In their article "Mindfulness and discussing 'thorny' issues in the classroom" Konstantinos Alexakos et al. ("Cult Stud Sci Educ," 2016. doi: 10.1007/s11422-015-9718-0) describe "thorny" issues as "difficult topics to discuss because they are more personal to some perhaps even cause pain and violence." As…

Emotion researchers have grappled with challenging methodological issues in capturing emotions of participants in naturalistic settings such as school or university classrooms. Self-reporting methods have been used frequently, yet these methods are inadequate when used alone. We argue that the self-reporting methods of emotion diaries and…

Revision is a challenging step of the writing process and students often focus their attention to mechanics or grammar instead of making organizational and meaning changes. It is important for students to critically read and independently evaluate their work when revising. This practitioner article discusses the importance of genre-specific…

Background: Virtual schools--free, state-funded, credit-awarding elementary and secondary schools offering curricula and programs exclusively online--are a rapidly expanding sector of U.S. education. Some of the largest of these schools have low graduation rates and receive "failing" rankings on state accountability metrics. They…

Purpose: Apprenticeships are now usually seen as a model of education focused on occupational preparation, albeit manifested in different ways across nation states. However, throughout human history, the majority of occupational preparation has been premised upon apprenticeship as a mode of learning. That is, a preparation arising mainly through…

Challenging behaviors of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may occur for a variety of reasons. These behaviors can contribute to the emotional burnout of teachers and impact the learning and safety of the student with ASD and his or her classmates. Physical education is one educational context where high and multiple risks of…

In this commentary, the author examines some contributions of the New London Group's theory of a pedagogy of multiliteracies, as well as recent critiques of how this framework has been applied in literacy research and instructional practice. She draws on her research with transnational youths--young people who claim multiple national affiliations…

Cassidy, Ortlieb, and Grote-Garcia (2016) have penned an important and insightful article. This reflection on the impact of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS; National Governors Association [NGA] Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010) through the lens of "What's Hot, What's Not" for two…

The work of instructional coaches, both general and discipline-specific, has become increasingly important as more schools rely on their leadership for improvements in teaching and learning. Much of their work hinges upon their effective communication with teachers and school administrators. This article outlines five practices for instructional…

The authors of this article concede that Annmarie Guzy's lead article for this volume of "Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council" speaks of a familiar challenge in the Eastern Kentucky University Honors Program. The nearly universal and dramatic increase in the number of AP, IB, and/or Dual Enrollment credit hours among their…

Effective grading practices in the classroom as well as reporting practices such as standards-based grading (SBG) is one way to report learning (Marzano, 2010). The focus of this particular study was to address alternative ways to tackle the issue of grading and grade reporting in comparison to the traditional grading methods. Specifically, this…

Top-down mandates concerning the curriculum of the school leave no room for program creativity and program commitment. Yet principals and teachers are held accountable for student achievement results. Constitutionally, powers not granted to the United States are reserved to the States or to the people. This book's primary purposes center on the…

This book examines how the use of the "at-risk" category and label creates problems for students and teachers. Drawing from research across various education sites, the author illustrates how educators recognize the label's potential to redress issues of equity, but warns that it can also stigmatize the students so labeled. Brown…

Given the positive impacts of the small, stand-alone early college model and the desire to provide those benefits to more students, organizations have begun efforts to scale up the early college model in a variety of settings. These efforts have been supported by the federal government, particularly by the Investing in Innovation (i3) program.…

It is important that stakeholders are aware of practices supported as effective for students with learning and behavioral disabilities in order to provide instruction that results in improved learner outcomes. Perhaps equally important, stakeholders should also know which practices have been shown by research to be ineffective (e.g., have no,…