TeachThought

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

Don’t Use Physical Education As Punishment contributed by Dr. Kymm Ballard, Executive Director for SPARK Think about any time you’ve seen “army boot camp” portrayed in pop culture — are you picturing the traditional drill sergeant, ordering his troops to do endless laps and push-ups, as punishment for their errors that day?

Education 300

Education Elementary School Psychology Classroom Management 300

ED Surge

MARCH 26, 2025

The summer before I entered the fourth grade, my mother informed me that I would be attending a new school in my same community with one caveat: it was a class in the gifted and talented education (GATE) program. Before that moment, I was blending in with my peers and navigating the typical challenges of elementary school.

Education 93

Education Advocacy Middle School Cultures 93

The Hechinger Report

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

BOSTON — When the Boston Public Schools opened the Margarita Muñiz Academy in 2012, it was a first-of-its kind dual-language high school meant to address issues faced by the city’s growing Hispanic population. The Muñiz Academy is an open-enrollment school, so administrators can’t restrict who attends.

High School 112

High School Heritage Economics Cultures 112

The Hechinger Report

JULY 14, 2019

I first was assigned to an elementary school in a middle-class suburb of Philadelphia. Then I got to a middle school in the same district in a neighborhood with kids who were less economically advantaged. Here’s what is missing in music education: cultural and social relevance. Many arrive with limited English.

Cultures 111

Cultures Education Middle School Tradition 111

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 10, 2010

Although I could envision some benefits of a 1:1 program in my school, I had no plans to pursue implementing one. Little did I know that I would be leaving with a wealth of information that could have the potential to radically transform the learning culture at New Milford High School.

K-12 271

K-12 Elementary School Professional Development History 271

ED Surge

APRIL 29, 2022

As workplaces, schools can intentionally structure systems and provide resources that decrease some of these barriers, such as addressing the scarcity of dedicated services and supporting educators through convoluted insurance hurdles that make it even harder to seek professional help.

Cultures 120

Cultures Education Elementary School High School 120

The Hechinger Report

JANUARY 27, 2017

Mia Clough, an 11th-grader, shares ideas for a code of conduct during the Drop the Drama class at Pittsfield Middle High School. Her hair was neatly divided into two braids, and she was in her usual seat in her ninth-grade classroom at Pittsfield Middle High School in rural New Hampshire. Photo: Jim Vaiknoras.

High School 92

High School Elementary School Leadership Teaching 92

The Hechinger Report

APRIL 26, 2019

I wouldn’t put my parents through this just to go to school in the United States.” SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Desirée Morales Díaz didn’t choke up when she recounted how her high school counselor hadn’t heard of the common application, the form widely used by college admission offices on the mainland. And that’s when I said no.

High School 111

High School Economics Psychology Political Science 111

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 24, 2024

I have a closer view of the effects of school board decisions than most school board members. Related: Do fraught school board meetings offer a view of the future? I ran for the Littleton Elementary School District governing board while I was 17, and was elected while finishing out my senior year of high school.

Elementary School 142

Elementary School Government High School Public School 142

The Hechinger Report

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

One hundred thirty-five students, four teachers, one giant classroom: This is what ninth grade looks like at Westwood High School , in Mesa, Arizona’s largest school system. There, an innovative teaching model has taken hold, and is spreading to other schools in the district and beyond. 18, 2022, in Mesa, Arizona.

Elementary School 142

Elementary School High School Teaching Private School 142

ED Surge

DECEMBER 20, 2021

In my experience as a middle and high school math specialist, I’ve rarely heard any adults (including math teachers) report many positive memories of their early experiences with math at school. In fact, elementary school educators have some of the highest levels of math anxiety compared with other fields of study.

Elementary School 144

Elementary School Humanities Cultures Research 144

The Hechinger Report

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

In Maggie Waldner’s elementary school classroom in downtown Denver, math lessons rarely focus on rote memorization. This is what culturally responsive instruction looks like in STEM education. This is what culturally responsive instruction looks like in STEM education. Especially the girls.

Cultures 145

Cultures High School Elementary School Teaching 145

The Hechinger Report

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

I urge fellow superintendents from all racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds to act now. That’s what we are doing inWaukegan public schools in Illinois, which serve a diverse population of about 14,000 students from preschool through high school, near Lake Michigan, about 10 miles south of the Wisconsin border.

Leadership 121

Leadership High School Elementary School Community Engagement 121

The Hechinger Report

MAY 31, 2023

This story also appeared in The Boston Globe Mejía and her husband, Spanish-speaking immigrants from the Dominican Republic, only later learned that Joangel, now 7, would have been an ideal candidate for one of the four elementary schools in Boston that teach students in both English and Spanish, Joangel’s first language.

Elementary School 128

Elementary School High School Cultures Tradition 128

The Hechinger Report

AUGUST 27, 2020

and Rosa Parks at her Katy, Texas, elementary school in the Houston area. I still see so many issues where our walk is not matching the talk,” said Leary, who is white and leads a school where, she says, 62 percent of students are white. Some school leaders have welcomed that opportunity, and others have not, Leary said.

Teaching 145

Teaching Elementary School Social Justice American History 145

ED Surge

MAY 7, 2024

Viridiana Martinez’s family immigrated twice when she was in elementary school — once, from Mexico to Canada, and a second time to the United States. With each move, she had to learn a new language and adjust to a different culture. There was a shift in culture and in school. I have been in California ever since.

Tutoring 125

Tutoring Elementary School Psychology Cultures 125

Digital Promise

MARCH 15, 2022

Since launching in 2021, more than 200 teachers from schools and youth organizations across 48 countries have engaged with the Ciena Solutions Challenge , a global design challenge launched by Digital Promise and Ciena that invites middle and high school students globally to design solutions that address the U.N.

High School 127

High School Elementary School Middle School Cultures 127

Digital Promise

AUGUST 4, 2015

In South Fayette, a suburban and rural district of 2,700 students near Pittsburgh, it’s woven into the district culture, as well as the core curriculum at every grade level. Students start with block-based code in early elementary, before transitioning to text-based code in middle school, where they can start to develop their own apps.

K-12 107

K-12 Middle School Elementary School Library 107

The Hechinger Report

NOVEMBER 28, 2018

The first schools to implement what Public Impact calls an “Opportunity Culture,” did so during the 2013-14 school year, and Edgecombe County Public Schools is set to become the first district to bring the model systemwide. Swanson said that Opportunity Culture could be transformational. “We

Elementary School 111

Elementary School Advocacy Cultures Public School 111

ED Surge

MARCH 28, 2023

First up is AJ Jacobs, an undergraduate in his junior year at Winthrop University who is studying to become an elementary school educator. It was in elementary school. My mom worked at the elementary school I went to. I was a senior in high school when the pandemic started.

Elementary School 110

Elementary School Middle School Leadership High School 110

The Hechinger Report

FEBRUARY 4, 2024

The accelerated track in middle and high school drew mostly from elementary schools in affluent neighborhoods, where students tended to perform better on a pre-algebra placement test that they had one chance to take as fifth graders. At Union High School, an Algebra II position remained vacant for more than a year.

Tutoring 140

Tutoring Middle School High School Elementary School 140

Teaching American History

JANUARY 28, 2025

Initiated by black church leaders, who had invited several trusted white clergymen and business leaders to work with them, this citizens committee were planning the integration of Belmonts schools and businesses. Later, when I reached high school, I talked with my father about how hed helped to locally implement the Brown decision.

Education 59

Education American History Junior High History 59

The Hechinger Report

JULY 18, 2022

I am a lifelong educator and former New York City public high school English teacher, so these statistics have faces for me. For this reason, in many countries , school, and formal reading instruction, doesn’t begin until age six or seven. Only 37 percent of U.S. Thinking of U.S. Later, they multiply with decimals.

Elementary School 120

Elementary School Tutoring High School Teaching 120

The Hechinger Report

MAY 12, 2024

They also called education “the most important function of state and local governments,” the “very foundation of good citizenship” and “a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values [and] in preparing him for later professional training.” Seven decades later, those words ring truer than ever. Integration.

Economics 137

Economics Elementary School Public School Cultures 137

The Hechinger Report

MAY 20, 2024

That said, the effort has come with challenges: Northgate spent many months getting buy-in from school staff and families at a time when school-based mental health had become a target of the culture wars elsewhere. Related: Mental health: Is that a job for schools?

High School 136

High School Cultures Elementary School Professional Development 136

The Hechinger Report

MAY 13, 2022

Nearly every classroom at Story Creek Elementary School offers sweeping views of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains that surround the Gallatin Valley here in southwest Montana. A bulldozer sits idle during a break on construction of new homes near Story Creek Elementary School in Belgrade, Mont. BELGRADE, Mont.

Charter School 130

Charter School Elementary School High School Middle School 130

The Hechinger Report

JULY 5, 2022

In a simulation exercise across nearly 100 large school districts, the academics were able to redraw elementary school boundaries to reduce racial segregation by 12 percent while cutting almost one minute off of students’ average commuting time. Gillani’s tool directly redraws school boundaries based on children’s races.

Elementary School 128

Elementary School Economics Community Engagement Public School 128

The Hechinger Report

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

But a large study of a million elementary school students and nearly 35,000 teachers in North Carolina found that Black teachers aren’t always better for Black students. The race of the teacher didn’t affect the academic achievement of Black students in third through fifth grade across eight school years, from 2009-10 to 2017-18.

Elementary School 145

Elementary School Economics Research Teaching 145

The Hechinger Report

APRIL 18, 2023

While districts scramble to fill vacancies, schools must do a better job not only hiring diverse teachers, but also keeping them on board. When children have exposure to school leaders from a variety of cultures, they do better both in K-12 classrooms and in our communities. These adults connected with me culturally.

K-12 125

K-12 Cultures Elementary School Public School 125

ED Surge

JANUARY 23, 2024

For a while, she actually thought she might go into the hospitality industry — and pursued a related career and technical education (CTE) pathway at her high school. In 10th grade, for some extra cash, Campbell signed up to tutor elementary school students through a literacy program in her hometown of Washington, D.C.

Tutoring 127

Tutoring Social Justice Elementary School High School 127

The Hechinger Report

JULY 3, 2023

Yet, despite the gains I made with my students, despite research that shows the substantial positive impact of teachers of color on all students, despite the fact that having just one Black teacher in elementary school makes a Black child 13 percent more likely to go to college , my career nearly ended shortly after it began.

Social Justice 144

Social Justice Leadership Elementary School Professional Development 144

The Hechinger Report

NOVEMBER 23, 2022

Elizabeth Menéndez teaches kindergarten at Dos Puentes Elementary School, where students find support and understanding on their path to mastering both English and Spanish. At Dos Puentes Elementary School, kids can browse classroom libraries stocked with books in English and Spanish. public schools.

Elementary School 128

Elementary School Middle School Library Research 128

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 16, 2019

Trombone players in the David Douglas High School Marching Band march in the Starlight Parade in downtown Portland in June. He’s setting aside most of the money for college, but some goes to feed a school-year habit he just can’t kick: playing the trombone. Anna Medina, a high school flutist in Portland, Oregon. “We

K-12 104

K-12 Elementary School Middle School High School 104

ED Surge

JANUARY 10, 2022

Without a significant change in the economics of education, changing the grammar of schooling is actually the most realistic approach. How could school work if teachers only taught 4 days out of a 5 day school week? At elementary schools, we’d have to get rid of the 1 teacher/1 class/5 days equation.

Teaching 145

Teaching Elementary School K-12 Advocacy 145

Digital Promise

DECEMBER 1, 2020

For example: Micro-credentials were the catalyst for 18 elementary school educators who collaborated to create a school-based program that promoted families as partners in education. For many high school seniors, the pursuit of college dreams fell to the wayside during the pandemic.

Elementary School 117

Elementary School Economics High School Cultures 117

Digital Promise

DECEMBER 14, 2016

Beginning in fall 2014, the students and teachers at Burbank Elementary School in Hayward, California, embarked on a new and ambitious program to integrate arts across the curriculum. Through ConnectED, all 89 LCPS schools were able to get their own ArcGIS Online Organization from Esri. Here are just a few of their stories.

Education 105

Education K-12 Middle School Professional Development 105

The Hechinger Report

JULY 5, 2021

Franetta Sinsabaugh’s frustrations with her children’s schooling had been building for a long time. Too much of the school year revolved around preparing for Texas’s standardized tests. The student-to-teacher ratio at her twins’ East Austin elementary school was higher than what state law mandated, she said.

Elementary School 140

Elementary School High School Cultures Professional Development 140