When an assessment is well-designed and aligns with standards, the idea of “teaching to the test” sheds its negative connotation.

Culturally relevant pedagogy can give students the skills, knowledge and dispositions to change systemic inequities. So teachers should examine and encourage ways to imbue their students with a sense of their own identities.

Here are surprising takeaways teachers can use to make remote instruction more effective: digital  games can be incorporated into learning in small doses; students may be “digital natives” but they may need to learn how to use digital tools; digital tools may work best when they replicate familiar experiences; and remote rewards are still rewarding.

Enabling private chats with students,  Zoom breakout rooms and modeling classwork for students are a few of the strategies teachers can use to improve learning during this challenging time.

Along with notebooks and pencils, students come to school carrying the weight of anxiety, fear and trauma in their lives. As we grapple with COVID-19, educators say students’ mental health should be the priority.

What’s a library without a room full of books? It may sound like a riddle, but it became the reality for school librarians when New York City public school buildings closed in the spring of 2020.