While we are seeking new ways to ensure students' academic success, we must ensure that we are not neglecting their need for physical activity. As we innovate to improve academic success, we can also seek ways to overcome the challenges of space, time, and behavior management to reap the benefits of movement, which include increased student…

The decline in middle school students' motivation and engagement during young adolescence remains a concern for educators, administrators, and educational researchers. This article draws on the philosophies of providing the appropriate person-environment fit and meeting students' basic psychological needs to enhance teaching and learning. These…

Developmentally appropriate homework plays a critical role in the formation of positive learning beliefs and behaviors, including a belief in one's academic ability, a deliberative and effortful approach to mastery, and higher expectations and aspirations for one's future. It can prepare children to confront ever-more-complex tasks, develop…

The international comparison and competitive focus on (academic) performance, together with the growing awareness that early years impact children's learning and development in education as well as over a lifetime, has resulted in heightened political interest in the learning of the youngest children. Politicians take action to achieve what they…

The New York State Department of Education (NYSED) has been supporting selected districts in the planning and implementation of PreK-3rd Grade systems. NYSED is supporting the use of the Framework for Planning, Implementing, and Evaluating PreK-3rd Grade Approaches developed by Kauerz and Coffman (2013). Recognizing the ultimate goal of PreK-3rd…

This article focuses on the development of assessment tools to enhance the acquisition of the grade-level outcomes developed in the K-12 curriculum. Physical education is one of the few educational programs that does not have a multitude of available state and national tests to measure student progress. This distinction has been both a strength…

"Solve for x." While many people first encountered this enigmatic instruction in high school, the last 20 years have seen a strong push to get students to take algebra in eighth grade or even before. Today, concerns about the economy highlight a familiar worry: American eighth-graders trailed their peers in five Asian countries on the…

Motivation has long been viewed as a key element of learning. A study of over 300 high school juniors and seniors demonstrated that motivation was at least as predictive of achievement in a subject as was intelligence. Among younger students, motivation is a linchpin to learning, even at a time developmentally when overall motivation for…

In "Beyond Test Scores: Leading Indicators for Education," Foley and colleagues (2008) define leading indicators as those that "provide early signals of progress toward academic achievement" (p. 1) and stress that educators "need leading indicators to help them see the direction their efforts are going in and to take…

Providing high-quality education in juvenile justice secure care settings presents unique challenges for the administrators, teachers, and staff who are responsible for the education, rehabilitation, and welfare of youths committed to their care. The United States departments of Education (ED) and Justice (DOJ) recognize that while these…

Everybody knows that children's exposure to learning opportunities prior to age 5 has a profound and lasting effect on their success in school and beyond. Each fall, millions of children enter kindergarten; some of those 5-year-old children have a preschool education experience and some of those children do not. To ensure a child's learning…

Kindergarten has changed significantly in the last two decades: children now spend more time being taught and tested on literacy and math skills than they do learning through play and exploration, exercising their bodies, and using their imaginations. Many kindergartens use highly prescriptive curricula geared to new state standards and linked to…

Children are exploring elements of literacy and numeracy. Such explorations begin in the earliest days of life and are a natural outgrowth of children's curiosity and interest in how the world works. Based on experiences, children build a reservoir of knowledge about language, reading, and mathematics that they take with them to kindergarten,…

Well-informed teachers of young children recognize the importance of children's social development. The development of social skills lays a critical foundation for later academic achievement as well as work-related skills. Social development is such a key issue with young children that a number of methods to address social skills have been…

The developmental importance of peers in early adolescence creates an opportunity for school counselors to utilize group work to promote development and achievement. This article will review research on peer relationships and demonstrate how developmental forces in early adolescence are consistent with and related to therapeutic factors in group…