The rapidly changing landscape of instructional materials in elementary education has involved both a wider range of available materials, particularly online, as well as increasing use of materials provided to teachers by other teachers on sites such as Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. In this commentary, I outline three key shifts in…

As an early Common Core booster, Michael Petrilli had hoped that by now--10 years after most states adopted the standards--the nation's schools would have logged tangible improvements in teaching and learning that resulted in higher student achievement. In this article, Petrilli reviews what Common Core is and discusses the work ahead that is…

The 10th anniversary of Common Core's launch offers the opportunity to take stock of the impact these nearly national standards have had on student learning, as well as their future prospects. In this article, Morgan Polikoff shares his view that the standards movement in general, and Common Core in particular, have achieved all they are going to…

The Common Core State Standards, released in 2010, were rapidly adopted by more than 40 states. Champions maintained that these rigorous standards would transform American education, but the initiative went on to encounter a bumpy path. A decade on, what are we to make of this ambitious effort? What kind of impact, if any, has it had on the…

There never seems to be enough time to teach everything that administrators, policy advocates, parents, legislators, and the general public think should be addressed in the elementary classroom. Each year, elementary teachers are asked to add more and more to their already crowded curriculum. Add to this the pressures of state standards and making…

Pedometers are great equalizers. They are wonderful for students who don't have the speed of other students, but can still keep up by taking as many steps as other students while improving their fitness level. In this article, teachers describe how they are using pedometers creatively in classes to impact the level of physical activity.

The traditional kindergarten program often reflected a rich but generic approach with creative contexts for typical kindergartners organized around materials (manipulatives or dramatic play) or a developmental area (fine motor or language). The purpose of kindergarten reflected beliefs about how children learn, specialized training for…

Enthusiastic elementary physical educators continually investigate effective ways to encourage students to engage in more physical activity. The most effective teachers look for interesting strategies and innovations that engage learners of all ability levels. A new innovation, the "Virtual Gym," addresses physical educators' concerns about…

A growing body of research in the fields of mathematics education and literacy supports the inclusion of children's literature with the teaching and learning of mathematics. When mathematics is couched within a story and presented using pictures and informal, familiar language, students can more readily grasp the mathematical ideas and concepts.…

Contemporary White cultural bias is a complex social pattering and possessiveness rooted in unchallenged assumptions and privileged status arising from historic and structural racism, classism, sexism, and suburbanism. A church school curriculum that reflects only the experience, language, and culture of writers, editors, and illustrators raised…