Since the COVID-19 pandemic, tutoring has gained popularity as a strategy to improve the academic achievement of struggling students. Intensive, relationship-based tutoring is a highly effective academic support for many students. A range of tutoring approaches are available to accelerate young students' literacy. Sarah Novicoff and Susanna Loeb…

This article describes an approach to designing culturally responsive literacy centers. Aligned with Gholdy Muhammad's (2020) Historically Responsive Literacy model, we reimagine literacy centers as responsive to children from historically marginalized backgrounds. We present a five-question tool that teachers can use as they plan for literacy…

In Somalia, access to quality education has been severely weakened by decades of civil war, ongoing insecurity, and recurrent droughts and floods. Strengthening foundational learning through both formal and alternative pathways is critical, as out-of-school rates remain high -- 65 per cent at primary and 75 per cent at secondary. In 2024, working…

Learning how to regulate emotions is a significant developmental milestone in a child's life. It is important to understand which activities help children cope with emotionally distressing situations. One such activity, I argue, is drawing. In this article, I consider 2 ways in which drawing elevates mood in children: Drawing allows them to be…

Out-of-school-time (OST) programs have long focused on children's social and emotional development as part of their mission of building a culture of connectedness and positive relationships between youth and adults. Research demonstrates that high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are associated with positive…

The use of reward systems is common in education, particularly at the primary school level. Indeed, there are very few classes in primary schools in which such systems are not implemented. Token economy are used to encourage students to adopt appropriate target social and academic behaviors. However, consensus on their effectiveness is lacking. It…

This paper describes the Idaho Reading Coach Academy, which is part of the Idaho State Department of Education's (ISDE) K-3 literacy project, Striving to Meet Achievement in Reading Together (SMART). SMART is a multiyear cohort project that developed a statewide network of reading coaches who could provide direct support to participants. ISDE…

Text reading fluency is an important reading goal for all students. Students with a known reading disability often need systematic and evidence-based instructional supports to reach grade-level benchmarks in fluency. A recent focus on high-impact tutoring practices has given attention to the virtual or remote implementation of programs. This…

When Dr. Tina Lupton and Dr. Timisha Barnes-Jones joined the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Opportunity Culture implementation was happening in the midst of COVID. Lupton, the executive director of professional learning, and Barnes-Jones, the area superintendent for a network of 15 transformation schools, used their experience in other…

Low levels of mathematics and reading skills are associated with a range of negative outcomes in life, including reduced employment and earnings, and poor health. This review examines the impact of a broad range of school-based interventions that specifically target students with or at risk of academic difficulties in Grades K-6. The students in…

This collaboratively authored piece highlights Poetry Inside Out, a poetry translation program that creates new pathways for culturally and linguistically sustaining literacy education. In Poetry Inside Out, students collaborate to translate world-class poems from their original language (e.g., Spanish, Chinese) into English. Informing PIO's…

Peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) are an effective support for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) for improving targeted behavioral skills. As one of the most important strategies in PMI, peer prompting and reinforcement (PR) provides an effective approach for developing and maintaining positive behavior. This article provides…

Across the United States, many school leaders are engaging in systematic screening processes as part of integrated, tiered systems of support to meet students' multiple needs. Systematic screening is a key practice used to examine the overall level of students' performance for the school as a whole and identify students who may need additional…

In a time of social and political unrest and challenge, teaching mindfulness skills to the next generation is a wise investment that will bring positive rewards to all of our futures as we become better able to meet life's challenges. Arnett (2011) said there is a growing awareness of the unique challenges faced by young people in "emerging…

This article introduces an Australian adaptation of an approach to supporting school leadership and improvement pioneered by educationalists David Townsend and Pam Adams, from Alberta, Canada. Referred to as the North Coast Initiative for School Improvement, the adaptation involved school leaders, academics, and government officials who combined…