It seems like everywhere you turn, you can find a study that says that the teacher is the number one factor impacting student achievement. No kidding, right? I think many of us in the field have known this for a long...

There's an alarming gap between middle school students' ability to read words and their ability to comprehend texts across various disciplines, according to "Adolescent Readers in Middle School," a white paper from...

Literacy initiatives have led to a steady increase in fourth grade reading scores since 1999, but according to research, the literacy levels of 13- and 17-year-olds have remained static for almost 40 years. Why do...

Principals at all levels know—and research supports—that fostering effective collaboration among their staff is one of the most powerful things they can do to elevate the level of learning for adults and...

When I talk to colleagues about being a “connected” educator, the first response is often “I don’t have time!” followed by “Why? What’s in it for me?” I can relate....

On a walk in my neighborhood, I passed by a relatively uneventful river birch standing near the sidewalk in the sunshine. I almost looked the other way when I spotted an interesting relationship happening in the...

Conference Networking 101 When considering whether to attend a professional development conference, most people look at who the speakers are and what the sessions will cover. But going to a conference isn't just...

The impact of a one-to-one computing initiative at a Midwestern urban middle school was examined through phenomenological research techniques focusing on the voices of eighth grade students and their teachers....

Teacher quality is an important school-level factor in student achievement (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005) and the focus of ongoing effort by policy makers and practitioners to ensure that all students have...

A professional learning community (PLC) is more than a group of individuals meeting together to read a common book or discuss a relevant issue. According to Huffman and Hipp (2003), PLCs are a way of working; "a...