For many students, project-based learning (PBL) can be more engaging than more traditional instructional approaches. Over the past 15 years, Anna Saavedra and Amie Rapaport studied seven inquiry-based approaches. Their research shows that PBL has a positive effect on students' achievement and development of important soft skills. Schools can…

While the demands of teaching continue to escalate, teacher development has changed relatively little over time, leaving many of today's teachers feeling underprepared, overwhelmed, or demoralized with few opportunities to make real change. Teacher leadership holds promise for both addressing challenges within schools and empowering teachers.…

Teaching is a complex endeavor, and the pandemic era stretched teachers to their limit, leaving them in need of supports that ignite both their passion and capacity. The typical top-down mandates found in many schools need to be replaced with processes that meet teachers where they are, helping them grow so their students can grow, too. Ann…

Professional development in its current form falls short. It is unengaging, ineffective, and considered a waste of time by participants. At a time when the world is experiencing rapid change and schools are facing increasing scrutiny and mounting pressure to improve academic performance, we need professional development that works. Aleta Margolis…

After years evaluating teacher professional learning programs, researchers Andrew J. Wayne, Jordan Rickles, Mengli Song, Seth Brown, and Michael S. Garet describe a study that changed their perspective. The study's takeaways about the design of teacher professional learning are important for everyone who seeks to create systems to support teaching…

Given the time and resources invested in teacher professional development, it is important to find ways to extend positive outcomes over the long term. Judith Haymore Sandholtz, Cathy Ringstaff, and Jessica Triant investigated whether modest follow-up supports influenced the sustainability of outcomes for elementary school teachers who had…

While coaches can have a positive impact on teachers' practice and students' learning, in many school districts teachers have the autonomy to decide whether and when to work with a coach. Coaches then must work to gain access to teachers' classrooms. In a recent study of 28 content-focused coaches, researchers Jen Munson and Evthokia Stephanie…

In predominantly white and affluent communities, it is a common belief that race and racism are irrelevant because there is little to no racial diversity in these communities. Elyse Hambacher and Denise Desrosiers describe how a New Hampshire school district in a mostly white community navigates teaching and leading for social justice despite…

Socio-scientific issues provide a great platform to both engage students in scientific topics and assess their understanding of scientific concepts. Nancy R. Singer, Amy Lannin, Maha Kareem, William Romine, and Katie Kline report on the STEM Literacy Project, a three-year National Science Foundation grant that aimed to improve STEM teachers'…

Kappan's editor talks with Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, a leader in the international movement to translate findings from neuroscience into usable knowledge for educators. Topics include neuromyths (common, but erroneous, beliefs about how the brain works), the current scientific consensus about how people learn, and the contributions that the…

Educator Lauren Porosoff discovered the value of contextual behavioral science by accident, when accompanying her psychologist husband at a professional conference. Additional study of the subject convinced her of its benefits to educators and students -- and showed her the value of study outside her field. She encourages educators to seek out…

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…

Middle school teacher Michael Yell and education professor Geoffrey Scheurman discuss a decades-long partnership of ongoing professional development opportunities that involve teachers, university faculty, and teacher candidates working together to create personalized, meaningful, and sustained initiatives that enhance the growth and skills of all…

A new body of research shows that project-based learning (PBL) can be effective in improving students' academic performance and attempts to define some of the key practices that are essential to PBL. Kristin De Vivo summarizes key findings of four studies that covered multiple grade levels and subjects. The studies found that PBL is effective…

There is a long-held but inaccurate belief that new teachers' expertise and talent is mostly innate and that it peaks and plateaus within their first few years of teaching. William Slotnik and Bryan Goodwin explain that school systems need to abandon this conventional wisdom and instead build true talent development systems that support the…