The author interviewed Dr. Carolyn Callahan, an eminent scholar in gifted education. The interview focused on Dr. Callahan's work on implementing gifted program in rural areas, and illustrated her suggestions for teachers, researchers, and parents on how to advocate for gifted students.

Measurement is an important component of K-grade 12 mathematics curricula. The concepts of area and perimeter of polygons are first introduced in third grade and serve as the basis for teaching in the upper grades. Without a strong understanding of measurement, students will struggle to meaningfully grasp three-dimensional measurement concepts…

Writing to persuade is an important writing purpose that students and learners need to develop and use both in their academic lives and in the workplace. The Common Core State Standards set specific expectations for students' opinion writing starting from Kindergarten. This article explains the use of response to reading as a way to introduce…

Now more than ever public education and multicultural education face daunting challenges. From federal efforts to privatize public education through vouchers, school take-overs, and charters, to the manner in which high-stakes testing has marginalized multicultural education in the curriculum and pedagogy of our nation's schools, and to the…

Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards (hereafter CCSS) contains a review of the research stressing the importance of being able to read complex text for success in college and career. The research shows that while the complexity of reading demands for college, career, and citizenship have held steady or risen over the past half century,…

Although it's been almost seven years since many states took the important step of elevating their academic standards by adopting the Common Core, teachers and administrators across the country still bemoan the lack of reliable information about which instructional materials are high-quality and best aligned to the new standards. One recent survey…

This study focused on the use of a standardized reading assessment to examine reading comprehension among English language learners (ELLs) and English fluent middle school students, focusing on two text genres: informational and narrative. The Common Core State Standards require students to develop skills in both genres. However, ELLs may not…

This report is the third in a series by the Local Control Funding Formula Research Collaborative (LCFFRC). This research seeks to help policymakers and others better understand ways in which the LCFF is changing fundamental aspects of resource allocation and governance and how these changes might lead to improved student outcomes. The work is…

The widely publicized opposition to the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is in marked contrast to its relatively uncontroversial development and adoption--a contrast that points to the importance of understanding how the politics of enactment differs from the politics of implementation. In this article, we draw on the…

Until recently, reading instruction for early grades has focused on fiction. However, the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards both emphasize the reading of nonfiction texts to gain specific skill sets for analyzing information. Research has shown that gifted students and children with culturally/linguistically…

Interesting and engaging mathematics problems can come from anywhere. Sometimes great problems arise from interesting contexts. At other times, interesting problems arise from asking "what if" questions while appreciating the structure and beauty of mathematics. The intriguing problem described in this article resulted from the second…

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards for the 21st-Century Learner mandate that students are equipped with the skills they need to pursue lifelong learning. The Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and C3 Framework for Social Studies Standards all advocate for genuine student inquiry, and the…

Consistent with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSI 2010), the authors write that they have asked students to do statistics projects with real data. To obtain real data, their students use the free Web-based app, Census at School, created by the American Statistical Association (ASA) to help promote civic awareness among school…

Project-based learning (PBL) is an inquiry-based instructional approach that allows students to gain knowledge and skills by investigating and respond to engaging, complex problems or challenges. For some, PBL may seem like an unnatural fit in PE classrooms. However, this article describes how, with careful and creative planning, PBL can easily…

While the advantages of reading workshops are well known (Atwell, 1998), there is currently a debate among scholars, practitioners, and politicians about the use of instructional/independent level texts in light of the Common Core Standards' end-of-year requirement for students to be reading at grade level (National Governors Association Center…