When students have a strong sense of belonging in their school community, they are more likely to thrive academically. In a study of 55,000 secondary school students across the United States, Challenge Success found further evidence of the bilateral relationship between students' experiences of academic engagement and their sense of belonging,…

The physical, psychological, cultural, social, and organizational elements of a learning environment are as important as the learning opportunities themselves. The Apple Store blends retail and school into a new type of learning environment that lets the customer learn anything, at any time, at any level, from experts, expert practitioners, and…

Though there has been increasing interest in character education among policy makers and education professionals, many schools hesitate to do anything that might detract from their focus on increasing academic performance. The authors present evidence indicating that this may be misguided. (Contains 13 endnotes.)

A study of "excellent" teachers in four districts found that high school classes with higher achieving students had better instructional support and that teachers deemed excellent were not necessarily practicing state-of-the-art techniques. Correlates of effective teaching were subject-matter confidence, high-quality explanations,…