COVID-19 impacted every aspect of life, and schools are still dealing with its residual effects. Many teachers blame the pandemic for low achievement and isolation from peers as the root cause of student conflicts in schools. But are there more positive narratives to tell? In doing research for my Ph.D. program, I sought out the...

This nation’s economic security will be won or lost based on the ability of elementary schools to energize science education. That is because the country is at the start of a massive effort intended to bring semiconductor manufacturing to the Southwest, battery research and development to rural upstate New York and more. It’s an effort...

The back-to-school scene as I dropped my daughter off for her first day of school today was delightfully, if unnervingly, normal. For parents around the country, this is the first back-to-school season since the end of COVID-19 as a public health emergency, and that is something to celebrate. As the country emerges from a pandemic that...

The vibe in education these days is dark. Test scores are falling, students’ mental health needs are growing and educators are becoming more and more exasperated. Perhaps schools should focus on fun. This isn’t a fanciful wish that’s out of touch with the stark challenges facing many communities. Rather, it’s a strategy, a means to an end, a practical...

There is a 1905 photograph taken by Lewis Hine titled “Italian Family Seeking Lost Baggage, Ellis Island.” It shows a mother, with a scarf covering her hair and a baby in her arms, and two children: a boy, about 11 or 12 years old, with what looks like a laundry bag over his shoulder, and...

Can computers be trained to give feedback on student writing as well as a human can? To assess essay elements like convincing evidence and well-crafted conclusions? I’ve been working on these questions for years together with a group of colleagues since long before the advent of ChatGPT. After working with hundreds of data scientists from...

In 2022, the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering report sounded an alarm. The report showed that the United States is falling behind in science, technology, engineering and math, the STEM fields. According to the foundation, America no longer produces the most science and engineering research publications — that’s China. We no longer produce the...

Last week, I sat down and read the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, the landmark case that overturned many affirmative action policies at the nation’s elite universities. The case has generated significant outrage. The right was outraged that Harvard wants to use (and did use) race as a factor in its admissions decisions. The left...

As the mother of a 37-year-old son with special needs who is living a full and independent life, I often think about what it took to get here. Alex was one of the original members of the POINT (Pursuing our INdependence Together) residential community in White Plains, New York, which was founded in 2008 by families of...

Teacher satisfaction has reached an all time low in recent years. This is due to many of the new challenges brought on by the pandemic — including teacher turnover, compounded by teachers feeling undervalued — and leads to a larger question: What can we do to increase teacher retention in our schools and help teachers...