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Stories from the past, like those of Freedom Summer, serve to remind us that change happens when everyday people create it.

Recognizing the history of defamatory symbols can help schools see fewer of them.

Parents find grassroots power.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) offers a schoolwide approach to improving student behavior.

Through a grant from Teaching American History, I was part of a group of teachers who spent months reading, listening and watching films and videos about the civil rights movement before we took a trip to the South. But still it was history—far away, untouchable and remote. That was until the first day in Sumner, Miss.

Three weeks ago at lunch, the tenth-grade teachers met with the class "repeaters,” students who have repeated either their freshman or sophomore year. These students make us want to pull our hair out because of the many small (and not so small) ways they choose to self-destruct. One has completed two years of school and has a total of three credits. As a straight- A nerd during my own high school career, I don't fully understand how this could have happened in the first place. Regardless, the teachers called the meeting, ordered pizza, explained the purpose and discussed credits with the students in small groups. We were honest and open, explaining what their next steps are, how they can get it together and how to sign up for credit recovery.

When her third-grade students hit a research obstacle, Syrita Jackson made the call—literally—to teach a point about perseverance.