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The confluence of President Obama’s second inauguration and MLK Day is a fitting legacy and inspiration to continue making changes.

Despite efforts of college and university admissions people, high-achieving students from small towns and rural areas are being left out of the matriculation process because of poverty.

This teacher wanted to empower her female students through literature. She boosted all students’ reading skills and self-confidence in the process.

When students thought success was impossible, wooden model rockets served as tools to boost self-esteem.

Sidewalk libraries open a world of learning for urban youth

Last month, 12-year-old Alexa Gonzalez used an erasable marker to scribble on her desk. “I love my friends Abby and Faith,” she wrote, along with, “Lex was here. 2/1/10,” punctuated with a happy face. But neither her Spanish teacher nor the principal at Alexa’s Queens, New York, middle school were amused. They called school security—New York City police officers—who arrested and handcuffed Alexa, and walked her across the street to their precinct, according to the New York Daily News.

As an eighth-grade writing teacher, I routinely focus on reading student writing and utilizing it for several purposes. I am designing effective lessons, creating sound rubrics for assessment, developing peer conferences and monitoring their ability to meet standards and benchmarks. However, I often forget about one of our most important, frequently overlooked roles as writing teachers: our role as listeners.

School discipline practices often disproportionately affect students of color and students with disabilities. Use this toolkit to form a professional learning community that reflects, researches and plans together to create a more just and equitable behavior management system in your school.