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Everyone wants to see evidence-based practices in schools. But how can educators and scholars do a better job of translating research findings into classroom instruction and school decision making? This issue will highlight effective ways to bridge education research and practice, exploring promising models and opportunities to address knowledge gaps, identify relevant findings, and integrate best practices in schools. Possible topics to be explored include teacher research, professional-development initiatives, school and higher education partnerships, and technology-based solutions to the gap between research and practice.
Deadline: CLOSED
This digital-only issue will explore how to plan well-designed, innovative lessons that can boost student engagement and learning retention—whether you are teaching in the classroom or through a computer screen. Special attention will be paid to the changing context and priorities for lesson development and delivery in light of the pandemic, including technology issues and potential learning gaps. Key topics to be addressed include planning methods and structures; deeper learning; cultural relevancy; differentiation; and personalization. The issue will also look at methods for evaluating lesson materials and ideas and the role school leaders can play in powerful lesson planning.
The COVID-19 pandemic—along with concurrent societal tensions and inequities—has had profound and likely lasting implications for schools. This issue will explore what comes next for K–12 education, examining how schools are recovering and building on lessons learned. Topics to be addressed include equity and inclusion; learning loss and instructional priorities; technological and school structural changes; crisis management and leadership strategy; school cultural change; and whole child and whole educator needs. What gaps has the pandemic exposed in education? What possibilities and new pathways has it opened up?
"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together," said Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu. What does it look like to take a human-centered, whole child approach to classroom management? To emphasize care over control, skill-building over finger-pointing, and prevention over emotional reactivity? Key areas of emphasis in this issue will be proactive approaches to social-emotional learning and strategies to get to the root of—and respond to—challenging behaviors. The goal is to highlight classroom management strategies and programs that promote positive relationships, support learning, and help educators improve overall effectiveness.
Submit a manuscript for this issue.
Deadline: May 3, 2021
Educator efficacy is a self-fulfilling prophecy: The more a teacher believes in his or her ability to positively impact student learning, the more he or she will do so and feel a sense of thriving in the profession. This issue will explore how schools can strengthen educators' and leaders' sense of efficacy—through instructional improvement initiatives, coaching, collaborative professional learning approaches, data collection, cultural competence, and culture-building strategies. A central emphasis will be on developing collective efficacy in schools—researcher John Hattie's number one factor for improving student learning—as a way of empowering educators.
Deadline: June 1, 2021
When students are engaged in learning, they reap many benefits, including deeper learning, higher achievement, and greater self-efficacy. This issue will highlight evidence-based techniques and strategies to increase motivation and engagement in today's classrooms. Topics covered will include lesson planning; choice- and passion-based learning; creating equitable learning conditions; uses of technology; relationship building and social-emotional learning approaches; cultural competence; and high-leverage curriculum and instructional strategies for deeper learning. This issue will also speak to the effects that the pandemic and remote learning have had on student motivation.
Deadline: July 1, 2021
Teaching—and leading—for equity is an ongoing process: There is no "peak" to reach, no flag to plant. Equity isn't just an initiative; it's a way of being and leading. This issue will seek to unpack how racism, sexism, ablism, classism, and other marginalizing ideologies can be woven into the fabric of classrooms, schools, and districts and, conversely, how schools can extricate themselves from these patterns through conscious actions and systemic changes. A key focus will be on envisioning school improvement and instructional practice through an antiracist lens. The goal will be to help school leaders and educators learn how to detect—and most importantly, disrupt—systems of oppression and unfairness in their daily structures and ensure that all students get the care and opportunities they need to realize their full potential.
Deadline: September 1, 2021
Change and challenge are constants in education. School leaders today need to be agile and ready for anything. This issue will look at the mindsets and traits of adaptive school leaders, those who are best able to lead through change. How do these leaders make decisions, communicate with stakeholders, and ensure the primacy of effective teaching and learning? What support systems and training do they need? We seek stories of leaders who have led effectively in times of transition or high risk, and examples of strategies for leading through change (including as part of social justice and equity initiatives) while maintaining relationships and morale.
Deadline: October 1, 2021
As the late Grant Wiggins wrote, "less teaching plus more feedback is the key to achieving greater learning." This is as true for educators as it is for the students we work with. In this issue, we will explore the key characteristics of effective, actionable feedback—whether provided in the classroom, following a teacher observation, or during a coaching conversation—and how schools can create cultures of effective feedback and make the most of feedback for growth. Articles will look at feedback protocols and routines; evidence-based formative assessment strategies; best practices for differentiating and delivering feedback; and how to make feedback stick.
Deadline: November 1, 2021
College and career readiness has long been an aspirational focus of schools. But with so much variability in students' postsecondary options and pathways, that preparation can be a tall and continually shifting task. This issue will examine how educators can better support students in navigating a multilayered system of postsecondary choices and directions, including through college preparation; career and technical education (including STEM-focused programs); apprenticeships and internships; and financial and vocational information programs. Although focused on secondary education, this issue will also look at P–16 or P–20 models. In what ways does education need to change to prepare young people today for their futures?
Deadline: December 1, 2021
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