Freedom for most of the 4 million enslaved Black Americans in the United States was not granted when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Freedom came about in numerous ways and at different times. The status of Maryland's enslaved population was not decided until October 1864, when a statewide referendum on a…

In collaboration with the Arts Education Partnership, Education Commission of the States is turning its attention to STEAM education (adding the "A" for arts), which can promote a more comprehensive approach and provide state policymakers with more policy levers. Several states have already begun implementing STEAM education and are…

The NASA Goddard STEAM Innovation Laboratory is a Makerspace approach to bringing NASA's universe of knowledge into educational spaces around the country and to increase scientific literacy and interest in STEAM careers. Through a series of stations specializing in virtual reality, electronics, mobile sensors and 3-D fabrication, we have succeeded…

This special report looks at how arts-based charter schools in the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland and North Carolina provide access to arts education and integrate the arts schoolwide across curricula, community engagement and teacher professional development.

The literature on civic engagement in higher education is rich with examples of courses and programs that promote the development of students as engaged citizens in our democracy. However, few of them involve the arts. This fact is unfortunate because all forms of engagement with the arts is an important and effective means of achieving our civic…

On a given day, more than 43,000 youths who largely identify as students of color and are disproportionately male are held in residential placement facilities as a result of involvement with the juvenile justice system. More than two-thirds of youths living in placement facilities who participated in a national survey shared aspirations to…

The discretion provided to states under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers new possibilities for policymakers to determine how best to allocate resources and support policies to provide students with a well-rounded education. As states begin to examine new strategies for improving student outcomes and developing the next generation of…

While remaining cognizant of several aspects of current information literacy (IL) instruction methods, including threshold concepts, the author re-created experiences shared by students as she searched for, analyzed, and compiled resources pertaining to the Renaissance. Good IL instruction supports education of the whole person, develops new modes…