Teacher evaluation systems can have high stakes for individual teachers, and it's important to ask how new evaluation models--including value-added measures--serve teachers as they strive to improve their practice. The authors interviewed teachers at a high-performing New York City school about their reactions to their value-added scores and…

The current political climate has created urgency around civic education. The authors argue that educators can best seize the moment by infusing authentic activities and experiences in content studies. They provide an example of one such hybrid instructional model from Democracy Prep Public Schools.

In the struggle to raise U.S. students' achievement in literacy, Hartnett-Edwards says, the emphasis has shifted from finding the right materials to creating better teachers. Central to creating better teachers are literacy coaches. The author claims that the role of literacy/reading coach has evolved beyond its roots in NCLB legislation, when…

A study of 13 American high schools reveals a disturbing lack of good teaching techniques. In the 525 classrooms visited, pretests and small group activities were seldom used. Teachers should learn to use a wider variety of learning materials and activities, ask more open questions, and require more essays. (JBM)

Through their involvement with the Coalition of Essential Schools, the two high school teachers profiled here reenergized their daily lives and motivated their students toward exciting learning gains. Both teachers changed their practices because their students were not responding as they had hoped. Students' roles have also changed, as they…

Inspired by Donald Schon's work "Educating the Reflective Practitioner" (1987), the authors create virtual worlds using an approach combining video technology and the case teaching method. This article describes two video series, "Mentoring the New Teacher" and "Becoming a Star Urban Teacher," aimed at enhancing the…

Researchers found that a Washington State fourth-grade teacher successfully met the demands of standards-based writing instruction without compromising her teaching stance or diverse students' learning. She instituted 15-minute class meetings to address student problems, read aloud from books with relevant characters, and used innovative,…

New neuroscientific knowledge is redefining possibilities for K-12 education. There are five critical variables in the brain's learning process: neural history, context, acquisition, elaboration, and encoding. This article tracks one student's unique brain activity throughout her school day to illustrate these variables. (MLH)

Schools across the country are experimenting with one-to-one laptop learning programs. The author's research team has studied 10 such schools--seven in California and three in Maine--and has found that laptop programs have great potential to help schools prepare students for the future. In this article, Warschauer warns that one-to-one laptop…