This November marks another anniversary of the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, an example appropriate to introductory science or physical sciences courses from grade school to university. The purpose of this brief submission is to add an element to this story, which, despite having been mentioned before, has not received the prominence it…

The case for ethnic studies is multipronged. It begins with the material itself: history and literature about the struggles and triumphs of people whose voices often have been omitted from traditional texts and classroom readings. A second layer of argument stresses the need for students to understand and discuss how various racial and ethnic…

Historically, students have had little influence over the design of education institutions or opportunities (Benner et al., 2019; Lac & Cumings Mansfield, 2018). Decisions about school policies, programs, and structures are primarily steered by administrators, policymakers, and teachers. In recent years, however, educators and policy advocates…

Through the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data (CCD), the U.S. Department of Education disseminates data on local educational agencies (LEAs), commonly known as school districts. During the school year (SY) 2018-19, the CCD recorded 13,711 LEAs with English learners (ELs) enrolled. This fact sheet looks more…

Personalized learning--learning that is connected to each individual's development, background, interests, and experiences--provides an approach that broadly and equitably supports educators' efforts to empower learners as individuals. Personalized learning offers a path to effectively support the growing diversity of the population of students by…

The Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts described in Version 3 of this guide represent content that does not fall neatly within traditional science disciplines, but rather supports a focus on integrated science. Many Fundamental Concepts illustrate more than one Essential Principle. This guide presents a vision of an ocean-literate…

A significant movement is underway across the nation to design K-12 assessment systems that better equip stakeholders to provide an equitable and excellent education to each child. While some of these innovations emerged before the pandemic, the massive disruption to instruction fueled a new urgency to rethink the potential of assessments to drive…

Voter turnout for school board elections is historically low, with tiny percentages deciding who governs schools. Columnist Jonathan E. Collins proposes a new federal holiday, School Board Election Day, to increase voter turnout and public involvement and interest in public schools. School board elections would be held on the same day nationally,…

Career development plays a crucial role in the overall growth of K-12 students. However, it often lacks an intersectional approach to address students' diverse needs. Consequently, there is a need for a comprehensive approach that recognizes students' distinct requirements and offers practical solutions. This conceptual article addresses the…

In 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that learning to read is a fundamental human right and failure to provide appropriate education for students with reading disabilities is discriminatory (Moore v. British Columbia, 2012). In Ontario, Canada's most populous province, the Human Rights Commission's inquiry in 2022 found the province's…

As the disruptive effects of COVID-19 on education have prompted conversations about remedial learning and learning recovery, the expectation is increasingly that schools are more productive in less time. This raises concerns regarding potential increase in the use of prescriptive curricula. While critiques regarding the usage of such curricula…

This brief emphasizes the importance of including the voices and experiences of students, families, staff, and community partners in educational decision-making processes. It provides five key considerations for schools to effectively engage with their educational partners, such as making authentic connections through listening sessions and…

This brief informs California's LEA leaders about approaches to sustainably modernizing school facilities to advance educational and health equity for students and briefly explores associated funding strategies.

Student engagement is one of the most promising concepts in educational research today, as it has been positively correlated to a host of desirable outcomes and negatively correlated to a variety of undesirable outcomes. While there has been tremendous progress in advancing our understanding of student engagement including the developing of…

This article describes an "Integrative Fourfold Approach" to teaching multiculturalism in secondary and higher educational settings. Four general approaches to teaching multicultural issues are presented, followed by critical reviews from each perspective of the other three approaches. Next, the authors propose a teaching approach that…