In this time of COVID-19, continued and relentless violence against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, (BIPOC), organized resistance by many young people, and violent institutionalized attempts to suppress resistance, demonstrations and social change movements, what should educators be thinking about as we return to our college classrooms? In…

This narrative essay describes a basic writing instructor's engagement with student confusion in a hybrid Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) course. The story examines the ways confusion can mark sites of engagement for students and teachers and how ALP courses, in particular, might mediate effective (and ineffective) forms of confusion.

Educators of deaf and hard of hearing students must close the gap that too often exists between a student's grade level and his or her actual achievement. Delays in developing and using English can lead naturally to delays in overall academic performance, and sometimes the gap between the student's grade level and his or her academic performance…

In this ambitious issue, the reader is treated to an eclectic array of approaches to a pressing topic--How should educators consider the diversity of immigrant student experiences? With 1 in 4 students in classrooms coming from an immigrant-headed family, how should teachers be thinking about that student experience? Given that very few teachers…

The article takes the form of a letter written to pre-service or beginning teachers at the secondary level in the public school system. The letter acknowledges the attributes they bring to the profession (enthusiasm, optimism, creativity, and open-mindedness) and calls on them to make the most of and work to sustain these traits as they begin…

This paper is a commentary on how the student population of Canadian universities has changed with the arrival of international students. It discusses some of the issues that instructors have when teaching and interacting with their international students such as overcoming the language barrier, and being aware and respectful of cultural…

This article describes a teachers reflections on the matter of student expectations. Santini begins with a common understanding of the "Pygmalion effect" from research projects conducted in earlier years that intimated "people's expectations could influence other people in the world around them." In the world of deaf…

In this commentary, we discuss the lessons we learned from case studies of two African American mathematics teachers, thereby endorsing the claim made by the contributors to this special issue that the insights they gained are not restricted to mathematics teaching in nonselective urban schools but can also inform the field more generally. We then…

Educational policy in the U.S. currently centers on college and career readiness, with the spotlight is on high schools to meet higher expectations for students' literacy achievement. Ever-rising expectations are consistent with the U.S. standards movement, now in its third iteration. As funding for school improvement becomes increasingly scarce,…

What if teachers not only made clear the learning expectations at the start of each unit, but also helped students see where they stand in relation to those expectations? Students would realize what specific skills and understandings they most needed to work on and would clearly see the need for differentiation in the class. Dobbertin describes…

Accountability demands place tremendous pressures on high schools to meet specific standards. To satisfy demands, grading policies are becoming more liberal. Grade inflation is the result and a growing concern. This controversial subject contains a number of dangers. To combat the trend, teachers must realize the impact of grade inflation and take…

Paul Jablon's "The Synergy of Inquiry" (2014) is well-timed. The 2014 deadline set by No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002) for universal student proficiency has come and gone, and according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, "proficiency rates last year were below 50 percent for nearly every racial and ethnic group, in…

Christine McPhail formerly served as president at Cypress College in California and is founder and professor emeritus of the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program at Morgan State University in Maryland. She is the Managing Partner for The McPhail Group LLC and currently serves as a Leadership Coach for more than a dozen community colleges…

The Australian higher education sector has grappled, with little success, to increase the participation of students from lower socio‐economic status (SES) backgrounds. In this article I identify the ways in which the secondary school curriculum contributes to this outcome, and how universities are complicit in this process. Using data…

No Child Left Behind and its draconian test regime started more than 10 years ago, and in many states the testing juggernaut was already well under way. Due to a combination of their own constrained vision and current educational policy, in most cases students have this testing-is-the-only-option pedagogy reinforced when they get into classrooms.…