objectives to strengthen school leadership: (1) building a pipeline of new principals who are ready to tackle the most…

Brain science reveals that there are two periods of heightened plasticity, a time when the brain is especially prone to change: The first period is from birth to age 3; the second is during adolescence. The author, Laurence Steinberg, suggests that this finding should stimulate interest in secondary education as an opportune time to intervene to…

For many emotionally troubled students, adults in their lives have acted like the mountain trolls featured in the Harry Potter books: scary, unpredictable creatures who can't listen and who respond to conflicts with the club of punishment. Although emotionally fragile students often "act out" or withdraw in ways that create problems, and…

The author has looked at four decades of scientific research on human motivation and found a mismatch between what science tells us and what organizations actually do. In this interview with "Educational Leadership," Pink shares his insights on how schools can create more optimal conditions for learning--and how they can dial up…

Many practitioners (and the public) highly value standardizing curriculum and instruction for students. They believe that common standards and instruction will produce equal opportunity--a value dear to most policymakers and educators, and to Americans in general. Yet educators and the public also prize individual excellence. Differentiating the…

The authors note that when it comes to balancing free speech and schools' responsibilities, the online world is largely uncharted waters. Questions remain about the rights of both students and teachers in the world of social media. Although the lower courts have ruled that students' freedom of speech rights offer them some protection for…

Educators and governments are paying increasing attention to international comparisons as they seek to develop effective policies to improve the performance of their education systems. Data from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are useful in revealing best practices across the world. Current data show that the United…