Today we look to determine teaching quality through a combination of observation, surveys, and test scores. These measures fail to answer the most important question about quality teaching: How is it accomplished? How has this teacher used questioning today, and what drove their decision to do so? How has this teacher structured independent…

Leading education thinker Sir Ken Robinson says transformation is essential to bring creative thinking into schools and recommends three major changes: Dispense with subject hierarchy, focus on curricular disciplines instead of subjects, and elevate personalization. Change will come when students take ownership of their learning to fit their needs…

This article reports on a study of teachers who have engaged in systematic research about their practice. It describes the inquiries of two urban teachers into challenges and dilemmas common to many who work with diverse groups of students. The accounts presented reveal how teachers are able to construct new knowledge about teaching when they…

The author, a 5th-grade teacher at an independent boys' school, gives a first-person account of how her constant assessments and requirement that her students be active participants in their own learning gainsays the need for high-stakes, standardized testing. She posits a "living assessment" that is intertwined, interactive and…

Flipping the classroom is one of the hottest new educational ideas that promises to increase student engagement. However, recent research suggests that not all content areas are equal when it comes to flipping. English language arts and humanities-based subjects may not benefit as much as math and science classes and, in fact, decrease student…

The best hope for accelerating much needed improvement in student achievement is by using a range of pedagogical and technological innovations that deliver personalized learning to each student. The authors examine three school initiatives across the country that are using technology and new teaching methods successfully to drive student…

Researchers at the Center for the Study of Curriculum at Michigan State University have developed a tool to help teachers implement the Common Core State Standards in mathematics by letting standards, not textbooks, guide their instruction. Using the web-based Textbook Navigator/Journal, teachers can pick a standard and ask which portions of the…

The Common Core math standards promote several important differences in how math concepts are taught and should be talked about. These changes will make it easier for younger students to comprehend and adapt to more complex concepts in the later grades. This guide should help elementary teachers make changes and adaptations that are in line the…

Students in today's classrooms vary greatly in background, cultures, language proficiency, educational skills, and interests. To best meet students' diverse needs, teachers must differentiate their instruction. The authors argue that the current differentiation conversation focuses almost exclusively on lesson planning, but instead…

Helping students become responsible for their own learning is an incredibly challenging task since it requires transforming their previous, passive "sit-and-get" learning style into a go-and-get orientation. The authors present a collection of eight schools that offer valuable examples of how to develop students as self-directed…

The Common Core generally eschews mandating texts in favor of promoting critical analysis and rigor. So it's significant that Shakespeare is the only author invoked in imperatives. His explicit inclusion offers a significant opportunity for educators to rethink how we approach Shakespearean instruction. Rather than the traditional learning of…

For students to learn 21st-century skills, we will have to teach them differently than we have in the past. The outdated, transmission model, through which teachers transmit factual knowledge to students via lectures and textbooks, remains the dominant approach to compulsory education in much of the world, yet it is not the most effective way to…

Tutoring has become a familiar tool that schools use to reinforce classroom teaching and improve student achievement. That's especially been the case because of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and its provisions for supplemental education. Educators faced with developing or supporting tutoring services for students should consider five practical…

After providing technical assistance to the federal Smaller Learning Community Program grantees, the authors developed five lessons for successful programs: 1) A strong vision of improved instruction needs to drive high school reorganization; 2) A strong vision of improved instruction focuses on strengthening the instructional core; 3)…

Reformers hope that by unbundling schools--taking apart the current structures and routines and putting them together in new ways--we can create better schools. But there is no guarantee that it would improve schools in three areas that we know matter: coherence and infrastructure, the instructional core, and political accountability. However,…