The Hechinger Report

MARCH 11, 2025

A mere five states require a one-semester middle school civics course, and our research shows that only New Hampshire dedicates instructional time for civics in grades K-5. Like Indiana, states should recognize civic excellence by offering civic seals to high school graduates.

Civics 69

Civics K-12 Middle School High School 69

Studies Weekly

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

Why Science Education Matters in Your Elementary School Classroom Feb. 26, 2024 • By Studies Weekly Science is a critical part of elementary education. The most recent National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education published in 2018 found that elementary teachers taught science for just 18 minutes a day on average.

Elementary School 52

Elementary School Education Lesson Plan Social Studies 52

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 11, 2024

In 2019, a group of researchers, led by James Kim, a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, randomly selected 15 of the district’s 30 elementary schools to teach first graders special knowledge-building lessons for three years, through third grade. Regular reading class was untouched in the experiment.

Learning Science 145

Learning Science Charter School Lesson Plan Social Studies 145

The Hechinger Report

AUGUST 19, 2020

I feel so defeated,” the mom wrote as she posted a screenshot of an e-mail she had just received from her young child’s elementary school principal into a parent’s group on Facebook. CLICK TO ENLARGE: A sample distance learning schedule for elementary school students in the Amherst Exempted Village Schools in Ohio.

K-12 143

K-12 Elementary School EdTech Social Studies 143

ED Surge

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Plenty of students find social studies lessons a bit dull. Eager to build a career out of his interest in social studies, he thought about museum curation, archival work and practicing law. I did go into an elementary school and I learned that I did not want to be an elementary school teacher.

History 128

History Museum Social Studies Geography 128

The Hechinger Report

APRIL 8, 2024

Wealthy suburbs can have a surplus of qualified applicants for elementary schools at the same time that a remote, rural school cannot find anyone to teach high school physics.

Elementary School 143

Elementary School Middle School Social Studies High School 143

The Hechinger Report

AUGUST 27, 2020

and Rosa Parks at her Katy, Texas, elementary school in the Houston area. They are advocating for core curriculum changes in social studies — specifically American history — classes. In June, with Sarah Frayer, an elementary school teacher and instructional coach in Washington, D.C.,

Teaching 145

Teaching Elementary School Social Justice American History 145

The Hechinger Report

AUGUST 13, 2024

But very few schools currently integrate effective literacy practices into content classes, according to experts on reading. That said, a handful of states and school districts are starting to explore the approach. Patty Topliffe (center right) and other English and social studies teachers at Woodstock High School, in Vermont.

High School 145

High School Teaching Primary Sources K-12 145

The Hechinger Report

MAY 21, 2018

Two studies on elementary schools published in June 2018 point to the importance giving teachers and students plenty of time to form relationships. Fryer convinced the Houston school district to randomly assign 23 elementary schools to adopt specialized teaching for two years, from the fall of 2013 to the spring of 2015.

Elementary School 112

Elementary School Economics Project-Based Learning Tradition 112

Studies Weekly

MAY 2, 2024

How to Celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month You may feel like you don’t have time to teach students about Asian Pacific heritage, but there are many fun ways to integrate this annual celebration with ELA, Math, Social Studies, and Well-Being.

Heritage 98

Heritage Museum Social Studies Artifacts 98

The Hechinger Report

APRIL 20, 2020

NEW YORK — Social studies teacher Karen Rose stepped out of New Rochelle High School last month for what will likely be the last time. Along with Rose, I contacted a middle and an elementary school teacher to see how they are faring. All are adapting to new platforms and trying to reach their students virtually.

K-12 142

K-12 Elementary School Social Studies Middle School 142

The Hechinger Report

SEPTEMBER 28, 2020

No matter whether elementary teachers return to physical or virtual classrooms, this will be a year for the history books. What’s less clear is how prepared elementary school teachers are to put these seismic events into context. Only 42 percent have said they felt very well prepared to teach social studies.

K-12 120

K-12 Civics Social Studies Geography 120

The Hechinger Report

AUGUST 27, 2018

A study of project-based learning found that social studies scores were higher for second-grade students who learned this way, compared to students who were taught traditionally. studied civics in the fall of 2016, they began by exploring a nearby park in Pontiac. Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report.

Project-Based Learning 111

Project-Based Learning Civics Historic Sites Social Studies 111

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 29, 2020

A student in a Mississippi elementary school reads a book in class. It should be a lot,” Blevins said, “and much of it happens during read-alouds, especially informational texts, and science and social studies lessons.”. Anders Rasmussen, principal of Wood Road Elementary School in Ballston Spa, New York.

Research 145

Research Elementary School Teaching Social Studies 145

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 29, 2020

A child reads a book at an elementary school in Mississippi. The reading wars are back, reignited by radio journalist Emily Hanford of APM Reports, who in 2018 began arguing that too many schools are ignoring the science of reading and failing to teach phonics. Photo: Terrell Clark for The Hechinger Report.

Social Studies 145

Social Studies Research Elementary School Teaching 145

The Hechinger Report

JULY 20, 2016

Because their elementary school teachers do too, says Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), a policy institute that studies what America can learn from the world’s best-performing education systems. Related: Elementary school teachers struggle with Common Core math standards.

Elementary School 0

Elementary School Social Studies High School Teaching 0

Digital Promise

MAY 15, 2018

Teacher specialization, a model in which teachers specialize in certain subjects and teach them to a rotating group of students, has a negative effect on student scores, attendance, and behavior in an elementary school setting, according to a working paper by Fryer, a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Teaching 83

Teaching Elementary School Pedagogy Social Studies 83

The Hechinger Report

APRIL 3, 2018

Ann Marie Lynam, seventh-grade social studies teacher, Baldwin Schools, Long Island. Lynam teaches seventh-grade social studies five periods each day, to students with severe special needs, to a mix of general and special education students, and to kids who are academically advanced.

Social Studies 106

Social Studies Elementary School Tradition History 106

The Hechinger Report

NOVEMBER 3, 2016

In the middle of all this activity, seventh-grader Jacob Higuera sat alone with his laptop, intently typing out a social studies assignment. It was only the fifth day of school, but he was already getting used to this unconventional classroom setup. Miranda Virgil, seventh-grade math teacher at Canyon Ridge Elementary School.

Elementary School 111

Elementary School Tutoring Middle School Social Studies 111

The Hechinger Report

AUGUST 19, 2024

Elementary school students in grades two to six were making slow progress, and remained behind. This teacher said that when in-person school resumed in her city in 2021, administrators discouraged her from reviewing old topics that students had missed and told her to move forward with grade-level material. “The One is phonics.

Tutoring 145

Tutoring Psychology Elementary School Research 145

Digital Promise

DECEMBER 2, 2019

Floyd County and Pikeville educators participated in a series of South Fayette School District classroom visits to observe students work and learn more about computing pathways. At the elementary school, the teams tinkered with the interactive digital stories children created using Scratch, a block-based programming language.

K-12 123

K-12 Middle School Elementary School Social Studies 123

ED Surge

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

Photo courtesy of Montgomery County Public Schools. Name : Chaula Butterworth Age : 54 Location : Rockville, Maryland Role : Paraeducator, general education Current age group : Elementary school, all grades (K-5) Years in the field : Four EdSurge: How did you get here? What brought you to your role as a paraeducator?

Elementary School 117

Elementary School Public School Private School Social Studies 117

The Hechinger Report

AUGUST 29, 2019

Leave this field empty if you're human: Danvers, a town about 20 miles north of Boston, has five small elementary schools. The switch to the town’s bigger middle school – where, for the first time, students walk the halls on their own between classes – can be a little scary. Weekly Update. Future of Learning. Higher Education.

Middle School 111

Middle School Elementary School Public School Social Studies 111

The Hechinger Report

APRIL 17, 2020

“It was literally all hands on deck,” said Superintendent Amy Warke, who rolled out an e-learning plan, provided teachers with resources, arranged to get internet hot spots to families in need and did a test run of the technology with students to get feedback — all before the schools closed. “It It’s been a lot of figuring out on our own.”.

K-12 141

K-12 Elementary School Middle School Charter School 141

The Hechinger Report

APRIL 24, 2023

In early April 2023, I started getting emails and messages urging me to take a look at a fresh reading study in Colorado. The study, a working paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed, came to two dramatic conclusions. schools, especially those that serve low-income children, have moved in the opposite direction. However, U.S.

Charter School 144

Charter School Geography Public School Private School 144

Cult of Pedagogy

MAY 29, 2024

Tier 6: Test Pulling Nate When I was in high school, I cheated on a social studies test. Extra work with symbols: Students with dyslexia or other language-based learning differences may struggle with the vocabulary of math, calling an inequality sign by its elementary school name, “the alligator mouth thingy.”

K-12 253

K-12 Teaching Pedagogy Library 253

Digital Promise

APRIL 12, 2016

Kindergartners place their backpacks outside in the “hallway” next to a community garden in a Vista elementary school hallway. Montgomery Middle School , an IB World School, works to bring an international perspective to all students’ educational experiences.

Middle School 91

Middle School Elementary School Critical Thinking Social Studies 91

Thrive in Grade Five

FEBRUARY 2, 2019

I can look back to my elementary school days and remember many Halloweens and Land Run days during which children dressed up as Native Americans with feather headdresses and face paint. This is the perfect opportunity to speak about Indigenous people in a present tense.”

Cultures 130

Cultures Teaching Museum Elementary School 130

The Hechinger Report

JANUARY 28, 2019

Nevada and Michigan will join them in the upcoming 2019-20 school year. The hope is that if kids can become proficient in reading early on, they’ll be much more likely to succeed in all of their subjects, from science to social studies, because students need to know how to read to learn the material.

Middle School 105

Middle School Elementary School Economics Humanities 105

Digital Promise

MARCH 10, 2015

Fulton County Schools. “We’re not getting the results we’re hoping to see from our digital content in middle school social studies and science. It seems like it’s really built for high school students. South Fayette Township School District. Director of Technology and Innovation.

K-12 92

K-12 Education Digital Resources Middle School 92

The Hechinger Report

MAY 2, 2020

Now nearly 400 schools use it across 40 states. Nearly 400 schools use the Summit Learning Program across 40 states. Shelby Villegas, sixth grade math teacher at Whispering Wind Academy Elementary School in Phoenix. Schools don’t have to create an extra period in the school day for mentoring, for example.

Junior High 128

Junior High Charter School Elementary School Social Studies 128

ED Surge

MAY 8, 2023

Although it’s not as obviously contentious as say, social studies, educators and researchers (not to mention students and families) have strong feelings about math instruction (remember New Math ? It’s common for her to hear, “Oh, you know, I decided to be an elementary school teacher because I don't want to teach math.”

K-12 135

K-12 Critical Thinking Middle School Pedagogy 135

The Hechinger Report

JULY 10, 2018

Science could be considered the perfect elementary school subject. But science has long been given short shrift in the first few years of school. It’s one of three elementary school science curriculums Callahan is helping to pilot now that her district decided to re-commit to elementary science education.

Education 88

Education Elementary School K-12 High School 88

The Hechinger Report

NOVEMBER 13, 2019

When children are in elementary school, parents can get into the “deeper meanings” of structural inequalities, like why people of color are not represented in social studies textbooks as much as white people.

Psychology 112

Psychology Humanities Elementary School Social Studies 112

The Hechinger Report

APRIL 25, 2023

Carrie Bakken, a social studies teacher and program coordinator who has been with the school since 2001, said the model appeals to younger workers and has helped the school avoid hiring challenges. “We During the pandemic, some teachers in the upper grades left, and this year the school has several new staff members.

Charter School 136

Charter School Government Sociology Social Studies 136

The Hechinger Report

MAY 1, 2020

As an example, Hudson cited a lower elementary school in the Delta where none of the K-3 teachers are certified to teach. Even candidates who struggle with math are likely to pass the Praxis exam in their area of study — social studies or biology, for example.

Education 115

Education Elementary School Social Studies Leadership 115

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 6, 2017

Notably: In reviews of 17 middle school math programs , just one was deemed standards-aligned across grades six to eight. Of the 14 elementary school math programs, only two products were found to be standards-aligned across grades K-5, again both published by nonprofits.

Lesson Plan 106

Lesson Plan Professional Development Tradition Middle School 106