The author believes that happiness equals success. Which is why, at age 50, the author fears retirement. The author believes that he may have found the fountain of youth for his spirit: the joy of teaching children, living in his community, and getting to witness learning. The author loves what he does. By asking he got to this point, he hopes the…

Across the country, paraprofessionals in cities are primarily Black and Latina women, and they are far more likely than teachers to live in the district and even the school zone where they work. However the percentages of Black teachers in major city school districts across the nation have declined, while the percentages of census-designated…

Almost 60 years have passed since Dr. James Comer last saw three of his elementary school friends, yet he vividly remembers them. They were African American boys just like him. They, too, came from two-parent homes, and their fathers also worked in the local steel mill. But unlike Comer and his siblings, these three youngsters did not take an…

More than a decade has passed since "American Educator" featured the work of Joy Hakim, a writer whose nonfictional accounts of history and science have long fascinated students and teachers alike. With the advent of the Common Core State Standards, and their strong emphasis on nonfiction, Hakim's accounts may prove useful to educators…

A man died last summer. At 78, he was neither old enough nor young enough for his passing to make news. His obituary was two paragraphs long. The "San Jose Mercury News" simply stated that Edward A. White was survived by "his brother Mike, his sister Mary and his many loving nieces and nephews." "As a passionate High School English Teacher" the…