Despite progress in recent years, members of the LGBTQ+ community remain underrepresented and underserved in the school system. Ferial Pearson and Steven Gill draw on research literature and their own experiences as out queer educators to recommend a set of actions educators can take to reduce harm to members of these communities in school. They…

As school and district leaders become more aware of how racial bias and racism affects interactions within the schools, some have sought to provide anti-bias training to faculty and staff. Drawing on the research into anti-bias and racial equity training, and their own experiences, Gislaine Ngounou and Nancy Gutierrez explain why it is beneficial…

In the past decade, research-practice partnerships (RPPs) have grown in number and reputation. Stephanie Brown and Annie Allen describe the varied ways partnerships facilitate more sustained and productive relationships between researchers and practitioners. They share key findings from a comparative case study of three different types of RPPs…

The education model in which a single teacher instructs a single classroom of students has been remarkably persistent, but teacher shortages, low morale, and poor teacher retention are signs that it's not working well for teachers. Ray Reutzel and Parker Fawson describe how Utah's Center for the School of the Future is seeking to redesign the…

Teacher activist groups (TAGs), which are formed both locally and through online communities, appear to be a growing force in response to the more corporate-driven reform movement of recent decades. The author explains how TAGs seek to influence education policy and practice through organized collective actions, such as protests, letter-writing…

In a recent qualitative coaching study of a single district, Evthokia Stephanie Saclarides and Sarah Theule Lubienski observed tensions within a coaching structure in which teachers had to be the ones to initiate professional development with a coach. Specifically, the Teacher's Choice structure heightened coaches' difficulties gaining access to…

Kappan editor Rafael Heller interviews Annette Lareau about her research into different experiences of childhood and family life. In her observations of families of different social classes, she learned that upper-middle-class families approach parenting as an act of "concerted cultivation" requiring ongoing attention, making them more…

Black students may have little choice in what social burdens they must bear, but educators have a choice in alleviating them. Schools with a genuine commitment for disrupting inequities find ways to lighten the unenviable burdens black students bear. The author recommends that schools disaggregate data by race, provide ongoing professional…

Racial stress and trauma negatively impact the psychological and academic outcomes of Black youth. Riana Elyse Anderson, Farzana Saleem, and James Huguley encourage parents and teachers to explore racial experiences and resulting stress and trauma through racial socialization, or competent conversations and behaviors regarding race and racism, to…

Whether they work in a rural, urban, or suburban district, all teachers should expect to confront children who have had adverse childhood experiences involving trauma. All teachers should understand how trauma affects students' social, emotional, and academic growth. The more that teachers understand how traumatic experiences affect student…

For more than a generation, education leaders have advocated for policies at federal, state, and district levels to support the spread of teacher leadership. And yet, teacher leadership has not taken hold in either a strategic or systemic way. Why? Perhaps, as Atul Gawande said of the medical industry, while good ideas abound, not all of them…

School districts shape the conditions in which schools operate and as such can support or undermine school success and thus student success. All of which is to say that school districts matter. This article looks at the success of two districts whose low-income and minority students beat the odds in academic achievement. Lessons from these…

The original vision of a charter school called for heavy doses of professional teacher contribution throughout all aspects of curriculum and administration. Unfortunately, that is not how charter schools have evolved. Until now. The Minnesota Guild of Public Charter Schools is the first union-sponsored entity created for the sole purpose of…

Teaching Residents at Teachers College (TR@TC) is an 18-month program that prepares teachers for high-needs schools in New York City in two areas: teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and teaching students with disabilities. Student teachers, called residents, spend a year working with a mentor teacher. Mentors play three roles:…

Society's demand for specialization discourages teachers from becoming skilled generalists. The result is intellectual impoverishment for schools and children. The greatest challenge is teaching students to think in holistic terms. Students must look beyond telecomputing to explore ideas and discover how technology itself is shaping their…