College and career ready is the new mantra in education—it's what students must be when they leave our secondary schools. My school district, Dorchester County Public Schools in Maryland, includes the phrase as...

We asked Debby Dodge, grant manager for Lead2Feed/Lift a Life Foundation, a series of questions about the important part service learning and common vision play in developing caring, compassionate young...

Common Core Standards and 21st century skills, with their emphasis on communication through listening and speaking, are a good fit for middle grades students who thrive on interaction. Case in point: my sixth...

Children like to explore, wander, and discover new things. This natural curiosity drives their active participation in the process of learning and discovery. Their curiosity sparks questions about unfamiliar...

It’s 1 p.m. I have just given my sixth grade science class an assignment reviewing several concepts and key vocabulary words related to energy. The students are free to use their textbooks, past assignments, and...

For years, teachers have rightly complained that tests encourage them to focus on a narrow set of knowledge and skills rather than the broader set of abilities they know their students need. Now, however, the testing...

"Writing in mathematics gives me a window into my students' thoughts that I don't normally get when they just compute problems. It shows me their roadblocks, and it also gives me, as a teacher, a roadmap," says Maggie...