State-level leaders face a difficult challenge of determining where to invest scarce professional learning dollars. To address this challenge, a team of researchers and state-level science educators surveyed teachers to learn more about their vision for science education and what kind of learning opportunities they preferred. The survey enabled…

A persistent achievement gap for English learners (ELs) has prompted educators to search for contributing factors and pedagogical solutions. Research by Bruce Torff and Audrey Figueroa Murphy shows teachers' beliefs about rigor of curriculum may contribute to the problem; teachers supported less rigorous curriculum for ELs, evincing a "rigor…

The question of whether teaching is a profession, with all the status and responsibilities that entails, is not as settled as some believe. Emma García and Elaine Weiss look at the requirements and characteristics of a profession and examine data from teachers and find that teaching, as currently experienced by teachers, does not measure up to the…

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…

Current career pathways initiatives recapitulate in many ways both the issues motivating the school-to-work movement of the 1980s and 1990s and its recommended solutions, notably more work-based learning, especially apprenticeship. But that movement's energy dissipated in the face of college for all. Nonetheless, some of its achievements and many…

Results on the National Assessment for Education Progress and the Program for International Student Assessment show that high school mathematics instruction is past due for a redesign. Despite calls for reform going back at least four decades, the structure of math instruction has remained largely the same. In April 2018, the National Council of…

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…

The move toward assessments that measure student growth, rather than just proficiency, has been perceived as an improvement in state accountability systems. However, Michael Watson explains that, for many students, these measures present an incomplete picture. Because they are based on grade-level assessments, any growth achieved by students who…

A question like "what do you want your children to be like when they leave your class?" seems simple on the surface, but it quickly becomes complex when teachers are asked to name, prioritize, and document the kinds of student learning and engagement they value most. This article shares the ongoing work of a regional learning community…

Amid already critical teacher shortages, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many teachers to leave the profession, but we know little about how it may affect teacher recruitment. Kayla Bill, Amanda Bowsher, Betty Malen, Jennifer King Rice, and Jason Saltmarsh conducted a survey and focus groups to explore how COVID-19 has influenced…

The Trump Administration's rollbacks in nutritional standards for school meals have been the subject of much criticism and the basis for a lawsuit. Research into food insecurity and public school meal quality shows that food security and high nutritional standards are essential to any efforts to improve both school equity and student performance.…

There is substantial evidence on the effectiveness of many forms of advanced education, especially various approaches to acceleration, ability grouping, and curricular innovations such as structured curriculum and enrichment. Nonetheless, additional research on the ways in which advanced education impacts the learning and lives of students across…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are often criticized for failing to focus on real problems of teaching and learning and for failing to deliver improvement. That is where accountability comes into play. Strategic accountability distinguishes PLCs that are effective from those that are not. Everyone knows what accountability is, but the…

Kappan's editor talks with Queensland University researcher Anna Hogan about the rapid growth of commercial activity in Australia's schools and in school systems around the world. Private businesses have always sold textbooks, classroom tools, and other goods and services to public schools, and many teachers are happy to purchase and use them,…

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…